A classic game? Nope, just classic Alabama domination
Touchdown, Alabama! And there were a bunch of those Monday night. (AP photo by John Bazemore)
UPDATED WITH NICK SABAN QUOTES
Miami Gardens, Fla. – For a minute, this felt like a real event. That was the minute before kickoff, when the stadium was alive and both sides lived in hope. Then the game began, and it got …
Ugly? If you’d hoped for a competitive BCS championship game, yes. But in another way, what came after was a kind of brutal beauty. A great football team played at the peak of its power, and how often are we privileged to witness such brilliance? If this wasn’t quite UCLA beating No. 1 Houston 101-69 in the 1968 Final Four, it was pretty darn close.
Alabama led by seven points after three minutes, by 21 four seconds into the second quarter. At that moment, the Crimson Tide had outgained No. 1 Notre Dame 203 yards to 23 and had scored more points than the vaunted Irish defense had allowed in four quarters this season. It’s easy to say now that Notre Dame stands revealed as a fraud, but this is what Alabama does. It takes big-shouldered No. 1 teams — LSU last January, Notre Dame this time — and renders them puny by comparison.
Again we were reminded that there is no other league like the SEC, which has won seven BCS titles in succession and might win the next 77, but now we know that, even among the SEC’s array of heavyweights, there’s no program like Alabama and no coach like Nick Saban. This was once seen as the least of the past five Tide teams – afterward, Saban said his men “certainly exceeded every expectation we had for them” — but it was again the best in the land.
Three of the past four BCS title games have been won by Alabama, and four of the past 10 championships have been taken by Saban. What began as domination by a conference has yielded to the singular excellence of one driven man. College football has its Krzyzewski, meaning a coach who isn’t just the best but the best by such a distance as to make it seem unfair.
Said Saban: “A world like ‘dynasty’ is not one I’m much interested in. I’m more interested in ‘accomplishment’ and ‘consistency’ and ‘performance.’ ”
SEC zealots will insists Notre Dame wouldn’t have gone unbeaten against an SEC-caliber schedule, and it probably wouldn’t. (Even Alabama didn’t.) But the Irish arrived as a proud and strong team that had beaten Stanford, which won the Pac-12, and Oklahoma, which finished tied atop the Big 12, and other Brand Names. But it was clear after one drive that Notre Dame at its best couldn’t touch Alabama, and rarely does Bama allow any opponent to look its best.
Eddie Lacy burst through holes as as broad as an airport runway, and those few times he encountered Irish resistance he shrugged it aside. The decorated Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o was made to look ordinary, and the Irish lineman couldn’t lay a pinkie on AJ McCarron, who found receivers running free and easy. And when Alabama dazzles you with offensive footwork, you’re in for a long night.
Early in the second quarter, there came a moment when the difference in class was made manifest. The fleet Irish quarterback Everett Golson shook free on a third-down scramble and had a clear path to the first down. C.J. Mosley, whose tip of Aaron Murray’s final pass decided the hairbreadth SEC championship game, ran down Golson and stopped him short.
Only moments earlier, Irish coach Brian Kelly chose to try for a first down on fourth-and-five at the Alabama 39. The play failed, and it underscored how quickly Alabama can drive a sound coach to desperation. (Fun fact: When Notre Dame scored late in the third quarter, it marked the first points Bama had yielded in the 108 minutes and seven seconds in the BCS title game, a span over which it had outscored three opponents — Texas, LSU and now Notre Dame — 69-0.)
This game was 28-0 at the half — it would end 42-14 — and 28-nil wasn’t from the famous 31-0 halftime spread Alabama had amassed against No. 3 Georgia in Athens on Sept. 28, 2008. That game stands as the first watershed victory of Saban’s Bama, and almost everything since has been a consolidation of gains, and who out there seems apt to stem the raging Tide?
Said Saban, quibbling: “We got here by five yards. Georgia was five yards from scoring (to win the SEC title).”
