Golson hopes Notre Dame's season ends on good note

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Everett Golson's first love is basketball. Music would seem to be second on the Notre Dame quarterback's list.
He's not too bad at football, either.
A season that started in Ireland and had plenty of tests along the way ends in Miami on Monday night, when Golson and the top-ranked Fighting Irish take on No. 2 Alabama in the BCS title game.
He's made 10 starts this season and won them all, one away from matching the Notre Dame record for consecutive victories to open a career. Of course, tying that mark isn't exactly the biggest prize that Golson will be chasing when the Irish face the Crimson Tide.
Says Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin: "He's pretty good at his hobby — this being his hobby.

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Golson hopes Notre Dame's season ends on BCS note

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — When Everett Golson sees a piano, he usually sits down and starts entertaining. He plays several instruments, keeps a keyboard in his room and loves to sing.
Music is a huge part of his life, perhaps only topped by basketball.
And in Golson's spare time, he plays quarterback for Notre Dame.
"He's pretty good at his hobby," Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin said. "This being his hobby."
Golson's biggest game — and biggest opportunity — awaits Monday night when the top-ranked Fighting Irish (12-0) take on No. 2 Alabama (12-1) for the BCS national title. Golson's season started with him winning a competition to be the quarterback for a then-unranked team, and now he's got the chance to lead Notre Dame back to the top of college football.
Or in musical vernacular, to be ND's maestro.
"It is a big stage," Golson said. "I don't ride the wave too much. I'm kind of just focused on what's played between the yard lines, what's played on the field. Can't really focus on everything that's off the field because that's out of my control."
A redshirt freshman, Golson didn't play last season, instead running the scout team. He won starter job entering this season, yet even when he was picked to be under center as Notre Dame opened the season in Ireland against Navy, there was some question about how long he would actually be able to keep his spot.
Golson had all the answers. His numbers aren't catchy — 11 passing touchdowns in 11 appearances — but his record is unblemished, 10-0 as a starter.
"I think he understood more of what our coaches wanted from him," Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert said. "When they would coach him up on something, he kind of better understood that as the year went on."
One of the major issues Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly had with the Irish offense a year ago was its penchant for turning the ball over.
Golson rarely dealt with that problem.
Poised more often than not, Golson has only five interceptions in 282 attempts this season. He averages 191 passing yards per game — only 79th-best in the nation — but he's not necessarily asked to win games with wild throwing sprees, either. Kelly's mandate was simply for his quarterback to avoid the big mistake that would lose games.
So far, so good.
"First-ever college game in Dublin, Ireland, first-ever home game against Purdue, road game primetime Michigan State, night game at Notre Dame against Michigan, on the road at Oklahoma, on the road at USC, coming off the bench ... take any other quarterback this year and try to figure out if they've gone through as much as Everett Golson," Martin said. "To me it's not even close. Not even close."
It goes deeper than the experiences of 2012.
In Golson's mind, not getting a chance to play in 2011 may have been more significant in pushing his development along.
"I think me being put back on the scout team, it was just really a humbling experience for me," Golson said. "Coming in, I thought I was ready to play or had that confidence that I was ready to play, but it wasn't that way for me. I think being put back on the scout team, like I said, really humbled me, made me kind of reassess myself."
Even the Crimson Tide can see that.
When Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart first started breaking down tape of the Irish, he predictably watched every play of every game several times. And by the end of that film study, Smart knew the Golson who started the season isn't remotely close to the player who now is tasked with running the Irish offense.
"You can't give the guy the ability to run all around and make plays, yet that's what he's going to do, so it's who's got the greater will to contain and keep him in the pocket," Smart said. "So it's a tough thing. The guy is going to scramble. He's going to be a better, quicker athlete than the people we have up front."
The thing the Irish rave about most when talking about Golson is his confidence.
Even when things were tough at times this season — particularly the game against Pittsburgh when Notre Dame trailed 20-6 entering the fourth quarter, then won 29-26 on his touchdown run in the third overtime — Golson continually showed he can do the job.
"He's a very important part of our offense and he's a big playmaker," Notre Dame offensive lineman Zack Martin said. "Any time we can take a hit off of him, it's going to be big. He's a playmaker. He makes plays."
If that happens Monday, Golson may make football's equivalent of beautiful music.
"The race is not given to the swift or the strong ... but it's given to the one that endures to the end," Golson said. "We're obviously the underdogs coming into this game. ... Alabama has, like I said, a great defense, great team, bigger, faster, stronger. But it's really about who's going to endure to the end."

