11/05/24
January 08, 2013
Alabama Crushes Notre Dame in BCS Championship: College football's BCS championship between Alabama and Notre Dame ended early in a flurry of Crimson Tide touchdowns en route to a 42-14 victory. Coach Nick Saban's team has won three of the last four championships and the SEC has won its seventh in a row.
Yeah, I'm in favor of a meteor strike on this game, but good lord are the stripes stinkin' up the joint.
But not as much as is Notre Dame.
posted by Etrigan at 09:01 PM on January 07, 2013
I'm just going to make the joke about referring to Notre Dame as Deacon Blues right here,
posted by Joey Michaels at 09:53 PM on January 07, 2013
At least Brent Musburger is keeping himself entertained, with slightly creepy comments about young ladies in the crowd.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 10:11 PM on January 07, 2013
I think the officials are the least of Notre Dame's problems right now.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 10:13 PM on January 07, 2013
I know an undefeated ND team could simply not be excluded from the BCS title game, but if this is not an advertisement for some sort of playoff, not sure what is. ND is simply outclassed here -- and while Bama is a good team, they did not exactly dominate the SEC this year (loss to A&M and very close calls against LSU and UGA), and this is arguably the weakest of Bama's recent (last three) national championship teams.
If this game has shown me anything, it is that Saban is a borderline unstoppable force when given over a month to prepare for a national championship game. As an LSU fan, I thought it was the biggest advantage over LSU (and Les Miles) last year, but this certainly confirms it.
posted by holden at 10:49 PM on January 07, 2013
Horrible game from the start. I feel like an idiot for actually thinking Notre Dame could stay in it.
Maybe the SEC Championship should be considered the national title game until another program or conference can hang with their best.
posted by dyams at 11:15 PM on January 07, 2013
I was hoping that Saban would resign at halftime and go off to coach the Chargers or something.
posted by beaverboard at 12:32 AM on January 08, 2013
Maybe the SEC Championship should be considered the national title game until another program or conference can hang with their best.
I like the idea of having two title games: the SEC Championship and a matchup between two non-SEC teams, and never the twain shall meet. That way everyone can sustain the oneupmanship right through until the start of the next season.
(Remember, the arguments are features, not bugs.)
posted by etagloh at 12:36 AM on January 08, 2013
Q: What do the Fighting Irish and marijuana have in common?
A: They both get smoked in a bowl.
This is the worst Irish performance since Tom Cruise in "Far and Away".
posted by grum@work at 12:41 AM on January 08, 2013
Or Brad Pitt in The Devils Own.
posted by owlhouse at 04:55 AM on January 08, 2013
McCarron's girlfriend was the only reason there was to watch the game after the first quarter.
posted by dyams at 06:11 AM on January 08, 2013
I feel like an idiot for actually thinking Notre Dame could stay in it.
Seconded. Wow. I have to agree with Musberger for asking just how good Texas A&M was to have beaten that team.
posted by yerfatma at 09:49 AM on January 08, 2013
This reminded me a bit of the men v. boys hoops beatdown that UNLV administered to Duke in the NCAA tournament title game back in the day.
Whereupon Krzyzewski challenged his team and they brought it up a notch and significantly took care of business, knocking UNLV out of the Final Four the following year.
Kelly was properly talking in those terms after the game and perhaps he will be able to get his squad to answer the call.
At least Kelly has his sights set on a clear task ahead. For Saban, hard to say what compelling challenges lie in front of him in Tuscaloosa.
Other than attempting to bankrupt the Bama boosters, as the coach and his attorney calmly tick off the extra millions in contractual championship bonus money that keeps rolling in.
And the Tide's visit to College Station in September. A&M may need to fill in the open end of the stadium with more seating for that one.
posted by beaverboard at 10:34 AM on January 08, 2013
A&M looked great in their bowl game, and a playoff possibly leading up to them and the Tide again would have been interesting. But then again, without beat-downs like this we continue with the "what ifs" regarding a team from another (or no) conference playing the SEC powerhouses like Alabama.
posted by dyams at 11:17 AM on January 08, 2013
One more BCS year and then we'll at least get the plus one playoffs...
posted by billsaysthis at 11:44 AM on January 08, 2013
Can the plus-one playoffs pit two SEC teams against each other in the final game?
posted by rcade at 11:52 AM on January 08, 2013
I think the playoff cannot come fast enough, but do think that post-season college football will always be a bit skewed as long as there is a month-long break (and potentially longer) between the last competitive game and the postseason/bowl games. I understand that college sports need to work around the academic calendar, but the long layoff (and what that means with respect to loss of rhythm/flow, extra time to prepare/game plan, etc.) means that the postseason results will potentially deviate even more from what regular season dominance/strength/trends than, say, the NFL playoffs. As noted above, this favors detail-oriented, strategic thinking coaches that can create a comprehensive game plan and have the personnel to pull it off (and more power to them -- it's not like this is unfairly tilting the playing field due to some arbitrary factor). I do, however, think that any advantage that an Alabama or other well-coached team has due to this scheduling dynamic will be mitigated somewhat by a four-team playoff -- because while a team can prepare a month or so for the semifinal game, there is only so much planning a team can do for a potential championship game against an unknown opponent (although it will obviously be one of two teams) until that week before the championship game (and then it is just a week of prep time).
Can the plus-one playoffs pit two SEC teams against each other in the final game?
