T.J. Yeldon runs over Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o for a touchdown. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)
What other news websites around the country said about Alabama’s 42-14 win over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game. This is the second of three posts, each of which will include four reports:
South Bend Tribune
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – This wasn’t the way it was supposed to end for Manti Te’o.
Alabama players showcasing newspapers touting their third national championship in four years. Members of the Bama program, not Notre Dame’s, ascending the podium assembled on the pristine Sun Life Stadium grass. Crimson Tide players accentuating their uniforms with national championship hats and T-shirts.
Manti Te’o trotted through purple and white streamers as Alabama players ran through the crowd on the field waving flags. Cameras followed the ND senior linebacker’s steps off the field after the Crimson Tide dismantled the Irish, 42-14 in Monday’s BCS National Championship Game.
Afterwards, Te’o walked into an interview room, tossed some tape into a trash can and then waited for each of his teammates to pass, offering a show of encouragement as they walked by.
“Obviously disappointing,” is how Te’o described his emotions. “Not necessarily all that we lost, but we just didn’t represent our school, our team, our families the way that we could have. So in that aspect it’s just disappointing. But at the same time, I’m proud to be part of this team.”
Sports Illustrated
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — College football’s overlords need to hold an intervention, pronto, because this is becoming a serious problem. It’s clear now that no one can possibly hang with Alabama in a BCS championship game. And that’s an issue for everybody else, seeing as neither Nick Saban nor most of his marquee players seem interested in leaving Tuscaloosa anytime soon.
As the confetti poured down behind them at Sun Life Stadium, and as they tried to get changed in the locker room, Alabama’s players found themselves answering the same question over and over from reporters following their 42-14 demolition of Notre Dame on Monday: Having won three of the past four BCS championships, are the Crimson Tide a dynasty?
“Man, everyone keeps asking that,” said departing offensive lineman Chance Warmack. “We’re just a team hungry for dominance. You can put that in the paper.”
The BCS might want to put an end to these futile championship charades. How many more teams’ fans will fork over thousands of dollars for tickets and flights only to subject themselves to three-hour horror shows? How many more hours of programming must ESPN devote to building up an Alabama game that’s less competitive than A-Day? How many more idiots like this one will delude themselves into thinking one of Saban’s teams can be rendered mortal in a championship setting?
Maybe the real reason Chip Kelly turned down the NFL overtures last weekend was because he received a bat signal from the rest of college football: You’re our only hope.
Yahoo! Sports
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Nick Saban was telling stories the other day in a way he rarely does publicly, the kind of stories that might offer a glimpse into just how he’s come to dominate college football in a way that no other person is dominating a sport in America.
Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide won a third BCS title in four years here Monday, absolutely demolishing Notre Dame 42-14 in a game that – if you can believe it – wasn’t as close as that lopsided score.
It was the latest example of Saban’s ability to meld group after group into seemingly indomitable units, another 60-minute showcase of blunt-force trauma.
This time it was AJ McCarron (20 of 28 for 264 yards and four TDs) throwing it around, but it could’ve been Greg McElroy. This time it was Eddie Lacy (140 yards, one TD) spinning and slamming over the Irish, but it could’ve been Trent Richardson or Mark Ingram before him. This time it was Amari Cooper (six catches for 105 yards and two TDs) getting loose in the secondary, but it could’ve been Julio Jones. This time it was HaHa Clinton-Dix and C.J. Mosley anchoring the defense but it could’ve been Dont’a Hightower or Marcell Dareus.
The faces change, the seasons spin, but Nick Saban keeps lifting crystal footballs. This, counting a 2003 title at LSU, was his fourth.
Taqmpa Bay Times
MIAMI — The rolling was over now. Another title had been won, and another opponent had been trampled, and another college season had come to the same familiar finish of watching Alabama football players celebrate beneath the fireworks.
This is who they are, and this is what they do. They are America’s best program, and they always seem to be at their finest on America’s biggest stage. This was the third title in four years for the Crimson Tide, and who wants to bet against it next year?
Consider Monday night, when Alabama won the easiest national title game you could ever imagine, 42-14. As simple as flexing a muscle, the Tide made Notre Dame, previously the No. 1 team in the country, look like an escapee from the Peach Bowl.
And so Tide players celebrated. By now, they ought to know the steps. Call it the Dynasty Hustle.
Not far away from the party, the best performer of them all looked on. This was his team, and this was his title, but at the moment, Nick Saban seemed happy to be a spectator. There was a predator’s smile on Saban’s face. You imagine that Attila once wore the same look as he watched the Huns in their victory dance.
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