The dynasty is born. Give Nick Saban five weeks to prepare and he's unbeatable. That was proven again Monday night as Alabama hammered Notre Dame 42-14 to win their third national championship in the last four years and their second in a row. The Tide started fast and early and didn't let up until it was over. Notre Dame suffers their first loss of the year and ends their season 12-1.
The story of the game was Alabama's total dominance on both sides of the ball. The Tide racked up 529 yards of total offense and limited the Irish to 32 yards rushing. A.J. McCarron paced Alabama with 264 yards on 20-of-28 passing with four touchdowns. Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon both rushed for over 100 yards with Lacy going for 140 yards and a score and Yeldon carrying for 108 yards and a touchdown.
Notre Dame was led by Everett Golson who threw for 270 yards with a touchdown and a pick. He also rushed for a touchdown. DaVaris Daniels made a nice comeback with six catches for 115 yards.
The game was almost over before it started as the Tide took the opening kickoff and marched 82 yards in five plays before Lacy ran in a touchdown from 20 yards away. After an Irish punt, Alabama came right back and went 61 yards in 10 plays to go up by two scores when McCarron tossed a three yard touchdown pass to Michael Williams.
Yeldon would open the second quarter with a one yard score to make it 21-0. The score would stay the same until 31 seconds remained in the half when McCarron threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Lacy to make it 28-0 at half.
The second half wouldn't go much better as Golson threw a pick on a deep ball to open the third quarter. Alabama would take advantage as McCarron threw his third touchdown of the night to Amari Cooper to increase the lead to 35-0.
The Irish would finally get on the board with 4:08 to play in the third when Golson ran in a touchdown from two yards away. The Tide added their final score early in the fourth on the second McCarron-to-Cooper strike. Notre Dame wrapped up the scoring on Golson's six-yard pass to Theo Riddick.
Alabama can now claim 15 national titles in school history and their fourth in the past 20 years. For Notre Dame, it'll be at least 25 years between titles.
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