Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/102697
by the numbers 0 Touchdowns that Notre Dame had allowed in the first quarter this season. It also had not permitted a touchdown drive of more than 75 yards. Both of that ended on the game's first series when Alabama drove 82 yards in just 2:57 for a 7-0 lead. During the regular season, Notre Dame allowed only nine points in the first quarter while holding nine of its 12 foes scoreless. 3 This was the third time Notre Dame lost in its final game when it was ranked No. 1 and consequently lost the national title. The other two times occurred against USC in 1938 (13‑0) and 1964 (2017). Notre Dame won four title games when it was ranked No. 1: 1947 (USC), 1949 (SMU), 1966 (USC) and 1988 (West Virginia). 4-0 Record of Alabama head coach Nick Saban against Notre Dame. He won his first three versus the Fighting Irish (1997‑99) as Michigan State's boss. He joins Notre Dame icon Ara Parseghian as the only coach to have a 4‑0 career record versus the Irish. Parseghian did it at Northwestern from 1959-62 before getting hired by Notre Dame at the end of the 1963 season. By lou somogyi 35-0 Alabama's third-quarter lead was the most in the 15-year history of the BCS National Championship Game. The previous high was Miami's 34-0 advantage against Nebraska in the 2002 showdown the Hurricanes won 37-14. 25.25 Notre Dame's average margin of defeat in its four trips to a BCS game since its inception in 1998. The Irish lost 41‑9 to Oregon State in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, 34‑20 against Ohio State in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl, 41‑14 to LSU in the 2007 Sugar Bowl and now 42‑14 to Alabama. Twenty-nine different teams have won a BCS game, but the Irish are not yet one of them. They have one more chance to do it next year before the format changes to a four-team playoff in 2014. 97 Yards Alabama totaled in 10 plays during its first drive of the second half in which the touchdown gave it a 35-0 advantage. It was the longest TD drive in BCS National Championship Game history, eclipsing the 92-yard march by Oklahoma in its 55-19 loss to USC in 2005. Alabama head coach Nick Saban improved to 4-0 against Notre Dame and also joined Notre Dame's Frank Leahy, Alabama's Bear Bryant and USC's John McKay as a four-time national champion coach. photo by lon horwedel