Before Monday night, no school had repeated as BCS champion. Alabama now has two in a row, and three of four, and the belief in Tide circles is that next year’s team will be even better. Just as the SEC has lapped the rest of the collegiate field, Alabama has lapped the mighty SEC. Even within the only conference that matters, there’s only one team that matters. Nick Saban’s team.
“This was really special,” he said, “and someday when I’m sitting on the hill watching the stream go by, I might think even deeper thoughts. But what about next year’s team? Somebody’s got to think about that.”
By Mark Bradley
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414 comments Add your comment
TexUGAfan
January 8th, 2013
1:08 pm
Congrats to Bama. But for all my fellow dawg fans: PLEASE stop gushing over Bama. We did not win – BAMA won. They are who we need to strive to be, need to strive to BEAT. A NC for Bama is not an NC for us – an NC for an SEC team is not an SEC for us. We have to stop trying to live through the SEC wins and actually win one for OURSELVES. That is all. Go Dawgs!
T&AM
January 8th, 2013
1:10 pm
@ Nick Superior
Now that you have explained his college superiorty. Can you explain his lack of success in the NFL… Thats the league you really prove your coaching ability. The talent is drafted and not recruited…. I will save your the response. Nick Saban is a great recruiter and has more superior atheletes than other programs. There was only one guy on ND that could have made the second string depth chart…. Imagine if the NFL would allow teams to recruit players versus drafting. The Cowboys and Steelers would win every championship…. Simple put he was not able to coach up the the talent in the NFL.
@ azdawg
I agree with the desire part….
old dog
January 8th, 2013
1:15 pm
I think the point people are making is NOT SEC dominance, but just how bad Notre Dame was. Anybody that watches football, from corso on, should have had no doubt…..wtf were they thinking? The most undeserving team to EVER get a #1 ranking: this years Nostral Dames.
HawksFanSince'89
January 8th, 2013
1:19 pm
@TexUGAfan, you’re right, I don’t know why are Georgia fans relishing in Bama’s Nat’l Championships, when our team is at home with mudd on our face from the disrespectful Capital One Bowl!! Cheering for a conference is for people who are fans of teams that suck, like Ole Miss, Miss St., and Kentucky.
WDE
January 8th, 2013
1:29 pm
Hey Bama just scored again….
He Hate Gator
January 8th, 2013
1:39 pm
Notre Dame should not have been playing in a BCS Championship as they did not have to play in a conference championship game to get there. Very unfair to everyone that did. Very unfair to the television audience to have to been subjected to all the ridiculous ND hype….
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
1:40 pm
D O M I N A T E ! Its what we do. Its how we roll. And the mighty crimson tide rolls on. And on. And on.
Get ready folks. Cause with only 9 seniors on this squad we’re coming after you all over again in 9 months.
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
1:43 pm
“The most undeserving team to EVER get a #1 ranking: this years Nostral Dames.”
I wouldn’t be that tough on Notre Dame. They were the nation’s only unbeaten bowl eligible team. And they did it by beating Michigan State, USC on the road, Oklahoma on the road, and a very good Stanford team. They beat Michigan and probably 1 or 2 other decent teams as well.
He Hate Gator
January 8th, 2013
1:44 pm
Notre Dame should never have been playing in the BCS Title game as they did not have to play a conference championship playoff game like everyone else. It is grossly unfair to all that did and unfair to the television audience that subjected to all the over rated ND hype…
7576DAWG
January 8th, 2013
1:44 pm
I mentioned this on another blog topic but if Ohio State had not been on probation they would have played Notre Dame for the National title and Alabama would have ended up ranked 2ND to the winner , how pathetic would that have been?
He Hate Gator
January 8th, 2013
1:48 pm
Maybe, but Ohio State would still have had to win their conference championship first
7576DAWG
January 8th, 2013
1:49 pm
Tide Rising
Georgia is losing two receivers on their Offense, the same offense that scored 28 points against Alabama. See you in the SEC Championship in 2013. Bama may be loaded but so is Georgia.
