Cary Clark's Greatest Games: 2013 Notre Dame
College football’s two most historic powers met for the 2012 national football title in a game that, if it had been a fight, would have been stopped. Alabama TKO’ed Notre Dame 42-14 on January 7, 2013 in Miami’s Sun Life Stadium in what was, literally, a beat down for the ages.
Eddie Lacy won Offensive MVP honors with two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving. He had 140 yards on 20 totes as the hapless Irish defense had no answer.
Defensive MVP C.J. Mosley made eight tackles – five solo – as the Alabama defense held Notre Dame to 302 yards, many of which came in “garbage time.”
They had help. AJ McCarron threw 264 yards and four scores while safety Ha Clinton-Dix had a one-handed pick to kill an Irish drive.
The Alabama offense rolled up 529 total yards and ran through the Irish stop troops like poop through the proverbial tin horn.
"We've had a lot of really great football players who've worked really hard," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "Because we've had a great team, we've been able to have a significant amount of success."
Alabama upped its record to 13-1 as the Tide had scored 69 straight points against its title game opponents, going back to getting the final 13 against Texas in 2010. That was followed by a stifling 21-0 victory over LSU for the previous year’s crown, then scoring the first 35 points on Notre Dame. Sabin’s team made the Irish [12-1] look like a team that would be hard-pressed to finish in the middle of the pack in the mighty Southeastern Conference.
The Crimson Tide wrapped up its ninth Associated Press national title, breaking a tie with Notre Dame for the most by any school and gaining a measure of redemption for a bitter loss to the Irish almost four decades ago: the epic Sugar Bowl in which Ara Parseghian's team edged Paul “Bea” Bryant's powerhouse 24-23. Notre Dame dropped to No. 4 in the last poll.
