Alabama blew out Notre Dame to make the National Championship Game pretty boring, but the rout was almost worthwhile solely because of how much it crushed Lou Holtz.
The former Fighting Irish coach was in disbelief after the game. He was defeated. He tried to find the words to explain Notre Dame’s crushing 42-14 defeat, but he couldn’t manage an explanation.
“Alabama was really far superior. How did it happen? I really don’t know,” a lost Holtz said.
“Notre Dame never even tried to run the football consistently. If you’re going to win a championship, you gotta be able to stop the run — which Notre Dame could not — and you have to be able to run the ball, which they did not try.
“Notre Dame did not play their best football game, and that’s probably the most discouraging thing to that university and to the team and the coaches as well.”
Keep searching for the right words, Lou. We’ll get back to you in September, and maybe by then you’ll realize that your Fighting Irish didn’t deserve to be playing in the game.