He Hate Gator
January 8th, 2013
1:51 pm
Also, Bama is losing Lacey…Yeldon is good but Yeldon plus Lacey is better…
7576DAWG
January 8th, 2013
1:51 pm
He Hate Gator
There wasn’t any team in the big ten that good this year. 2ND best was Northwestern ranked 16TH with 3 losses and it got worse after them.
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
1:52 pm
“and the point I was trying to make that the 2011 championship was an illegitimate championship, due to the fact you cannot have a team from the same Conference and Division in a Nat’l Championship game and call that crap a National Championship game,”
Sure you can. Happens occasionally in NCAA basketball. So when Villanova of the big east, which had lost 2 or 3 times in the same season already to Georgetown, then beat Georgetown and Patrick Ewing in the 1985 NCAA championship title game did that national title not count??? And if I’m not mistaken that isn’t the only time that teams from the same conference have played for a national title in basketball. You’re point is silly and irrelevant.
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
2:00 pm
“Georgia is losing two receivers on their Offense, the same offense that scored 28 points against Alabama.”
7576 dawg,
Allow me to correct you. Georgia’s offense scored 21 on Bama. The other 7 was scored on a lucky blocked field goal returned for a td which is a 10 pt swing on just one play.
“See you in the SEC Championship in 2013. Bama may be loaded but so is Georgia.”
You really think you’ll be there? You pick up LSU next year and that’s a loss right there. Fla may have had a hiccup against Louisville but they will be back. And S. Carolina owns you.
And you’re not as loaded as Bama by any means. You may lose all 11 defensive starters. To say you are as loaded when losing all 11 defensive starters is nothing short of absurd. You guys are as delusional as always. There’s a reason why you guys are considered the most delusional fan base in college football.
He Hate Gator
January 8th, 2013
2:01 pm
Point is, OSU would still have had to play a conference playoff game to get to a Natl title game (who thought Wisconsin would take out Nebraska like they did?) and the risk that goes with that due to injuries and unexpected loss…ND did not have to do that…
TexUGAfan
January 8th, 2013
2:03 pm
Tide Rising:
You are correct on some points. I am concerned about UGA next year, particularly with the sked and the D. But there are no world beaters in the SEC East – UF has a good D, but worthless offense. USCe may beat us, but they are good to trip up a few times every year. UGA back in the SEC Champ would not be surprising.
pbt
January 8th, 2013
2:05 pm
So you are average if you win the east, WOW!
Hey their are plenty of coaches that coach for more than 10 years and didn;t win a National championship.(Bo at Michigan, Pat dye at Auburn) college football has change i guess, if you don’t win a NC in three years you get fired!
Alabama will start 2013 as No. 1, but who’ll give chase? | Mark Bradley
January 8th, 2013
2:05 pm
[...] his Crimson Tide crushed Notre Dame 42-14 Monday night, Saban spoke of how difficult this latest journey had been. “We got here by five yards. [...]
WOOF
January 8th, 2013
2:14 pm
Tide rising
are you faxing this in or do you actually have the internet?
pbt
January 8th, 2013
2:15 pm
Tide Rising,
We can say the same for Alabama. You play TA&M second game of the season in College Station, you also have to play LSU which almost beat you last year. The delusional lives in Knoxville, not in Athens. Bama fans talk about Georgia schedule being easy this past year. FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW ALABAMA DOES NOT PLAY GEORGIA, FLORDIA, NOR SOUTH CAROLINA, WHICH ARE THE THREE BEST TEAMS IN THE EAST. you should be there next because your schedule is easy as H*ll.
WOOF
January 8th, 2013
2:18 pm
Tide Rising….
I think you got too excited over the last episode of duck dynasty.
Take a deep breath, have another schlitz, and relax.
Roll Tide and Go Dawgs!
Chicago Typewriter
January 8th, 2013
2:23 pm
The Sec went 6-3. Pretty good year.
Congrats to the NC bama crimson tide.
