Notre Dame Alabama Showdown Set
O'BRIEN: College football fans are all fired up for the January 7th showdown between unbeaten Notre Dame and the crimson tide of Alabama. The winner will take home the BCS championship. Fighting Irish are top ranked in the nation. They're hoping to win their first national championship since 1988. Alabama is trying to become the first team to ever win back to back BCS titles. Ted Rowlands is live for us in South Bend, Indiana this morning. Joe Carter, he joins us from crimson tide country in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Let's get the rivalry started on air live right now. Ted, get this started for me. How are the Irish feeling about this?</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can imagine, Soledad, very excited. You know, tradition is everywhere here in South Bend outside the stadium here you see it. Inside you see all the national championship banners being hung. Outside you have all of the coaches that won national championships. They all have a statue here. Bottom line, though, it's been 24 years since Notre Dame fans have enjoyed a national championship. So as you can imagine, fans across the country who cheer for Notre Dame and students here in South Bend are absolutely thrilled at another shot at a title.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Super excited. Campus has just erupted. Everyone's, like going nuts on campus right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone's worried about getting tickets to the game right now because they're doing a lottery. So it's going to be pretty tough to get tickets. We're all just worried about getting to Miami, I think.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Especially after coming back from Thanksgiving break. There's just so much excitement. You just hear so much about, oh, are you going to Miami? Yes, everyone's going to Miami whether they have a ticket or not.</s>ROWLANDS: Those will be tough tickets to get. Notre Dame a ten-point underdog here, but this is a team that has persevered throughout the season. They're undefeated. They have a linebacker on their team. He's a Heisman trophy candidate. He lost his girlfriend to leukemia and his grandmother in a 24-hour period during the season. The way that he has reacted to that, Soledad, has inspired people across the country. He's really one of those special players that does not come along very often and he is the rock of this team.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, let's turn to Tuscaloosa, now. Joe, tide, defending champs, how are folks there feeling?</s>JOE CARTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Feeling great. I know Ted and I both wish we were in Miami right now because it's a little cold out here. We're standing in front of the stadium, the cathedral here in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A 101,000 fans are screaming on the Saturday there and where we're actually standing is what they call the walk of champions. What it is, is all the coaches over the years, over their storied program, that have won national championships. You've got five coaches here. They've collectively won 14 national championships. The statue that I'm standing closest to is the current Alabama head coach, and that's Nick Saban. It's funny because it's the only one of the statues that dons tennis shoes and a golf shirt. Everyone else is in suit. Nick Saban is a much more casual coach. In his tenor he's won two national championships. The students here believe he'll win one in 2012. They've written it in chalk. Students here say Alabama football is more than just a sport. It's a culture. It's a way of life. Fans we talked to last night, they start cheering for the crimson tide as a very young age.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Been an Alabama fan all my life. Matter of fact, my children. I've got a daughter, she's 30. She's been to 31 homecomings. My son is 21. He's been to 22 homecomings.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's incredibly special Alabama earned the opportunity to play again. You know, I look forward to Alabama beating anybody, but particularly anybody that's not in the SEC.</s>CARTER: Alabama fans and this program certainly used to being here. This is obviously their third opportunity to win a national championship in four years. First time ever in the BCS era for a team to win back to back national championships, Soledad, you know what? It's a hot ticket already. Over 100,000 ticket requests have been put in for the national championship game and it's still 35 days away.</s>O'BRIEN: If you were reporting on it, though, you could go for free and not need a ticket. Are you guys -- are you rooting for someone? I mean, do you have like who you'd like to win? Go ahead, Joe, what do you think?</s>CARTER: You know, this is old fashioned football here. Two storied programs over 100 years apiece. Good old fashioned football that's going to --</s>O'BRIEN: Which means what?</s>CARTER: Two great power houses colliding. I would like to see -- I'm not going to pick. Notre Dame would be nice to have a new champion. A new champion would be nice.</s>O'BRIEN: Ted, you agree?</s>ROWLANDS: Absolutely. I've touched on Jesus staring me downright here outside the stadium so Notre Dame all the way for me.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see what happens. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, a potentially explosive situation forces the evacuation of an entire town. We'll tell you the source of that danger coming up. Plus, the story of the homeless man who received a pair of shoes from a selfless police officer, but now there's a twist. When reporters caught up to him, the boots were nowhere to be seen. We'll tell you why. That's straight ahead on STARTING POINT.