When Alabama running back Najee Harris took a hand, jumped out and went onto the field, he was confronted by Notre Dame cornerback Nick McCloud, who stepped forward to meet him with his shoulder down.
Does not matter. Harris, a 6-foot-tall, 110-pound veteran, treated McCloud like a huge fire hydrant, leaping over him with the clean, syncopated step of an Olympic athlete and galloping down the sideline.
The move was the landmark moment in Alabama’s 31-14 victory over Notre Dame in a semifinal at the College Football Playoff on Friday night in Arlington, Texas – Harris’ elegant athleticism epitomizing the ease with which Crimson Tide dispatched the Fighting Irish.
The victory reinforced the legitimacy of Alabama’s return to the top of the college football ladder, having missed the four-team playoff for the first time last season. Crimson Tide, who topped the ranking, went through an exclusive schedule for the Southeast Conference, overcame an obstinate Florida team in the conference title game and now advanced to the January 11 championship against Ohio State, which defeated Clemson by 49-28 on the other Friday semifinal.
This confrontation would not have been a big surprise last summer – the teams were ranked No. 2 and 3 at the start of the season – but the Buckeyes’ presence in the playoff is particularly appropriate.
In this disjointed pandemic season, his coach, Ryan Day, and his defender, Justin Fields, were at the helm of a campaign that convinced the ten presidents to reverse the course after they canceled the season in August.
Which finalist could better represent how disturbing the coronavirus has been than a team that played only five games of the regular season – three were canceled because of outbreaks – and, as a result, needed Big Ten dismissal to dispute the conference title ?
This shortened schedule, with just over half the seasons of the other semifinalists, led some coaches to question whether Ohio State should have been selected for the playoff of four teams – including coach Dabo Swinney of Clemson, who ranked the Buckeyes in 11th in the final classification. ‘vote.
The state of Ohio may have seen this as a bit, but it already had more organic motivation in Friday’s game – avenging a crushing 29-23 defeat to the Tigers in last season’s semifinal, which was sealed when Fields intercepted late on Clemson’s end zone.
That release was one of many regrets then. It was difficult for the Buckeyes to find a serious in New Orleans on Friday night.
The only real concern may be persistent physical pain – Fields moved boldly, but cautiously after being hit in the ribs by Clemson’s linebacker James Skalski, who was kicked out by sight.
“That blow really affected me,” Fields said in a television interview, adding later that he received an injection or two in the sideline medical booth during the game. “My ribs were killing me almost the entire game.”
The Buckeyes (7-0), who rolled 639 yards in total attack, will need all the firepower (and good health) they can muster in 10 days.
Alabama’s dynamic attack, which revolves around quarterback Mac Jones, receiver DeVonta Smith and Harris – all of whom finished in the top five in the vote for the Heisman Trophy – has been kept below 40 points for the first time since the opening of the season. Still, he shot across the field for touchdowns on his first three rides, and Notre Dame never really threatened the Crimson Tide.
Although Harris, who finished with a total of 125 race yards, played on the standout reel, Smith showed why he is the supposed favorite to beat Heisman. On his first touch, he took a quick pass on the scrimmage line and used a John Metchie III book pad to run 26 yards for a touchdown. He ended up with three touchdowns between his seven receptions in 130 yards.
All the while, Jones was almost perfect, completing 25 of 30 passes for 297 yards.
Practically the only person on the Alabama sideline who looked uncomfortable was coach Nick Saban, who drew a late unsportsmanlike penalty after complaining about the referees.
“We didn’t end the game the way we liked it,” Saban said in a television interview, adding with a sly smile: “I always have something to complain about.”
Still, after a year away from the playoffs, he was quite satisfied.
“These guys really won the opportunity to play the national championship game, so let’s see what we can do with it,” he said.
If Alabama (12-0) eliminated Notre Dame (10-2) with family efficiency, it was not difficult to remember the circumstance in which this game – and the entire season – occurred, in the middle of a pandemic that sports overturned.
The logo in the center of the Dallas Cowboys stadium was familiar on New Year’s Day – the stylized red Rose Bowl logo, which usually adorns the eponymous stadium in Pasadena, California.
But this year, after Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly threatened to boycott the Rose Bowl because California health rules did not allow families to attend the game, the Rose Bowl was moved to Texas – the first time it was not played in Pasadena since 1942, when he was transferred to Durham, NC, just after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
A crowd of 18,373 people were allowed to attend.
They witnessed a familiar ending in the bright lights of Notre Dame.
Fighting Irish have lost seven consecutive major bowl or playoff games since 2000, none of which is close to 14 points.
“We just needed more firepower, frankly. That’s it, ”said Kelly, resisting criticism of her show’s recent history. “There is no other story wider than the one we arrived at just before making some moves.”
Clemson (10-2), despite winning two national championships and reaching two other games for the title since 2015, ended his second consecutive season seeing his defense fragmented. The Tigers yielded 628 yards in a 42-25 loss to the state of Louisiana in the game for last season’s title.
Fields, who passed 385 yards and six touchdowns, and running back Trey Sermon, who cut the Tigers by running 193 yards, may not find things so easy against Alabama.
Crimson Tide is trying to atone for its own disappointment last season and, in this season of leaps and bounds and unexpected obstacles, has managed to overcome all obstacles.