The University of Alabama Athletics Communications Alabama Crimson Tide Vs
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE VS. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH Monday, January 7, 2013 • Sun Life StadiuM • aLabaMa PoStgaMe noteS aLabaMa CaPtainS bama (2011) all have accumulated 48 wins. • Freshman Amari Cooper caught two touch- • Alabama’s captains for the Discover BCS down passes in the championship game. That Championship Game were Barrett Jones, Most Wins by a Senior Class (among BCS schools) moves his single season total to a school record Chance Warmack and Damion Square. Notre Team Sr. Season W-L Titles 11, passing Al Lary’s (1950) mark of 10. Dame won the toss deferred the opening kickoff. Alabama 2012 49-5 3 Nebraska 1997 49-2 3 • Cooper became only the fourth player in Ala- Alabama 2011 48-6 2 bama history to gain 1,000 receiving yards in a SERIES NOTES Florida 2009 48-7 2 season, only the fifth time that mark has been • With the Alabama , the Crimson Tide is now Southern California 2006 48-4 2 achieved in Crimson Tide history. 2-5 against Notre Dame. It marked the first win Southern California 2005 48-4 2 for the Tide over the Irish in a bowl game. Oklahoma 2003 48-6 1 DEFENSIVE NOTES 8. Oklahoma 2004 47-7 0 • Alabama entered the locker room at the half GENERAL NOTES 9. Miami 2003 46-4 1 holding Notre Dame scoreless. The Crimson • With the win the Crimson Tide claimed its Florida 1996 46-6 1 Tide has now held 12 opponents to seven points 15th national championship and third in the last or less in the first half this season. UA has shut- four years. • The Crimson Tide has 61 victories since the out seven opponents in the first half this season. start of the 2008 season, the most in a five-year span in SEC history and tied with Nebraska • With the win over Notre Dame, Alabama is Alabama safety HaHa Clinton-Dix intercepted (1993-97) for the most in major college football. • now 62-3 when leading at the half under head his fifth pass of the season. The five interceptions By beating Auburn on Nov. 24, the Crimson coach Nick Saban. led the team for the season. Tide passed the SEC record (58) established by • With the win, Alabama head coach Nick Saban the Florida teams of 2005-09. • Alabama did not allow a touchdown in BCS is 8-1 in championship games. • Dating back to the start of the 2008 season, Al- Championship Game play for 108 minutes and seven seconds. Before the Golson touchdown LSU abama has won 61 games (most in the Football run, the last TD scored against the Tide was SEC Championship 2001 W Bowl Subdivision). The Crimson Tide won 12 by Jordan Shipley of Texas with 6:15 left in the SEC Championship 2003 W games in 2008, followed by a perfect 14-0 record BCS Championship 2003 W in 2009, a 10-3 mark in 2010 and a 12-1 record fourth quarter. in 2011. Alabama went 13-1 in 2012. ALABAMA SPeCiaL teaMS noteS SEC Championship 2008 L OffENSIVE NOTES • Senior Jeremy Shelley finished the season the SEC Championship 2009 W • Alabama is 50-0 since the start of the 2008 sea- only kicker in the nation to not miss an extra BCS Championship 2009 W son when the Tide rushes for at least 150 yards. point or a field goal in 2012. Shelley hit all 69 BCS Championship 2011 W of his extra point attempts and all 11 of his field SEC Championship 2012 W • Alabama has scored at least one rushing touch- goals. BCS Championship 2012 W down in all but one game this season and has scored two or more in nine straight games and • Tonight’s actual attendance is 80,120. The mark 11 times overall. is a new Sun Life Stadium record. • Alabama running back Eddie Lacy finished • Alabama’s 2012 senior class has won a school the season with 17 rushing touchdowns on the record 49 games over the past four seasons while season. His 17 rushing touchdowns rank tied for losing only five contests. The 48 wins is tied for third in the single season annals. His 30 career the second most in college football history and rushing touchdowns rank sixth in the record ranks among the best four-year totals in South- books. eastern Conference history (Florida won 48 games from 2006-09 and Alabama won 48 from • AJ McCarron threw four touchdowns in the 2008-11). Nebraska holds the record for senior championship game, moving his career total to class wins among BCS schools, with the 1997 a school record 49, passing John Parker Wilson’s Cornhuskers class posting a 49-2 record and mark of 47. three national championships. Earlier senior classes from Oklahoma (2003), Southern Cali- fornia (2005 & 2006), Florida (2009) and Ala- 2013 DISCOVER BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME POSTGAME QUOTES ALABAMA Press Conference JOHN HUMENIK: We'll ask Coach and each of the two players to provide a brief thought on the game tonight. Coach Saban. COACH NICK SABAN: I would say that regardless of the result that this team achieved that they certainly exceeded every expectation that we had for them with the number of guys we graduated last year, the number of new roles, young players, injuries, the adversity that this team had to overcome. These guys really battled. And people talk about how the most difficult thing is to win your first championship. Really the most difficult is to win the next one, because there's always a feeling of entitlement, and the commitment that these guys made two days after we played LSU last year in the National Championship game to be a team, to set a goal to accomplish something of significance is really special for what they were able to accomplish. So I've never been prouder of a group of young men for what they were able to do, their legacy as a team certainly gets sort of defined by what they were able to accomplish this entire season but especially in what they were able to accomplish tonight. I thank our fans and supporters, the University community that's been very, very supportive, Dr. Witt, our chancellor, our president Mal Moore, our athletic director. All those people have been very supportive, the entire university community, and we have the greatest fans in the world that have been very supportive, and I know the players really appreciate that. EDDIE LACY: Well, I think for one of the first times this season we were able to come out and play a complete game. I mean, we had slow starts at times, but we was able to come back and put a couple drives together and score. Even though my teammates ain't here, the offense, I thank them, because without them I wouldn't be here right now. And Coach Saban, he's a great coach, and I thank him, as well. C.J. MOSLEY: It was just a complete game for offense, defense and special teams. We talked about making tackles on defense, changing the game on special teams and starting fast on offense, and that's exactly what we did, so we came out strong, then we finished our full game. Q. Coach, this is your fourth trip to the podium for a National Championship, and you seem to be really, really composed and almost dry, and you have the most serious expression on your face of any coach that I think I've ever seen win a championship. What's fun about this one? And what's different about this one from the other three? COACH NICK SABAN: Well, you know, I'm extremely pleased and happy, and I'm really happy for all the people, the players, the coaches, all the people who made the sacrifices and the hard work to accomplish this, our entire football family, the people at the institution who support our program, our fans. You know, it's not about me. It's really about seeing all those people being happy and being proud of what this team was able to accomplish. That's the thing that makes me happy, and whether I look it or not, I'm happy as hell. (Laughter.) Q. Some teams go all in, some teams build for the future. Can you just talk about the challenge of having success in the present while always kind of looking towards the future, building towards the future and staying with the process. COACH NICK SABAN: Well, I think there's no continuum of success. The process begins, but it's ongoing, and in a couple days from now, we have players that may go out for the draft. We have to help them make good decisions about what their future is. We have other players that need to develop that will have new roles on our team next year. We have to recruit character quality players to represent our program. So the process is ongoing. And if you don't pay attention to that, you're not going to stay up. We got here by five yards. Georgia was five yards away from scoring. So it's a pretty tough league that we play in, and we're going to have to continue to try to improve as a program to have an opportunity to win the SEC Championship or the National Championship ever again because of the competition in our league. Look, we're really happy, we're really pleased, we're really proud of what we have to do here.