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Will coming playoff finally take down the SEC?

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Roy Kramer remembers all the fretting when the Southeastern Conference launched its own championship game two decades ago.
"Especially from the coaches," the former SEC commissioner said Friday, chuckling a bit at those long-ago discussions. "They were convinced that would be the end of everything and we would never win another national championship."
It sure didn't work out that way, of course.
The SEC has ruled like no other conference.
Just around the corner is another momentous change to shake up the college football landscape, spurred in part by the dominance down South. Undoubtedly, there are plenty of folks in the rest of the country hoping the four-team national playoff, which starts in 2014, will make it tougher for the SEC to pile up trophies.
Kramer, for one, doesn't expect much of an impact, just as splitting into East and West brackets and tacking on an extra game between the division champs back in 1992 has done little to damage the SEC's national title prospects.
"The SEC could very well end up with three of the four playoff teams in any given year," Kramer told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his retirement home near Chattanooga, Tenn. "I don't know that a playoff will significantly reduce the possibility of winning a national title. Some may believe that, but I'm not convinced it reduces the chances at all."
This much is clear: The current system is owned by the SEC.
The conference is riding an unprecedented streak of six straight national titles, and No. 2 Alabama is favored to make it seven in a row Monday night when the Crimson Tide takes on top-ranked Notre Dame in the next-to-last BCS championship game.
For better or worse, just about every major conference has followed the SEC's lead from way back in 1992 — adding news teams, starting their own title games — but the juggernaut that began it all appears more firmly entrenched than ever.
Over the last 20 seasons, the league has won nine national titles; no other conference has claimed more than four during that span. And the SEC has pitched a shutout since the 2006 season, divvying up six titles among four schools (Florida, Alabama, LSU and Auburn) while the rest of the country looked on enviously, wondering just what it had to do to break the stranglehold.
Last season, when the BCS produced an all-SEC matchup in the title game, the rest of the country screamed uncle.
Or, more accurately, playoff.
Suddenly, everyone jumped on board for what amounts to a true postseason system, albeit with not as many teams as the biggest supporters of the P-word would like.
Kramer has no doubt that Alabama's 21-0 victory over LSU in the 2012 title game accelerated the demands for a playoff among the other conferences — even though current SEC commissioner Mike Slive had proposed what is largely the same four-team format several years ago, only to be quickly shot down.
"I don't think there's any question that the added interest in trying to expand the field to some degree, to go from two to four teams, was influenced by what happened a year ago when two teams from the same conference played in the championship game," Kramer said. "That brought a significant amount of attention to it and perhaps brought on a willingness by more people to take a look at this process."
If the four-team playoff had been in place this season — and using the BCS standings as a selection guide — the SEC would have claimed half the field anyway. Florida finished third in the rankings, while No. 4 Oregon presumably would have been the other team, surely creating plenty of howls from teams such as Kansas State and Stanford (sound familiar?).
But the playoff is still a couple of years away. Heck, the powers-that-be are still trying to hammer out all the details. In the meantime, Notre Dame has set its sights on ending the SEC's dominance this season without the assistance of an extra round, having built a team around defense and a good running game — kind of like a northern version of Alabama.
Despite a perfect record (12-0) and No. 1 ranking, the Fighting Irish know what they're up against. So do the oddsmakers, who started Alabama as a 7½-point favorite and pushed it up to 9½ when the bets flowed in on the Crimson Tide.
"Obviously, the SEC has been very dominant in the national title game," Notre Dame safety Matthias Farley said.
But the conference doesn't appear quite as strong as past years, with some truly wretched teams at the bottom of the standings (Auburn, Tennessee and Kentucky) and a perception that even Alabama — despite positioning itself for a third national title in four years — isn't quite as strong after losing a bunch of top players to the NFL.
The SEC split its first six bowl games, the most notable result being Florida's ugly 33-23 loss to Big East champion Louisville in the Sugar Bowl.
"If you've watched the bowl games to this point, the SEC has lost to some other teams," said Farley, sounding a bit more confident about the Irish's chances. "You just have to be better than the other team on that given day, not all the time."
Alabama is mindful of the SEC's championship streak, but keeping it alive is not a major motivational factor. Rest assured, the Tide won't be passing around the trophy to all its fellow schools should it win another.
"Certainly we take a lot of pride in our conference. We feel like we play in the best conference in America," said Barrett Jones, Alabama's All-American center. "But we don't think about it that much. The coaches don't get up at the podium and say, 'OK, let's go win one for the SEC.' We're trying to win this for us."
Jones, a senior, will be long gone by the time a playoff finally comes on line. But, like Kramer, he figures the SEC will do just fine no matter what system is put in place. The region just has too many built-in advantages: passionate (if sometimes overzealous) fans; less competition from professional sports than other regions; some of the nation's top coaches; a seemingly limitless supply of high school talent right in its own backyard.
"If you look back at the past few years, two (SEC) teams probably would've gotten in a lot of years," Jones said. "That gives you a good chance to still win a national championship. I think the playoff system will be a good thing for the SEC."
Kramer doesn't support a playoff — he's one of those who believes college football is heading down a dangerous path that will severely damage the significance of the regular season — but he doesn't see the SEC giving up its dominant position anytime soon.
Just remember what happened when the SEC went to its own version of the playoff.
"It's really worked to our advantage," Kramer said.

