4. It was a tough performance by Notre Dame
It was a strange game for an Irish team that had the lines and the team to potentially make it more interesting.
It’s as if Notre Dame played exactly the way everyone thought it would.
They actually had chances to change the narrative and get right back in it, but there was no tempo, no rhythm, and there wasn’t that one big play to make it seem like the early storm was weathered.
The idea was obviously to bleed the clock as much as possible to keep the Alabama offense on the sidelines – the second quarter touchdown drive went 15 plays in over eight minutes – but that was about it.
Ian Book threw an interception early in the second half, he wasn’t able to connect on enough big throws, Alabama kicked a field goal to go up 31-7, and that was about it.
It was almost like – all this coming from watching on TV and not being in the stadium – Notre Dame never really had a plan for when Alabama was going to do what Alabama was supposed to do. When there was no real way of making this a grind, there wasn’t any ability to pivot.
The Irish were fine on third downs, there was only the one turnover, and it did the job controlling the clock, but they played the game, got down, and it was over.
It’s a rambling way of saying Notre Dame wasn’t able to play its game.
And then there were the other oddities, like not operating with a quick enough pace at times in the second half, and not going for two to try making it a 16-point game after a late score. Kicking the extra point was fine to be down 17 – there was only a minute to play – but then the Irish went win an onside kick.
It was a rough performance, but there’s a reason. Alabama is just that good.