ADMan
January 8th, 2013
2:25 pm
Tide Rising you have got to be the biggest assh-le on here. You act like your the one who calls the plays for Bama when its clear to everyone that you couldn’t wipe you azz without help.Talk about being delusional….you suck off other teams wins and losses and gloat about it…..your nothing more than a want-a-be who thinks he knows it all…I’ll bet you didn’t go to Alabama and have never even been to college….how’s that lawn mowing business working out for you?
WDE
January 8th, 2013
2:26 pm
Tide Rising lets review after I give you my congrats on the win last night ….now back to the review LSU beat hell out of the Tide everywhere but the scoreboard….UF beat hell out of LSU running all over them…we beat hell out of UF so you can stuff all that LSU is a automatic loss for us. Face it no one in the SEC has it easy oh and don’t you guys have A&M again think we should chalk that up as a loss too?
Chicago Typewriter
January 8th, 2013
2:27 pm
The rumor out there is that Tide Rising is acutally Forest Gump.
Hedges
January 8th, 2013
2:33 pm
Tide Rising
Congrats on a well deserved NC.
Alabama deserved it fair and square.
Quit making your ignorant remarks after being congratulated and let it be what it is.
UGA won 12 games and that is not shabby in the sec and todays world.
Jaw Jaw Idiot
January 8th, 2013
2:34 pm
LawDawg, thank you kind Sir. I’m over it. I naturally hate Allbarn, and Jaw Jaw fan has had a long wait for another NC. Dawgs actually played like Bama for 40 mins in the SEC Title game. Keep it up
LawDawg, I could care less what you believe. My son is a slot reciever going in to the 11 grade and loves The Falcons as much as he loves Bama. We have gone to dozens of college and pro games together for years and he would tell you to stick it Jaw Jaw Idiot
LM
January 8th, 2013
2:41 pm
The Tide really exposed the very over-hyped Notre Dame team last night. The Irish and their fans quickly realized they were not playing against an so-so average team like they had faced during some of their previous twelve games.
Roll Tide!
Jaw Jaw Idiot
January 8th, 2013
2:41 pm
LawDawg, thank you kind Sir. I’m over it.( That was for Half Century Dawg ) I’m 1/2 century Falcon-Bama Fan…
LawDawg… any drunk redneck fan in any town is able to be an idiot
HawksFanSince'89
January 8th, 2013
2:59 pm
Alabama wins with Georgia’s talent.
drsoul
January 8th, 2013
2:59 pm
T&AM….I think that if you really go in and consider ALL of the issues in Miami at the time that Saban was there, no one can really label him a failure.. This has been acknowledged in ESPN and other NFL observers… his record there was not indicative of his ability… there were a lot of problems when he got there with personnel, etc and other issues beyond his control… even the owner has said as much.. if you go totally by a W-L record, you are not a very good analyst of situations…
7576DAWG
January 8th, 2013
3:01 pm
L.S.U. will lose 3 to 5 games in 2013. Everybody is leaving for the NFL. Mettenberger is not very good and it would not surprise me at all if Jennings is not the starter by the 5TH game.
GT
January 8th, 2013
3:01 pm
Brent Musburger looks like a guy having to tap dance for his dinner. The networks surly can’t like delivering such a boring game where after the first quarter 15 teams sitting at home were saying we can do better than that.
I remember Lee Trevino once said they will still come and buy tickets if they think what you do is better than what they could do. Last night a lot of viewers were thinking I could be playing in this game, I’m better than this. And they would be right.
Hedges
January 8th, 2013
3:05 pm
Satan failed as a NFL coach.
Spurrier was the worst ever NFL coach.
Satan is the best in the NCAA.
Cuz
January 8th, 2013
3:06 pm
I was wrong about Florida and Louisville but I was spot on about BAMA over the Dames.