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BCS Championship: Tale of the tape

Everything about the BCS championship between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama seems larger than life.
Not only do these schools stand among the best ever in college football, they also lead the pack in celebrating that success and in investing for the future.
If ever college football presented a heavyweight event it's the Fighting Irish against the Crimson Tide.
So here, then, is a tale of the tape for Monday's marquee matchup in Miami.
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— FOOTBALL BUILDING
ALABAMA: The Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility, named for the current athletic director, has a 20,000-square-foot strength and conditioning center — which is soon to be replaced — plus aquatic rehabilitation pools. The building also houses athletic administrators and the football offices.
NOTRE DAME: The Guglielmino Athletics Complex, named after the booster who funded it, has a 25,000-square-foot health and fitness center, meeting rooms and the football offices. Plus, the Morse Recruiting lounge with championship banners for Notre Dame's "11 consensus national championships."
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— TROPHIES
ALABAMA: The "Hall of Champions" overlooks the lobby on the second floor of the athletic facility. It has trophy cases for the Crimson Tide's 14 national champions — including a spot where 'Bama is hoping 2012 can be added — and a large case for the 23 Southeastern Conference title teams. Prominently perched on a marble pedestal is Mark Ingram's 2009 Heisman Trophy, the program's first.
NOTRE DAME: The lobby of the Gug, as the athletics complex is called, is basically one of college football's largest trophy cases. The first thing visitors see is Notre Dame's last national championship trophy, the coaches' trophy the Irish received after the 1988 season. To the left, across the wall are seven Heisman Trophies. No other school has won more.
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— WEIGHT ROOM
ALABAMA: A new weight room is nearly completed. Trustees approved the $9.1 million, 34,495-square-foot, two-story strength and conditioning facility in August that will connect the athletic building and the indoor practice facility. It's expected to be ready in early February.
NOTRE DAME: The football players work out at the Haggar Fitness Center in the Gug. It features more than 250 pieces of weight training equipment, six flat-screen TVs and a sound system, and it's available to all Notre Dame athletes.
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— STATUES
ALABAMA: Coach Nick Saban's towering likeness stands next to Bryant-Denny Stadium, offering a good spot for fan pictures on game day. The 9-foot statue is one of five honoring Tide football coaches who have won national titles, joining Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul W. "Bear" Bryant and Gene Stallings in the Walk of Champions plaza. It was unveiled in the spring of 2011, 15 months after 'Bama won the 2009 championship.
NOTRE DAME: Walk around Notre Dame Stadium and at each entrance you'll find a statue of one of its championship-winning coaches. Knute Rockne's guards the north tunnel, facing Touchdown Jesus. Dan Devine is at Gate A. Ara Parseghian is at Gate B. Frank Leahy is at Gate C. Lou Holtz is at Gate D.
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— MASCOTS
ALABAMA: Tradition holds that the Tide's elephant mascot dates to 1930 when Atlanta Journal sports writer Everett Strupper wrote that a fan called out: "Hold your horses, the elephants are coming." The "Red Elephant" nickname for the linemen stuck. The Big Al mascot made his official debut in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, when Alabama claimed its second straight national title with a win over Penn State. A game-saving goal line stand stole some of Big Al's thunder.
NOTRE DAME: The Leprechaun became the official mascot of the Fighting Irish in 1965, though four years earlier a student first donned the costume and roamed the sidelines. Leprechaun tryouts consist of a five-minute mock pep rally, an interview with a local media personality, responding to game situations, answering Notre Dame trivia, dancing an Irish jig, and doing 50 push-ups.
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— KEEPING IN STEP
ALABAMA: The Crimsonettes, a group of energetic dancers, entertain crowds at various sporting events. They're chosen based on dancing skills, physical fitness and the ability to learn the group routine, according to the school's Web site.
NOTRE DAME: The Irish Guard. Formed in 1949 as a part of the University of Notre Dame Marching Band, the guards wear a uniform of traditional Scottish kilt and Notre Dame tartan. To the top of the shako, a guard stands 7-feet tall, and the game-day inspection of the Guard usually draws a crowd — though not for the same reasons the Crimsonettes do.
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— SLOGANS
