Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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the opposite side of the field. McCarron was his typically efficient self. He threw for four scores and 264 yards on 20-of28 passing. He patiently picked apart a Notre Dame secondary that played uncharacteristically over-aggressive. Cooper caught six passes for 105 yards, and he added a 19-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter to make the score 42-7. Alabama's lopsided win gave the BCS its traditional SEC stamp of dominance. That makes seven crystal balls in a row for the proud Southeastern Conference. Alabama fans started the "S-E-C" chants before halftime, and they returned to fill an emptying Sun Life Stadium in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame got an upclose look at the championship-caliber outfit they aspire to be. The gap between the two teams was obvious and one that will take time to fill. This wasn't a game lost to a few sloppy mistakes or a better game plan. The Irish were beat by a better football team, plain and simple. Alabama became the first team in the BCS era to win back-to-back national titles. photo by lon horwedel "We've got another step that we have to take in the development of our program, and it'll be left up to those that have been led by these seniors, and that'll be the challenge moving forward," Kelly said. Notre Dame finished fourth in the final Associated Press poll of the year, falling behind Fiesta Bowl champion Oregon and unbeaten Ohio State, which did not play in a bowl game, as well as the Crimson Tide. The Irish belong in that group, which is something no one would have believed when they broke training camp in August. The program took major steps forward in 2012. The coach and the captain that led that charge refused to let the grass stains handed out Monday night, the painfully revealed final leap ahead of them, mar the distance they traveled during a 12-0 regular season. "We're close," they said. And yet, in Miami, oh so far away. ✦