Crimson Tide’s Dominating 41-14 Win Over Wolverines Sets The Bar For National Championship Teams
Alabama gets ready to score (again) in its mismatch against Michigan.
This is what it looks like from the top of the mountain, Michigan men.
And the rest of college football, too.
If you want to win a BCS National Championship, this is what you’ve got to compete against in 2012. After whipping #8 Michigan 41-14 in the marquee game of opening weekend – Alabama set the bar. And it’s higher than an Olympic pole vault.
Alabama dominated on both sides of the ball. Denard Robinson, prior to this game a Heisman Trophy candidate, gained just 27 yards. Michigan fans were no doubt expecting him to have a few runs of more than 27 yards. Perhaps next week against Air Force. But not against Alabama.
The game was a mismatch, far less competitive than South Carolina and Vanderbilt, which opened the college football season on Thursday. It was 21-0 in the first quarter. And not just 21-0 but twenty-one to nothing. The Tide did not return a kick for a touchdown or pick up a fumble, block a punt, or make any other quick-score play. It simply ran the ball, set up the pass and toyed with a team that now knows how far it really has to go in rebuilding to a true national championship contention level.
“I would think we’re on the short end of the measuring stick right now,” Michigan Coach Brady Hoke said.
And not just Michigan but several other schools in supposed contention to play for the BCS National Championship. Certainly, USC and Oregon looked strong. But they were playing Hawaii (which frankly is pretty pathetic) and Arkansas State.
Certainly not Oklahoma, which barely got by Texas El Paso (coached, by the way, by almost former Alabama Coach Mike Price). Or Wisconsin, which came perhaps within a batted-down fourth-quarter pass of losing to Northern Iowa. Or Michigan State, which revealed a major weakness at quarterback in barely fending off Boise State. Or even South Carolina, which got a touchdown aided when an official threw a flag and may have avoided one when an official didn’t throw a flag, in edging Vanderbilt.
Alabama goes to Arkansas in two weeks, which can’t make the Hogs faithful feel all that confident after watching the Tide dominate in Dallas. And there’s that game at LSU at Nov. 3. There are other tests in the always-tough SEC, as well, with games at Tennessee, high-powered Missouri and at home against Texas A&M.
But for now, the Tide has said “this is the level of a championship team” and any other school should now know what it takes to be at the top.