Alabama bests Notre Dame in ‘Rose Bowl’

The Alabama Crimson Tide took down the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on New Year’s Day. The Tide’s 31-14 victory over the Irish sent them to Miami, where they’re set to meet the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 2020 season’s grand finale.

DeVonta Smith, the prohibitive favorite for the Heisman Trophy, excelled yet again. He went for 130 yards on seven receptions, three of those receptions being touchdowns in yet another sterling performance. Well, nearly pristine, as he did have a rare drop in the game. Smith will find out on Tuesday if he’s to be the first wide receiver to win the coveted Heisman Trophy since Desmond Howard in 1991. It’s the opinion of this blog, and many others, that he should take home the award as he’s quite clearly the best player in the nation right now.

Mac Jones went for 297 yards on a 25-for-30 mark on his passes. He threw four touchdowns, three going to Smith while the other was tossed to Jahleel Billingsley. He also threw no interceptions, keeping his pretty sleek statline going as he’s vouching for a Heisman victory.

The ‘Bama defense held Notre Dame down. They allowed just 236 passing yards and a YPA of 5.62. The Irish ran for 139 yards, but did so while averaging just 3.7 YPC. Freshman running back Kyren Williams led with eight receptions, but they only went for 31 yards. No Notre Dame receiver had more than 62 passing yards, as Patrick Surtain II and the Tide secondary did their job and then some. Ian Book went for 27-for-39 with 229 yards and an interception into the hands of freshman linebacker, Christian Harris.

‘Bama now will face the Ohio State Buckeyes in Miami in the National Championship Game.