Bama's Domination By The Numbers
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – When Alabama took its opening drive and ran right through Notre Dame's defense in the BCS National Championship Game Monday night, little did the more than 80,000 fans at Sun Life Stadium know it was the beginning of a massive crimson tidal wave.
Alabama had no trouble dispensing with Notre Dame Monday night to capture its third title in four years. The Tide smacked Notre Dame around like a cat playing with a mouse en route to a 42-14 demolition in the BCS Championship Game.
Looking at the stats, it's easy to see just how dominant and balanced Alabama was in the victory. The Tide rushed for 265 yards and threw for 264 yards in the game with quarterback A.J. McCarron completing 20 of 28 passes in the game.
On the flip side, Alabama's defense held Notre Dame to just 32 yards rushing and 1.7 yards per rushing attempt. Notre Dame passed the ball for 270 yards, but just one touchdown in the game.
Alabama ran the ball 45 times in the game, had 28 first downs (13 rushing, 14 passing, 1 penalty) to Notre Dame's 16 first downs. Alabama ran 73 offensive plays in the game to Notre Dame's 55 and both teams combined for just seven penalties for 75 yards in the game.
Breaking the game down by quarter, Alabama controlled the ball for all but 2:52 of the first quarter and had the ball for more than 38 minutes in the game. The Tide converted 8-13 third down opportunities and were 5-5 in the red zone.
Notre Dame had the ball for just 21:47 and converted just 25 percent of its third down opportunities in the game and was 0-1 on fourth down conversions.
Alabama was led by the balanced attack from running backs Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon plus McCarron's steady hand. Lacy ran for 145 yards while Yeldon ran for 110 yards and McCarron threw four touchdown passes in the Irish demolition.
Here's a few more figures to go with Alabama's victory:
- Alabama beat Notre Dame for the first time since 1987 and only the second time in history.
- Alabama now has 15 national championships in college football history.
- Alabama's win means the number two ranked team in the BCS has won the championship 8 times out of 15 games.
- Alabama is the first back-to-back BCS national champion
- Alabama was the first team since the mid-90's to win three titles in four years.
- Alabama's win means the SEC STILL hasn't lost a BCS National Championship Game.
- The SEC has now won seven championships in a row
- Alabama is the first team to win three BCS National Championships
- Alabama continued the tradition of the winning team rushing for at least 150 yards in the game.
- Alabama head coach Nick Saban STILL hasn't lost in the BCS National Championship game.
On the bright side for Notre Dame, the school's men's basketball team did beat Cincinnati Monday night for its 12th straight win. So at least they have that going for them heading into the football offseason.
