Kelly says Alabama has evolved since last meeting
Good news, Notre Dame football fans.
Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly believes his program has improved since its last encounter with Alabama heading into their New Year’s Day pairing in the national semifinal Rose Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
There is a downside, though, as Kelly recognizes that Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide have impressively evolved since pounding Notre Dame 42-14 in the BCS championship game of the 2012 season. “At first glimpse, it’s the proliferation of talent on offense, certainly at the wide receiver positions and at running back,” Kelly said. “I would say they continue to evolve on the offensive line, and I think their number two and number three running backs are as good as anybody in the country.
“I would also probably point towards great quarterback play — not good quarterback play, but great quarterback play — but their skill players and in particular the wide receivers have really elevated the explosiveness of these Alabama offenses.”
In the 16-year history of the BCS championship contest, which was replaced in 2014 by the current fourteam playoff format, there were a handful of matchups that got out of hand in a hurry. Miami’s 37-14 rout of Nebraska after the 2001 season never had a chance to be compelling given the NFL- bound talent possessed by the Hurricanes, and an expected classic between Oklahoma and Southern California following the 2004 season became an unexpected 55-19 USC runaway.
The Trojans built a 45-10 lead on the Sooners midway through the third quarter of that slaughtering, and Alabama would match that spread against Notre Dame in Miami by building a 35-0 lead before abandoning the accelerator.
“We’ve certainly evolved since 2012 in terms of our roster,” Kelly said. “It’s a deeper roster, and we’re more physical on both sides of the ball. There were certainly some very talented players on that 2012
roster. In fact, some of them are still in the league doing quite well, but I think overall the depth of the roster, the ability to make plays on both sides of the ball, and just the size and physicality on both the offensive and defensive line is probably the biggest departure from 2012.”
Alabama’s downhill rushing attack overwhelmed Notre Dame in their last meeting, with Eddie Lacy rushing 20 times for 140 yards and a touchdown and T.J. Yeldon adding 21 for 108 and a score. That 1-2 punch opened the play-action passing of AJ McCarron, who completed 20 of 28 passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns, with a pair of his scores going to Amari Cooper.
The Crimson Tide offense of 2012 thrived behind a powerful line that featured Cyrus Kouandjio, Chance Warmack, Barrett Jones, Anthony Steen and D.J. Fluker. This season’s Alabama front of Alex Leatherwood, Deonte Brown, Landon Dickerson, Emil Ekiyor and Evan Neal has opened plenty of holes for Najee Harris to rush for 1,278 yards and 5.9 yards per carry, but it has been equally hailed for protecting quarterback Mac Jones.
Alabama’s starting line has yielded just eight sacks of Jones in 377 drop-back opportunities this season, or one sack per 47.1. Dickerson is no longer anchoring Alabama’s front due to the knee injury he sustained in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday night, but replacement Chris Owens has played in 32 games the past three seasons with five starts.
“I think the basic fundamental culture we try to create in our program has not really changed that much in terms of helping players be more successful in life, but in terms of how we play on the field, we’ve probably changed as the game has changed,” Saban said. “We were more of a run the ball, play-action pass, NFL-type of offense back in the 2012 days than we are right now.
“We’re still more sort of NFL-style but have also incorporated a lot of the spread concepts and RPOs and those types of things. So we’ve kind of evolved a little bit as the game has evolved on the field, but the culture of the program really hasn’t changed.”
ROSE BOWL NOTES
Alabama, Notre Dame and Texas A&M were named Monday as the three finalists for the Joe Moore Award, given annually to college football’s top offensive line. The Crimson Tide won the inaugural Joe Moore Award in 2015, with the Irish claiming it in 2017. … Irish linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was named Monday as the 36th Butkus Award winner.