Notre Dame became the first team in two football seasons to hold Alabama under 35 points, but Brian Kelly's Fighting Irish are still no match for Nick Saban's Crimson Tide.
Alabama's trio of quarterback Mac Jones, running back Najee Harris and receiver DeVonta Smith have been way too much for the Southeastern Conference to handle, and they were too much for Notre Dame in a 31-14 whipping Friday in the national semifinal Rose Bowl that was relocated to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Jones completed 25 of 30 passes for 297 yards and four touchdowns, with Smith collecting three of those scores.
Harris added 125 rushing yards that included a hurdle that ignited a career-long run of 53, but Smith earned bowl MVP honors on the heels of being named Associated Press player of the year earlier this week.
"I truly believe that if you work hard, you're going to get the results that you want," Smith said following his seven-catch, 130-yard performance that has him at 3,750 career receiving yards and within nine yards of matching the SEC record set by Vanderbilt's Jordan Matthews from 2010-13.
Smith's third touchdown of the game, a 7-yarder with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter, extended Alabama's lead to 28-7 and all but iced the expected mismatch. Will Reichard connected on a 41-yard field goal with 12:45 remaining in the game to give the Crimson Tide their largest lead at 31-7, and the most notable occurrence after that was Saban getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct with 3:09 left.
"I was out on the field about two steps because I was yelling at one of our linebackers who didn't drop in the right direction," Saban said. "I've done that pretty much all of my career, and it wasn't during a live ball, but I guess, technically, you're not supposed to do that. I'm not criticizing anybody and I'm not complaining.
"I'm just saying I've been a head coach for 20-something years, and I've never been called for that. I got called today, and I'll have to do better next time."
Alabama's convincing win was only slightly more compelling than the Crimson Tide's 42-14 rout of the Irish in the BCS championship game of the 2012 season. The Crimson Tide led that contest 35-0 midway through the third quarter, and Friday had the makings of a repeat when Alabama's first 12 plays from scrimmage produced 176 yards and a 14-0 lead.
A 26-yard connection from Jones to Smith put Alabama up 7-0 at the 10:14 mark of the opening quarter, while a 12-yard strike from Jones to tight end Jahleel Billingsley made it 14-0 with 4:19 left in the first. The Crimson Tide went 97 yards on five plays with their second possession, with the Harris hurdle serving as that drive's big gain.
"I actually try to teach him not to do that, but it didn't work," Saban said. "For a big guy, it's pretty amazing that he can do that. He's got a great feel when a guy is going to cut him, which a lot of smaller DBs will try to do against bigger backs. When he sees that head go down, he will go over them in a heartbeat, and it's been very effective for him."
Said Crimson Tide center Chris Owens: "We expect it from him. He's athletic and can get a lot of things done. When he did it, my first thought was to chase the ball and get ready for the next play, because you know he's going to run for a long time."
Notre Dame responded with a 15-play, 75-yard drive that consumed eight minutes and three seconds and resulted in the Irish pulling within 14-7 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Kyren Williams at the 11:16 mark of the second quarter. The one-score game would be short-lived, as Alabama zipped 84 yards in six plays and went up 21-7 on a 34-yard pass from Jones to Smith.
When Smith collected his third score, Alabama became the first program in FBS history to have a player with 20 rushing touchdowns (Harris) and 20 receiving touchdowns (Smith) in the same season.
"I've always said that they make me look a lot better than I am," Jones said. "I'm not very athletic. I just try and get the ball to the right people, and we have the best offense in the country in our mind."
While Alabama improved to 12-0, the Irish finished their season at 10-2 following a 10-0 start. Notre Dame lost last month's Atlantic Coast Conference championship game to Clemson and lost Friday by the combined score of 65-24, and the Irish are now 0-7 in either BCS title games or New Year's Six bowl games since 2000.
"I guess everybody needs to continue to carry this narrative that Notre Dame is not good enough," Kelly said. "Look at the scores of the games that Alabama has played all year, and I think we need to start to change the narrative a little bit. This team was out there competing and having a chance to win, and I'm proud of the way our guys competed.
"We're going to keep getting here, and we're going to keep banging at it. They made plays on the perimeter. They had the college football player of the year who made some dynamic plays."
Notre Dame controlling the clock for 33 minutes and 43 seconds helped end Alabama's streak of 35 or more points at 24 games. The Crimson Tide did, however, showcase one of their most electric quarters of the season by averaging 14.7 yards per play during the first 15 minutes.
Tide tidbits
Alabama has now won 40 consecutive games when scoring a touchdown on its opening possession. The Crimson Tide have outscored opponents 146-37 this season in the first quarter. Freshman defensive back Malachi Moore didn't play Friday due to a lingering injury from the SEC championship game. Sophomore linebacker Christian Harris notched his first career interception in the third quarter.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.