Alabama Football: UND no match no surprise because speed kills

Alabama Football easily handling Notre Dame was no surprise. The difference in team speed was glaring.

Alabama Football versus Notre Dame was a mismatch. No offense is intended to the Fighting Irish. They are a physical, tough and good football team. Toughness and physical play gave Notre Dame no advantage over the Alabama Crimson Tide. The gap between the skill positions of the two teams hurt Notre Dame. What killed the Irish was the Tide’s team speed. Brian Kelly has some fast players but not nearly enough to compete with the Crimson Tide.

To have a chance in the Rose Bowl, Notre Dame had to play an almost perfect game. If it had, it probably would have still lost. The game was over, less than midway through the second quarter. In the fourth quarter and some of the third, the Crimson Tide was more interested in running the clock than scoring. Notre Dame fought gamely and salvaged some respect by holding the margin to 17 points.

The Alabama Football offense is great at full throttle. It does not always idle well. Ease off the gas, and it can be hard to get back to speed. There was no need to attack the Rose Bowl second-half any differently. The Tide offense may have revealed one new wrinkle in the first half. Showing more than that would have been foolhardy.

There were a couple of changes for the Rose Bowl. DeMarcco Hellams started at safety in place of Daniel Wright. Brian Branch started as the third corner, in place of Malachi Moore. As reported by Matt Zenitz of al.com, Nick Saban spoke about the personnel changes after the game.

• Malachi Moore was dealing with a minor injury from the SEC Championship game. He is listed as day-to-day going forward.
• Hellams had been doing well in practices and was chosen to start against the “physical” Fighting Irish.

Hellams responded by leading the Crimson Tide in tackles with 12, including a tackle-for-a-loss and a sack. Jaylen Moody took over for Christian Harris in the second half. Harris has a minor injury and the substitution was precautionary.

Another tidbit of information was Saban saying he has tried to teach Najee not to hurdle. The lesson did not stick with Najee. Alabama football fans were surprised when Nick received a personal foul penalty with less than two minutes to play. He was yelling at one of his players and apparently, something said did not sit well with an official.

What happens next is, of course, the National Championship game. The Jan. 11 contest will be nothing like the Rose Bowl. Miami will be Shootout City.

The Butkus Award winner, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah had a quiet game against the Crimson Tide with six tackles. Credit the Crimson Tide offensive line and the Sarkisian gameplan.