“I haven’t heard anyone mention it, but we actually tied Alabama in second-half scoring, which makes the loss even sadder. We had a chance.”
Delusional.
The second half was close because Nick Satan uncharacteristically let up.
Notre Dame looked like a shell of themselves in that game, and it had much to do with the time off and inexperience preparing for a game with six weeks off. Alabama, and Saban know how to prepare for a game with this lead time, and they looked better than they did in the regular season. Notre Dame’s D looked like they hadn’t seen a game speed running back or receiver ever before.
Alabama always had the upper hand in that game, but the first half was just a mess for Notre Dame. The fact that they were able to score in the second half is to their credit. Of course with their lead, Alabama certainly dailed it down on offense, especially in the 4th quarter. I hated to see that game go the way it did because Notre Dame was better than that. They have real talent on that team, and it should have been a reasonably competitive game, at least for awhile. As it was, that was just ugly to watch.