It seemed as though Notre Dame cornerback Nick McCloud was obliging to being a participant in the highlight-reel play of the College Football Playoff.
The instinctual hurdle from Alabama running back Najee Harris was the outset of a 53-yard rush that set up Alabama’s second touchdown of the first quarter. And McCloud helplessly fell to the ground as other Fighting Irish defenders raced after the Crimson Tide speedster.
Harris and the Alabama offense was impossible to stop at the most important times in a 31-14 Rose Bowl win played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Alabama quarterback Mac Jones was 25-of-30 passing for four touchdowns — three of which went to DeVonta Smith, who had 130 yards receiving. Harris ran for 125 yards on his 15 attempts.
Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book didn’t throw for any touchdowns, and running back Kyren Williams was the top offensive player, with 64 yards rushing and one touchdown.
Notre Dame came into the game, hoping to reverse a trend of losing big games by large sums. It had lost the previous six New Year’s Six day games by a combined 144 points. This game didn’t reverse anything, as the Crimson Tide took command of the game early in the first quarter.
The Fighting Irish won the toss and elected to receive, hoping to get some early momentum. Instead they ran just five plays and punted. Then Alabama ran five plays and scored — capped off with Smith evading a tackle and scooting into the end zone along the left sideline.
That was the pace through the game. Notre Dame was slow and methodical. Its first TD drive took 8:03. Its offense wasn’t completely ineffective early on, but it only capitalized on one chance in the first half. Conversely, Alabama was scoring quickly and at will.
The time of possession battle was won by Notre Dame by about seven full minutes, indicative of just how quick the Crimson Tide was able to dominate when it had possession.
That total only got a little closer toward the end of the game, as Alabama held onto the ball to bleed the clock out of its big win.
Alabama will now play in its fifth national championship game over the last six seasons. It has won two titles in that span. Head coach Nick Saban will be looking for his sixth title as the Crimson Tide head coach.
Conversely, Notre Dame is now 0 for 3 in its attempts to win a championship under head coach Brian Kelly. It has been outscored 103-29 during those games.
The reality is that this game went exactly as all the prognosticators thought it would. Notre Dame came in as one of the biggest underdogs in College Football Playoff history. Alabama came in with one of its most dominant offenses in the Saban era.
And Alabama raced out to its big lead, and the Fighting Irish never had much of a fighting chance.
