ARLINGTON, Texas – Yes, Notre Dame took another whipping. But you know what? So do the others.
Everyone except maybe Clemson or Ohio State – and anyone who wins the semifinals of the College Football Playoff, better finish it, come on January 11th or may be the next victim of the Alabama explosion. The 2020 Crimson Sea threshing machine could be so powerful that no one has a chance against it.
The first three possessions of this transplanted playoff game were a display that accidentally escaped the Alabama offense – it could have been a counterfeit Rose Bowl, but the Sea is real. They scored 21 points on 18 pieces of play, breaking into Fighting Irish with lethal speed and precise execution. This was Najee Harris flying, DeVonta Smith sprinting, handing out Mac Jones – and watching Notre Dame. And it never catches.
Final score: Alabama 31, Notre Dame 14. What seemed inevitable before the game became inevitable shortly after the start.
Najee Hariss’s big day included an obstacle in the Irish defense at one point.
Kirby Lee / SUA TODAY Sports
Alabama needed seven games to walk 79 yards for its first touchdown, never facing a third down and only twice a second down. His next possession was a 97-yard bar through the Irish in just five pieces, highlighted by Harris, who stopped Nick McCloud, a corner of Notre Dame, on a 53-yard run. “That’s what he usually does,” Smith said of Harris.
That game was emblematic of the talent gap between the two teams – the Crimson Sea growing on a higher level than the Irish. Before the game was 11 minutes old, it was 14-0 and it was essentially over.
After the second possession of the game, Notre Dame never had the ball with the chance to tie or take the lead. Even after a long and slow journey to score his own touchdown, the Irish defense immediately gave up another TD. This was a mismatch of speed on the outside and a mismatch of the defender’s talents.
“They made the pieces today,” said Irish coach Brian Kelly. “It simply came to our notice then. Their qualifying players appeared today, as they did all year. I just didn’t make enough pieces. “
Kelly was as slender as a wire-brushed post-game when media questions alluded to Notre Dame’s repeated shortcomings against elite competition. He needed to know that the questions would come, and he was ready to push hard on the first two of them.
“Margin is not the issue,” Kelly said. “Loss means loss. I don’t really know what the inference is. This football team fought. And they made a few more pieces on the perimeter. I’m not really sure what the question is. When you lose football games, you know, there are a few more things you have to do.
“I had the chance. You watched the game. I watched the game. … It wasn’t a matter of being taken off the ball or not having enough players to compete against Alabama. … And I’m sorry if you don’t like it or if you don’t like the national media, but we’ll get back to work. We will continue to recruit and we will put ourselves in this position again. “
We all watched the game. And there were more than a few plays here or there. Alabama has much better and much faster players in playing positions. Where Notre Dame has barely tried to throw the ball to its pedestrian receivers, Jones has targeted the best wideout in recent years and a bunch of other weird safe athletics in the open.
“I thought we could go out and box a little better,” Kelly said of the defensive plan. “It simply came to our notice then. … We were a few attempts. We close our legs. And you can’t do that against highly skilled players. You have to be aggressive and attack those skill players in space. If you close your legs for a second, they will disappear. “
This is what happens when the other team recruits at a higher level. The players of Notre Dame are good; Alabama players are better. This certainly includes the position of defender, where Ian Book had a very good career, but had no chance to match the throws that Jones can make.
Thus, this result, combined with the fact that he was hit 34-10 by Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, definitely says that Notre Dame remains a discount below the best. But while killing the Irish might feel good for much of America, it also overlooks the big picture – anyone who was fourth in the college football playoff rankings would be smoked in this game .
Kevin Jairaj / SUA TODAY Sports
The first team in this field with four teams was Texas A&M, and Aggies were also blown up by Alabama. That score: 52-24. Do you want to see a rematch of this?
Should Cincinnati feel offended? Absolute. The Bearcats deserved far more respect and consideration than they received from the selection committee and paid well in the Peach Bowl, despite the fact that many of their most important players have dropped out. But let’s face it, does anyone think Cincinnati wouldn’t be hit by this Alabama team?
Oklahoma? The Sooners were greatly improved by the end of the season, but the loss of two games – one to a Kansas team that ended 4-6 – eliminated them from serious consideration. And it should have.
The fact is that it remains a sport with three teams. This is a serious, chronic issue that has affected some of the national interest – far too many programs have no legitimate hope of competing for a national title or even a place in the playoffs. The lack of diversity and depth creates boredom.
But in 2020, it could finally be a one-team sport. Alabama could simply be a discount above all else. The sea will be strongly favored in the game of the national championship on January 11.
So far, one of the Alabama players could win the Heisman Trophy – Smith and Jones are two of the four finalists for the award, which will be handed out next Tuesday. A reporter asked them if they would take some time in the next few days to work on the acceptance speeches, and Jones gave an answer that was supposed to warm Saban’s super-focused soul.
“This is a poisoned question for rats,” Jones said, echoing Saban’s term for media praise that can create satisfaction.
Jones went on to say that Alabama’s offensive goal is to “score one point more than the other team.” But honestly he has never been so close to this group. The SEC championship was a six-point game against Florida, but the Gators never had a realistic shot at victory after falling 18 points at the break. “Bama’s average victory margin was 30 points in this game.
So the Irish exceeded the average opponent in Alabama and also exceeded the bettors’ expectations. This was a 20-point spread, the highest in PCP history, and Notre Dame managed to score a late touchdown to cover it. Compared to many Irish Fighting flops in recent years, this was a better presentation.
But that doesn’t mean it was a tight and competitive game. This was not a playful, playful situation. Alabama was much better than Notre Dame, and now Tide is another victory since moving to an undefeated national championship. They may eventually have to eliminate a close match in the final – but maybe not.