by John Atchison

Created on: January 09, 2013

When the final BCS standings were released back in late November, college football thought they had a dream matchup for the National Championship Game. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, ranked number one in the land, would be taking on an Alabama team that had won two of the last three BCS titles. It was a matchup that reached back to the glory days of college football, when names like Bear Bryant and Ara Parseghian roamed the sidelines for these two proud schools.

Unfortunately, history and tradition do not always add up to a game for the ages in present day. The University of Alabama took the opening kickoff and methodically rammed it down the proverbial throat of Notre Dame. The Crimson Tide rolled over an overmatched Irish squad, which hardly resembled the team that beat four ranked opponents and finished undefeated.

From the beginning, it was clear that the big boys in the trenches for Alabama would control this contest. The Tide's running backs controlled the game from the outset as the team drove 80 yards in their first possession in just about three minutes. Eddie Lacy, who was named Offensive Player of the Game, rumbled 20 yards for a touchdown to give Alabama the lead. Their second try also found success, with Michael Williams taking a pass off a great AJ McCarron fake to make it 14-0.

Freshman TJ Yeldon got in on the fun less than five seconds into the second quarter. His one yard run put the Tide up 21 while their defense would not allow the Irish a whiff of their end zone. Kirby Smart's defense seemed to know what Irish quarterback Everett Golson was going to do before he actually did it. It looked like Notre Dame might score towards the end of the half, but after not converting a fourth down, McCarron led Alabama downfield again and got Eddie Lacy a touchdown catch to go with his earlier run. It was 28-0 at the half as many Americans probably searched for something else to watch.

Notre Dame came out of the tunnel for the second half fired up to make it a game. Golson connected on a long pass to DaVaris Daniels to get Notre Dame across midfield, but Alabama's defense stiffened and got the ball back. A 34 yard strike from McCarron to Amari Cooper made the score 35-0, leaving the fans in the stands to wonder what the final might end up. Notre Dame put up two cosmetic scores while AJ McCarron tossed his fourth touchdown pass of the night, his second to Amari Cooper.

The dismantling was complete, and talk of an Alabama dynasty reverberated from every analyst that could get in front of a monitor. The hype started off with this game being one of the best BCS matchups of all time. In the end though, the game turned out to be just another jewel in the crown of Nick Saban, who is quickly becoming as powerful a presence as Bear Bryant on the Alabama campus.

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