Tinker Town: "The TV network talking heads words after the game are much more honest. What do you think about this America. Lou Holtz: "Alabama was much superior to Notre Dame." You don't say?"
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/sports/ncaafootball/alabama-routs-notre-dame-in-title-game.html?hp&_r=0

College Football

Alabama 42, Notre Dame 14

All Alabama in Title Game

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Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper, right, celebrated with teammates after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter. More Photos »

By GREG BISHOP

Published: January 8, 2013

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — They called the football game played here Monday night a national championship, a title clash for the ages, epic, monumental, historic.

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B.C.S. Title Game: Alabama vs. Notre Dame

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Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson, trying to escape Vinnie Sunseri, was 21 of 36 for 270 yards in the Irish More Photos »

Then Notre Dame kicked the ball off.

Then Alabama drove down the field, unimpeded, as if out for a nighttime stroll. It all went downhill from there, for Notre Dame and for those interested in the most overhyped college football game in years. Instead, this national championship ended early, almost immediately, in a flurry of Alabama touchdowns that allowed the Crimson Tide to seize their third title in four seasons, 42-14, with all the ease predicted by the oddsmakers, sapping this game of all competitiveness or drama.

This was “Rudy,” the sequel, after he stumbled onto Elm Street.

Alabama jumped to a 14-0 lead after one quarter and opened up a 28-0 advantage by the half, as Notre Dame fans streamed for the exits and the beer lines. Afterward, Alabama fans held newspapers with the headline “BAMA! AGAIN!” and chanted “S!E!C!”, as defensive lineman Quinton Dial grabbed the school flag from a cheerleader and sprinted across the end zone.

The game itself brought to mind a famous quote from Mike Tyson. Everybody has a plan, he said — until getting punched in the face. On Monday, Alabama bludgeoned Notre Dame, repeatedly. It controlled the game with both lines, on offense and defense, putting on a clinic in power football. It ran all over a defense known for its ability to stop the run. Alabama (13-1) so dominated that it reminded sports fans that N.B.A. games were also available for viewing Monday night, and that Notre Dame’s best chance for a national title is now in women’s basketball.

This only strengthened the claim few at Alabama dared to make before Monday night: that Coach Nick Saban, who flopped in two forgettable seasons on this very field at Sun Life Stadium as coach of the Miami Dolphins, has created a college football dynasty. This was his fourth national championship and third since he left the Dolphins to return to college football at Alabama. One could easily argue it was also his most impressive.

In the locker room, surrounded by the teammates in gray championship hats and T-shirts, linebacker Nico Johnson blurted out words that only a senior could. For the underclassmen, Saban continued to ban the d-word. “OK, I can say it now,” Johnson said. “This is a dynasty.”

Only two other college coaches can claim at least four titles. One is John McKay of Southern California. The other is Paul Bryant, the coach known as Bear who made Alabama football famous.

Now there is Saban, a coach who must contend with fewer scholarships than afforded coaches from the Bryant era and who faces far stiffer competition. Yet despite those limitations, Saban runs a program that resembles a 33rd N.F.L. team as closely as a college football powerhouse. This season, despite a close loss to Texas A&M, only reinforced that notion.

Saban spent all of last week scoffing at any comparison between himself and Bryant, and this from a man with a 9-foot-tall statue of himself outside his office. Those close to him knew what another championship meant. “There’s no question,” said Kirby Smart, his defensive coordinator. “There’s no question he is driven to be the greatest coach in the game.”

Monday was another step, for Saban’s legacy and for Alabama’s program and for the Southeastern Conference, from which a team secured the national championship for the seventh straight season. As “Sweet Home Alabama” predictably blasted from the stadium speakers — Roll! Tide! Roll! — Mike Slive, the conference commissioner dodged confetti and smiled a smile that seemed to stretch from here to South Beach.

“You don’t see something like this coming,” he said. “One can enjoy it. But one cannot anticipate it.”

The suspense this year ended almost immediately. Almost. Notre Dame (12-1) stuffed the Crimson Tide on their first play from scrimmage. On the next snap, quarterback A J McCarron found receiver Kevin Norwood for a 29-yard gain. Notre Dame compounded that with a face mask penalty, then compounded that with a defensive offsides. Its vaunted defense, led by linebacker Manti Te’o, was generally ineffective.

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Dy-Nasty

Dynasties are a rarity in college football and thanks to Alabama's victory over Notre Dame, we're living in the middle of one now. Gene Wojciechowski » Nick Saban Rank 'em » BCS home »
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http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/59101/wojciechowski-tide-at-sports-pinnacle

SEC Blog

Wojciechowski: Tide at sport's pinnacle

January, 8, 2013

By Gene Wojciechowski | ESPN.com

MIAMI -- Nick Saban is a perfectionist. We all know this. He looks at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and questions Michelangelo's color choices. He wonders if E really does equal mc².

But Saban is going to need an electron microscope to find much wrong with Alabama's 42-14 humiliation of Notre Dame in Monday's Discover BCS National Championship. It was so complete, so, well, perfect, that Bama should get a crystal trophy and a half for this one.

"I think it's pretty special what we accomplished," Saban said.

Wait? What? Did Saban really mean that? After all, this is a guy who can find fault with the shape of a snowflake.

"Whether I look it or not, I'm happy as hell," he said.

Happy and houndstooth were best friends Monday night. "Sweet Home Alabama" blared from the Sun Life Stadium loudspeakers as players waved just-issued newspapers that read, "Bama Again!" Other players danced with Obie, the Orange Bowl mascot.

Crimson Tide athletic director Mal Moore, the consummate Southern gentleman who has been part of 10 Bama football national championships as a player, coach and AD, stood at the 25-yard line, surrounded by reporters. But when he turned a certain way, you could see a fresh lipstick kiss on his left cheek.

Roll Tide, Mal.

Anyway, we can pretty much hold a retirement party for the "Is Alabama A Dynasty?" debate. The Crimson Tide are not only a dynasty, it's the program that other football teams want to be when they grow up.

For Gene Wojciechowski's full column, click here.

RollBamaRoll5000

Oh man, I can't stop thinking about that first drive, that really set the tone and I don't think anyone thought that Bama would be able to run it down their throats that early...I am still smiling.

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