ALABAMA: Roll Tide, Roll Tide. "Yea Alabama" was written by the editor of the student newspaper, The Rammer-Jammer, in a contest that followed a win over Washington in the 1926 Rose Bowl. The lyrics include: "You're Dixie's football pride, Crimson Tide! Yea, Alabama! Drown 'em Tide!" The ending call "Roll Tide, Roll Tide" was added later.
NOTRE DAME: Wake Up the Echoes. The "Victory March" was first performed at Notre Dame on Easter Sunday on 1909. Not until 10 years later did it start being played at athletic events. The second verse starts: "Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame, Wake up the echoes cheering her name."
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— INTEGRATION
ALABAMA: John Mitchell became the first African-American to play for the Crimson Tide in 1971 after he transferred from junior college for his final two seasons. He was an All-American defensive end as a senior in 1972. Mitchell is now assistant head coach and defensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he's coached the linemen since 1994. He started his career as Bear Bryant's defensive line coach in 1973 and became the Southeastern Conference's first black defensive coordinator at LSU in 1990. Bryant assistant Jerry Claiborne later said that a 1970 game with Southern California and star Sam Cunningham caught Bryant's attention and "did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years."
NOTRE DAME: Defensive lineman Wayne Edmonds, from rural Pennsylvania, became the first African-American to earn a monogram on the football team in 1953. He and Richard Washington were the first black student-athletes to play in a game. The 1953 team went undefeated, a season when Georgia Tech refused to play Notre Dame at home because of the black players on the Fighting Irish and the game was moved to South Bend.
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— CAMPUS SHRINE
ALABAMA: If there's not necessarily a "Touchdown Jesus" equivalent, there is Denny Chimes, where the football team captains get to leave their indelible marks. The base of the tower displays hand and foot impressions of each captain from Tide teams since the 1940s.
NOTRE DAME: The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes is one-seventh the size of the French shrine where the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette in 1858. Visitors pass by peacefully, light candles and say prayers — probably a few for a Fighting Irish victory.
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— FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
ALABAMA: 'Bama headed West in 1925 to capture the program's first national championship with a 20-19 win over Washington in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. — the same place Saban won his first with the Tide. The 1925 squad went 10-0 and outscored opponents 297-26, and seven organizations declared Alabama the nation's best team.
NOTRE DAME: In 1924, it was Notre Dame that capped an undefeated season in the Rose Bowl by beating Pop Warner's Stanford team for the national championship. The first of three for Knute Rockne, and 11 that Notre Dame claims. The Fighting Irish haven't played in the Rose Bowl since.
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— BEST WALK-ON
ALABAMA: Carson Tinker received a scholarship before this season but was already one of college football's most well-known walk-ons and long snappers, though for a tragic reason. His girlfriend, Ashley Harrison, was killed by a tornado when she and Tinker were thrown about 50 yards from the closet where they had huddled. Tinker has persevered and become a fan favorite with nearly 27,000 followers on Twitter.
NOTRE DAME: Rudy Ruettiger, the ultimate underdog story. He overcame a learning disability to get accepted to Notre Dame, then at 5-foot-6 and 165 pounds he made the Fighting Irish scout team. He got on the field for three plays, and had a sack on the final play of his final game. Hollywood got hold of the story, added a little melodrama, and turned it into a sports movie classic.
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— BEST QUARTERBACK
ALABAMA: Joe Namath came to Tuscaloosa from Beaver Falls, Pa., and was a 1964 All-American for the Tide team that was named national champion by some organizations. Then, of course, he became an unforgettable pro football star who guaranteed his New York Jets would upset Baltimore in the 1969 Super Bowl — before making good on it. Bart Starr, another Hall of Famer, and Kenny Stabler also went on to terrific pro careers.
NOTRE DAME: Joe Montana, another western Pennsylvania kid who grew up to become an all-time great quarterback, came to Notre Dame in 1974. In his sophomore season, he gained a reputation as the comeback kid, coming off the bench to lead the Fighting Irish from behind to beat North Carolina and Air Force. He capped his career with another remarkable comeback victory against Houston in the 1979 Cotton Bowl, then went on to win four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers.