Yes. As we saw last year, so can the BCS.
posted by holden at 12:00 PM on January 08, 2013
Take that Rudy.
posted by hardrane at 12:54 PM on January 08, 2013
Gaze in horror at A.J. McCarron's tattoo.
posted by rcade at 01:04 PM on January 08, 2013
With only 4 teams in the mix it's still just a popularity contest.
just how good Texas A&M was to have beaten that team
And Louisville completely outclassed Florida, who beat Texas A&M. The BCS is bad, but a 4 team scenario would still not include a team such as Louisville simply because the conference they play in doesn't carry the same financial clout.
Without a true playoff between conference champions or a seeded playoff there will never be a true national champion.
posted by cixelsyd at 01:22 PM on January 08, 2013
Didn't want to look at the McCarron tat, fearing it might depict Rex Ryan's wife in a Namath jersey.
But finally felt I had an obligation to look.
What's he doing on the beach with Bride of Leatherface?
posted by beaverboard at 01:26 PM on January 08, 2013
Gaze in horror at A.J. McCarron's tattoo.
Wow, he combined 'bama boy' with jesus. So much awesome.
posted by justgary at 03:51 PM on January 08, 2013
Add it up, and you have everything a Crimson Tide fan could want in a quarterback: The home-grown loyalty of Brodie Croyle, the overt faith of Jay Barker, the questionable judgment of Ken Stabler, all in one elegant improbable package. Now, he just needs a full-back homage to the Bear, and the boy is in business.
posted by justgary at 03:55 PM on January 08, 2013
as the coach and his attorney calmly tick off the extra millions in contractual championship bonus money that keeps rolling in.
And the academic departments once again contemplate what it is to be subsidiaries of a sporting franchise.
posted by etagloh at 04:24 PM on January 08, 2013
"At least Brent Musburger is keeping himself entertained, with slightly creepy comments about young ladies in the crowd."
Which brings to the fact that I believe we have Brent to thank for this woman's fame.
posted by Bonkers at 10:33 AM on January 09, 2013
Without a true playoff between conference champions or a seeded playoff there will never be a true national champion.
The details are still coming, apparently in April, but I read yesterday that a selection committee with representation from all the involved conferences, similar to the one for the NCAA BBall dance, will pick the teams. And the expectation is that like the NCAAs the process will use strength of schedule as a key factor; the article even mentioned that this will likely kill off many creampuff matchups.
We'll see how reality matches up but for once let's try and be optimists ;)
posted by billsaysthis at 12:23 PM on January 09, 2013
We'll see how reality matches up but for once let's try and be optimists ;)
People who sell pitchforks and torches do not want to hear such nonsense.
posted by grum@work at 12:24 PM on January 09, 2013
Yeah! What are ya, some sort of job killer?
posted by NoMich at 12:50 PM on January 09, 2013
Without a true playoff between conference champions or a seeded playoff there will never be a true national champion.
There never will be one at all, because there are way too many FBS schools. The NFL cuts 32 teams down to 12 on the basis of a 16-game schedule. The NCAA wants to cut 120 down to 4 on the basis of a 12-game schedule. Even if they expand it to 8, there will always be whining because the Big East got overlooked or there were only two SEC teams. Sixteen would be insane and basically demolish conferences entirely (12 regular-season games plus up to four post-season games PLUS a conference championship?). Without A) chopping FBS at least in half and B) jettisoning schools that just don't belong (Vanderbilt, Duke) who are only there to increase academic reputations or because they're good at basketball and wind up being more truly "tune-up" games than many mid-majors (Boise State), no system will ever be good enough.
posted by Etrigan at 01:48 PM on January 09, 2013
Hey, both Vanderbilt and Duke went bowling this season, with the Commodores posting 9 wins total.
posted by bender at 02:24 PM on January 09, 2013
I've been a reader for a while but joined just to make this comment. As an ND fan, I've been reading comments all over the interwebs about this game (so apparently I'm a bit of a masochist, too) and this is the first time that I haven't seen a single person complaining that ND shouldn't have been in the game to begin with. Kudos to everyone for recognizing that this wasn't an undefeated 1998 Tulane team. With the schedule that they played, even if it ended up softer than everyone thought and several wins were closer than they should have been, there was no way to logically deny them a shot. It's easy now to say that they didn't belong there but at least we/they got the opportunity to find that out.
Regarding the playoff discussion, I've always said the least controversial option is a 16-team playoff where each conference champ (yes, even Sun Belt) gets a spot and the rest are filled in as at-large. It would be logistically difficult but at least it would give every champ the opportunity. If you don't win your championship, then let the computers/polls decide if you're worthy.
posted by woodjer at 04:15 PM on January 09, 2013
Welcome, Woodjer. I thought Notre Dame deserved its spot in the game as much as I expected them to be crushed by Alabama. Even as early as the first quarter, I thought some of the Fighting Irish looked like they agreed with me.
posted by rcade at 04:37 PM on January 09, 2013
I thought Notre Dame deserved its spot in the game as much as I expected them to be crushed by Alabama.
Yep. How do you deny an undefeated team the shot? I guess maybe there could be a requirement that to get a BCS game, a team has to be in some conference, but I just can't see that idea gaining too much traction.
Also, as a fan of the equally undefeated and equally mediocre Ohio State Buckeyes, I say to you as a Notre Dame fan-Better you than me. Thank Jebus we were subject to a bowl ban. Then again, the BCS championship might have been ND-OSU, and would have been a better matched game.
posted by tahoemoj at 06:21 PM on January 09, 2013
Why did the replacement officials get assigned to the "championship" game?
Good god.