Shamrocked

Jesus. Has there ever been a bigger ass-kicking in a championship game? I have never seen anything like it.First, Notre Dame defers after winning the coin toss, in attempt to display their defensive prowess. Man o man did that backfire.

In the blink of an eye it was 21-0. Three touchdowns on Alabama’s first three possessions. I have never seen a team that overmatched in a title game…maybe in any sport. Manti Te’o (a Heisman Trophy candidate and perennial NFL prospect mind you), looked pedestrian if not below-average in this game. Just about every single Eddie Lacy run included multiple missed tackles, not to mention both Lacy and his freshman running-mate TJ Yeldon pulverizing Notre Dame defenders at the end of their runs to gain extra chunks of yards.

Alabama dominated the Irish in every single facet that exists in football. I saw gunners get laid out on special teams. Linebackers bounce off Lacy and Yeldon like “Bumperballs” in Mario Party. It got to the point where both Lacy and Yeldon were toying with the Notre Dame secondary. You got the feeling that they were laughing while they were running. Like, “Ha, these clowns went undefeated?”

Did anybody else get the “Notre Dame players are faking injuries in the second half just so they can avoid the perpetual beating” vibe? I did. I interpreted those “cramps” as white flags. White flags to tackle Lacy and Yeldon. White flags to cover Amari Cooper. White flags to cover anybody for that matter. Yes, I thought AJ McCarron was impressive. But seriously, Notre Dame couldn’t cover anybody.

The defining moment of that game for me (besides watching every Lacy and Yeldon run end with a Notre Dame defender on his back) came on a failed deep ball attempt by McCarron and “Julio Jones 2.0” Amari Cooper. On the play, Copper ran your basic fly route. He stayed just about even with the corner for 90% of the route, with the safety joining the fray as he continued down field—once again…he seemed to be toying with him. As soon as McCarron put the ball in the air, Cooper accelerated and left both defenders five yards behind him in the matter of strides. The ball missed Cooper’s outstretched hands by a yard, but that play embodied the total athletic mismatch between both teams.  Maybe this is a case of Amari Cooper being a complete stud (which he is), but at that moment I said, “Wow, these guys are just another brand of athlete.” You could have said that on a plethora of plays, probably even on the opening drive of the game.

What you can take away from this game…SEC football is just on another level. You could tell that the Notre Dame players realized that they were done on the opening drive. It made me think of the Friday Night Light movie scene when one of Permian’s star defensive players comes to the sideline begging for oxygen while marveling at his opponent. He tells Billy Bob Thornton (an underrated performance by the way), “Coach, they fast…they big…they dirty…coach they fast!” Couldn’t you picture an exact replica of this scene but with Ivory Christian (Permian defensive player) as Manti Te’o and Billy Bob Thornton (Permian Coach) as Brian Kelly?

Side note: How far did Te’o’s stock fall last night? In my opinion…BIG TIME.

Nick Saban has created a freight train. A program that spits out elite prospects and produces new ones in the process. When Mark Ingram moved on…in came Trent Richardson. When Trent Richardson moves on…in came Eddie Lacy…and TJ Yeldon. According to rivals.com, 2 of the top 5 runningbacks in this year’s recruiting class have committed to Alabama. See where I’m going here?

This is only at runningback. You can do this at pretty much every position. McCarron, Yeldon, and Cooper will all be back. Offensive line studs Barrett Jones and Chance Warmack will move onto the NFL, but two new unnamed studs will be waiting. That’s where Nick Saban has taken this Alabama program.

The only thing stopping them next year is a kid they call Johnny Football.

-Chris Collins

Follow Chris @ChrisCollins127

Follow Chris and PJ @IceBathReport