Not even pandemic could derail Alabama’s dynasty

MIAMIGARDENS,FLA.» A perfect season was capped off with a record-breaking performance on Monday night.

Thanks to big performances by quarterback Mac Jones, wide receiver DeVonta Smith, running back Najee Harris and others, the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide won their sixth National Championship in the last 12 seasons under head coach Nick Saban, easily defeating the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes, 52-24, in front of a socially distanced crowd of 14,926 at Hard Rock Stadium.

Alabama finished the year undefeated at 13-0, and the title was Saban’s seventh, breaking a tie with the legendary Bear Bryant, who coached the Crimson Tide from 1958-82, for the most all-time. Saban downplayed the accomplishment all night long.

“Well, I don’t think anybody really compares to Coach Bryant,” said the 69-yearold Saban in a virtual post-game press conference.

“In the era that he coached, the era that he won, he won a lot of different ways. He won throwing it. He won running a wishbone. He won it running conventional offensive formations. His legacy lasted over a long, long period of time. We all have to adjust with the times. Obviously, things are a little different now. … I think Coach Bryant is sort of in a class of his own in terms of what he was able to accomplish, what his record is, the longevity that he had and the tradition he established. If it wasn’t for Coach Bryant, we would never be able to do what we did.

“I mean, he’s the one that made Alabama and the tradition at Alabama a place where lots of players wanted to come. We’ve been able to build on that with great support. His family has always supported us in a tremendous way that has helped us have the success that we have. But that tradition that he established, that’s a big part of that.”

That tradition, to be clear, is a winning one, but Bryant never saw Alabama go on a run quite like the one they’re on under Saban, one in which they’ve established themselves as the unquestioned top program in the country.

With a seemingly endless cavalcade of future high-end NFL talent on the roster – the Crimson Tide are expected to see as many as six players taken in the first round of the upcoming draft – they’ve managed to perpetually stay at or near the top of the ultra-competitive SEC, especially this year in which all regular season games were inconference, but even Alabama will have a difficult time replicating what the offensive nucleus collectively accomplished on Monday.

In what was almost surely his last collegiate game, Jones set or tied five different National Championship Game records on a night in which he completed 36 of 45 passes for 464 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. A whopping 319 of those yards came in the first half – one of the records he set – and it seemed as though the majority of them came on completions to Smith, who was the talk of social media with a first-half performance unlike anything ever seen before thanks to his obvious and early chemistry with Jones, who was asked after the game about the team’s legacy.

“I mean, I think we’re the best team to ever play,” Jones said. “There’s no team that will ever play an SEC schedule like that again. At the same time, we’re just so happy to have won this game and kind of put the icing on the cake.”

Smith is a big part of why they were able to do just that; the Heisman Trophy winner set National Championship Game records for most receiving yards in a half (215), receptions (12) and receiving touchdowns (three) before suffering a dislocated finger early in the third quarter, ending his night.

“We had a mission,” Smith said, deflecting questions about his big game. “Everybody wanted to end things the right way. We just all came to work every day and just put in the work. We got the result that we wanted.”

Surely, Alabama couldn’t have done that without Harris, who ran the ball 22 times for 79 yards and two touchdowns, and gained an additional 79 yards on seven catches, including one more touchdown.

“Najee has played well all year long, had some tough yards to get out there tonight,” Saban said. “We knew it would be tough running against these guys the way they play. We knew we’d have to throw the ball to win, and we did it effectively.”

However, all three of the big contributors likely won’t be back – Harris and Smith are both seniors, while Jones, a junior, is expected to declare for the upcoming draft shortly – meaning Alabama will have to find a new core group on the offensive side of the ball to help them win yet another national title.

History suggests they’ll manage just fine.