I, like many others, went into last night’s game thinking
maybe the hype was worth it and we’d be treated to a good game. Perhaps, Notre
Dame could even pull off the upset. That was, until the camera showed Nick
Saban patrolling the sidelines minutes before the game and I remembered by I
had so much confidence in Alabama in the first place. Because Nick Saban is
more than a great coach; his ability to lead a program is the stuff of legend.
Saban may
very well be the most hated coach in America. This is not without good reason;
Saban bullies the media and seems to never smile even when winning National
Titles. But the American public must give credit where it is due; Nick Saban is
responsible for the most impressive dynasty in North American sports since the
late-nineties Yankees.
Saban
has now won three national titles with Alabama (and another with LSU in 2003)
and only lost only seven games in five seasons. Now compare that to... oh wait,
no one. No team this decade can possibly compare the Alabama. In the past two
seasons they’ve lost only to a team led by the eventual Heisman winner and a
team they’d later defeat (embarrass?) in the National Championship. In a “down”
year in 2010, the Crimson Tide fell to three top-25 ranked SEC opponents (South
Carolina, LSU and eventual national champion Auburn). But they defeated Penn
St. Arkansas, Florida, Miss. St. and Michigan St.; all of whom were ranked in
the top-25 at the time of defeat. In 2009 Bama tore through the SEC and
destroyed Florida and Tim Tebow’s repeat hopes in the SEC championship before
easily handling the McCoy-less Texas Longhorns in the National Title game.
People forget the Tide also went undefeated in the 2008 regular season before
being defeated by the Tim Tebow-led Florida Gators in the SEC Championship.
The run
of dominance should have landed Nick Saban as the king of College Football in
the eye of the public before the regular season in 2012. But Alabama was never
totally given the respect they deserved as negative storylines hung over both
of their previous National Championships. In 2009 they only defeated Texas
after Colt McCoy was injured during the first series and replaced by Garrett
Gilbert. In 2011 talk surrounded the lack of excitement in the title game and
LSU’s incompetence on offense. Saban and his team knew their legacy was at
stake before this game and, perhaps, that’s why we saw the type of dominance we
did last night.
Plenty
of talk surrounding the game was about Notre Dame’s shortcomings but no one has
doubted whether Alabama deserves the title, they are the undisputed champions.
The Tide were dominant from their first drive. They pushed around Notre Dame’s
vaunted D as though they were playing Western Kentucky again and scored at will.
By the time the outcome was decided, a graphic flashed across the screen
informing the viewers that Alabama had scored 69 unanswered points in BCS
National Championship Games. Let that fact sink in. Then, let it sink in that
Alabama averaged nearly 40 points per game this season while giving up only 10
per game. Then, remember what you watched last night and remember that the man
responsible for it likely isn’t going anywhere. This is the Nick Saban era;
good luck everyone else.
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