Notre Dame fell flat in yet another big game, but Friday was a reminder that college football is still a three-team sport.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Yes, Notre Dame took another big-game whipping. But you know what? So would everyone else.
Everyone except maybe Clemson or Ohio State—and whoever wins that College Football Playoff semifinal better strap it up come Jan. 11, or they may be the next Alabama blowout victim. The 2020 Crimson Tide threshing machine could be so powerful that nobody stands a chance against it.
The first three possessions of this transplanted playoff game were a jaw-dropping display by the Alabama offense—this might have been a counterfeit Rose Bowl, but the Tide are for real. They scored 21 points on 18 plays, ripping through the Fighting Irish with lethal speed and precise execution. This was Najee Harris flying, DeVonta Smith sprinting, Mac Jones distributing—and Notre Dame chasing. And never catching.
Final score: Alabama 31, Notre Dame 14. What seemed inevitable before the game became inevitable shortly after kickoff.
Alabama needed seven plays to go 79 yards for its first touchdown, never once facing a third down and only twice having a second down. Its next possession was a 97-yard slash through the Irish in just five plays, highlighted by Harris hurdling Notre Dame cornerback Nick McCloud on a 53-yard run.“That’s what he does on the regular,” Smith said of Harris.
That play was emblematic of the talent gap between the two teams—the Crimson Tide soaring on a higher plane than the Irish. Before the game was 11 minutes old, it was 14–0 and it was essentially over.
After its second possession of the game, Notre Dame never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead. Even after a long, slow drive to score a touchdown of its own, the Irish defense immediately surrendered another TD. This was a speed mismatch on the outside and a talent mismatch at quarterback.
“They made the plays today,” said Irish coach Brian Kelly. “They made them on the perimeter. Their skill players showed up today, as they have all year. We simply didn’t make enough plays.”
Kelly was as bristly as a wire brush postgame when the media questions alluded to Notre Dame’s repeated shortcomings against elite competition. He had to know the questions were coming, and he was ready to push back forcefully at the first two of them.
“The margin is not the issue,” Kelly said. “Losing is losing. I don't know really what the inference is. This football team battled. And they made a few more plays on the perimeter. I'm not sure, really, what the question is. When you lose football games, you know, there's a few more plays that you have to make.
“We had the opportunity. You watched the game. I watched the game. … This wasn't a matter of getting knocked off the ball or not having enough players to compete against Alabama. … And I'm sorry if you don't like it or if the national media doesn't like it, but we're going to go back to work. We're going to keep recruiting and we're going to put ourselves back in this position again.”
We all watched the game. And it was more than just a few plays here or there. Alabama just has far better and far faster players at playmaking positions. Where Notre Dame barely tried to throw the ball to its pedestrian wide receivers, Jones was targeting the best wideout in years and a whole bunch of other sure-handed athletic freaks in open space.
“We thought we could get out and box that a little bit better,” Kelly said of the defensive gameplan. “And it didn't happen. … We were a little tentative. We shut our feet down. And you can't do that against highly skilled players. You have to be aggressive and attack those skill players in space. If you shut your feet down for a second they are gone.”
That’s what happens when the other team recruits at a higher level. Notre Dame’s players are good; Alabama’s players are better. That certainly includes the quarterback position, where Ian Book has had a very good career but had no chance of matching the throws Jones is able to make.
And so this result, combined with being pummeled 34–10 by Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, says definitively that Notre Dame remains a cut below the best. But while killing the Irish may feel good for a large section of America, it also overlooks the big picture—whoever was fourth in the College Football Playoff rankings was going to get smoked in this game.
The first team out of this four-team field was Texas A&M, and the Aggies were blown out by Alabama, too. The score of that one: 52–24. You want to see a rematch of that?
Should Cincinnati feel aggrieved? Absolutely. The Bearcats deserved far more respect and consideration than they got from the selection committee, and acquitted themselves well in the Peach Bowl despite being down many of their most important players. But let’s face it, does anyone think Cincinnati wouldn’t be bludgeoned by this Alabama team, too?
Oklahoma? The Sooners were much improved by season’s end, but losing two games—one to a Kansas State team that finished 4–6—eliminated them from serious consideration. And it should have.
Fact is, this remains a three-team sport. That is a serious, chronic issue that has sapped some of the national interest—far too many programs have no legitimate hope of competing for a national title, or even a playoff berth. The lack of diversity and depth creates boredom.
But in 2020, this ultimately might be a one-team sport. Alabama simply might be a cut above everyone. The Tide will be solidly favored in the national championship game Jan. 11.
Between now and then, one of the Alabama players may well 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 will take some time in the coming days to work on acceptance speeches, and Jones gave a response that had to warm Saban’s super-focused soul.
“That’s a rat poison question,” Jones said, echoing Saban’s term for media praise that can create complacency.
Jones went on to say that Alabama’s offensive goal is to “score one more point than the other team.” But honestly it’s never been that close for this group. The SEC championship was a six-point game against Florida, but the Gators never had a realistic shot at winning after falling behind by 18 at halftime. ‘Bama’s average margin of victory was 30 points coming into this game.
So the Irish outperformed the average Alabama opponent, and also exceeded the bettors’ expectations. This was a 20-point spread, largest in CFP history, and Notre Dame managed to score a late touchdown to cover that. Compared to many Fighting Irish flops in recent years, this was a better showing .
That doesn’t mean it was a close, competitive game, though. This wasn’t a play-here, play-there situation. This was Alabama being much better than Notre Dame, and now the Tide are one more win from rolling to an undefeated national championship. Maybe they’ll finally have to sweat out a close game in the finale—but maybe not.