No. 2 Alabama def. No. 1 Notre Dame 42-14
Well, wasn't this a fizzer? For all the talk about how this Discover BCS National Championship would feature two great football programs, traditional powers, huge fanbases...all of that, it turned out that there was really only one great program on the field at Sunlife Stadium in Miami Gardens tonight. At least, only one great program when it counted. Alabama are kings of the college football world, the South Eastern Conference is the still the dominant conference in the sport, and Notre Dame are going to remain in the national eye for a little while longer through this winter, though for all the wrong reasons.
Right from the get-go, Alabama smacked Notre Dame in the mouth, dominating every phase of the football game, and they didn't stop until the very end, when their 42-14 victory was being celebrated on the Crimson Tide sidelines. The first half for Notre Dame was so bad that Head Coach Brian Kelly joked during his half-time ESPN interview that the only way the second half would be any better than the first for the Irish - who looked completely hapless and woefully outclassed tonight; the old men vs. boys scenario - was if Alabama decided to not take the field.
Alas, that didn't happen, and although the second half was a 14-14 tie, all the damage had been done in the first, with Alabama roaring, snarling, throttling Notre Dame all the way to a 35-0 lead. This was a rout of epic proportions, and not even those who dreamed of the Irish being embarassed on this big a stage could have imagined the Golden Domers would be dissected as they were.
If last year's BCS National Championship was QB AJ McCarron's coming out party, then this was his national coronation. The well-spoken kid who could make all the throws tonight - and, apparently, can attract drop-dead gorgeous women, too - was on fire: 20-28 for 264 yards and 4 TDs. Then there was the running game, the two-headed monster of Eddie Lacy (20 carries, 140 yards and a TD) and TJ Yeldon (21 carries, 108 yards and a TD), which dominated when McCarron wasn't doing the same. Combined, the Tide rolled up a whopping 529 yards of total offense, previously unthinkable against the Fighting Irish defense, which had been stout all year.
On defense, the Crimson Tide really did roll. The vaunted Notre Dame run game was held to a meagre 32 yards on 19 carries. The inability to run against the Alabama front put the fortunes of the team - the program - and the weight of expectation squarely on the shoulders of QB Everitt Golson (21-36 for 270 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT) who was okay at times, made some bad throws at other times and, occasionally, was completely monstered by the Alabama defense. A lot of those passing yards came late in the game, too, well after the Tide had put the proverbial cue in the rack.
On the sidelines, Brian Kelly's game plan folded like a house of cards,
and, across on the other side of the field, Nick Saban's seemed perfect.
The man whose NFL coaching career barely got out of the blocks with the
Miami Dolphins had something of a night of retribution on the same
field where the South Beach NFL franchise plays it's home games. It's
Saban's fourth National Championship: three with Alabama and one, before
his short-lived NFL career, with LSU. There's no reason to think he'll
stop at that number, either. This is becoming a dynasty. The Tide
faithful will want more, expect more.
And so ends another college football season with Alabama certain to be pre-season No. 1, and with so many returning players, it's hard to think that they couldn't come back and go for their third consecutive - and fourth in five years - National Championship. You know Nick Saban's already thinking about it...
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