T&AM
January 8th, 2013
3:14 pm
@ drsoul
T&AM….I think that if you really go in and consider ALL of the issues in Miami at the time that Saban was there, no one can really label him a failure.. This has been acknowledged in ESPN and other NFL observers… his record there was not indicative of his ability… there were a lot of problems when he got there with personnel, etc and other issues beyond his control… even the owner has said as much.. if you go totally by a W-L record, you are not a very good analyst of situations…
So if I read this correctly.. You are saying Alabama did not have any issues before he arrived. Also see “Pete Carroll and Steve Spurrer”. Its not easy coaching drafted players versus recruited players who wants to someday be “drafted players.
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
3:20 pm
HawksFanSince’89
January 8th, 2013
2:59 pm
Alabama wins with Georgia’s talent.
Kinda funny hearing that from a Georgia fan considering that Georgia’s top players in recent years were all from out of state- Stafford(Texas), Moreno(New Jersey), AJ Green(South Carolina).
On this year’s Bama team none of the premier players AJ McCarron, Lacy, Yeldon, Cooper on offense or on defense CJ Mosely, Jessie Williams, Damion Square, etc. are from Georgia. Bama has one really good player guard Chance Warmack who is from Georgia. The rest of the players on the Alabama team that hail from Georgia tend to be the non impact players- backups, lesser role players.
Hedges
January 8th, 2013
3:23 pm
Thanks Dick Tracy or tide rising
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
3:25 pm
T&AM,
When Saban took over Miami if I remember correctly they were 1-15 the year before. It was a franchise in ruins and no serious observer disputes that.
In Saban’s 2nd year he had the team on a roll and they had won 6 straight games when the news broke that Bama was pursuing him. The team then hit the skids and went on a 4 game losing streak to end the season and miss the playoffs.
Looking at the situation he took over to say that he was a failure when he started with the worst team in pro football is to ignore the realities of the situation. There is a reason why the Dolphins owner plead with Saban to stay. And there is a reason why so many pro teams still want him. The reason is that they understand these things. You clearly do not.
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
3:27 pm
Hedges, You’re welcome. Now come shine my previous BCS trophies for me loser.
Hedges
January 8th, 2013
3:29 pm
I am sure that is what you do for a living, polish trophies or something. Please punch your card and go back to work. I am sure your cowardly self has never put on a pad in your life of any kind.
Loser! or Super fan!
mike
January 8th, 2013
3:33 pm
Mark, I am the guy that wrote you several years ago when you were bashing Alabama, how terrible they were,they were washed up, The Bear is dead and it is a has been program. I am glad you are now convinced after 3 more National Championships we are better than ever. Are you a Bama fan yet? Ha Ha! mike d
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
3:34 pm
“now back to the review LSU beat hell out of the Tide everywhere but the scoreboard….UF beat hell out of LSU running all over them…we beat hell out of UF so you can stuff all that LSU is a automatic loss for us”
Aaaah. Nothing like the so and so beat so and so who beat so and so so we are better than you. BTW we went into LSU and beat them in a night game on their turf after they had 2 weeks to prepare for one game. We also had more turnovers and we still won. Matter of fact if AJ and Yeldon don’t have a fumbled handoff exchange near the LSU goal line then that game would have essentially been over early. Forgot about that did ya?
T&AM
January 8th, 2013
3:34 pm
@ Tide Rising
Alabama best bet is that he stays. Saban is no better than Petrino… Look for the easy out and take it. No NFL team is knocking down his door right now. It’s alot easier to recruit than coach up talent….
T&AM
January 8th, 2013
3:37 pm
@ Tide Rising
We are waiting on you at College Station in 2013… Remember we got “Johnny Football”…..
Tide Rising
January 8th, 2013
3:37 pm
Hedges, After you shine all my trophies you can scrub the toilet. I’ve put on plenty of pads. That’s how I knew we were going to run over you in the seccg. Because I understood that its won and lost in the trenches. And we manhandled your boys on the line of scrimmage. You’re not in our league son.
Hedges
January 8th, 2013
3:40 pm
you have never been in any trenches….sure you might be a cheerleader of some kind.
Dont think you have been on any team of any kind in your life…..
maybe cub scouts.
loser
Notre Dame
January 8th, 2013
3:43 pm
What the hell happened?