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Riddick, Wood interchanging for Notre Dame

MIAMI (AP) — Notre Dame tailbacks Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood showed how interchangeable they are in the final two games of the regular season for the Fighting Irish.
Game 11 against Wake Forest, Wood ran for 150 yards, while Riddick had 20.
Game 12 against USC, it was Riddick running for 146 yards, and Wood for 20.
And so has been the theme for the Irish this season: Two running backs — and sometimes three — are better than one. That approach has served Notre Dame pretty much since training camp, and the top-ranked Irish (12-0) are hoping it holds true once Monday night when they face No. 2 Alabama (12-1) in the BCS title game.
Riddick has run for 880 yards and five touchdowns this season, Wood 740 yards and four scores, and George Atkinson III — who got only 51 carries, compared with 180 for Riddick and 110 for Wood — added five touchdowns and 7.1 yards per carry.
"We try to utilize all their strengths," Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin said. "The truth be told, they all could be a feature back, they all could do all the things. Everybody is like, 'He plays more, what's wrong with him?' There's nothing wrong with any of the three. We'd like to get George 20 carries a game but there's one football."
Notre Dame was unranked to start the year, which means not many — well, very few — people thought the Irish would be in the national title game against the reigning champion Crimson Tide.
Among those who thought the Irish would play in the season's last game: Riddick, Wood and Atkinson.
"We've had RB meetings where we talk about what we want to do and what we all want to accomplish," Wood said. "In the beginning of the season, what we said normally was, 'We want to win them all.' That was word-for-word what we said. We want to win them all. And up to this point, we have. So we took that upon ourselves. We think we're one of the more skilled groups on the whole team. That's just how we go about our business."
Martin was asked in the days leading up to the BCS title game to describe all three backs, rapid-fire style. His responses:
On Riddick, "pound for pound as good a football player as they make."
On Wood, "as explosive a player as they make."
On Atkinson, "really explosive athlete."
Notice any trends there? The Irish love their backs, and Alabama is raving about what they see from them all as well.
"Riddick is probably quicker than the other two," Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said. "Great one-step quickness, the ability to make you miss, good stiff arm. Didn't think a former receiver would run with that much power, but he does run with power. They're really good backs."
Riddick came to Notre Dame as a running back, then primarily played wide receiver for two years and returned to the backfield this season. He said he never complained, said he never wondered which position better suited him.
Whatever it took to win was fine with him, Riddick said.
"What can I say? I feel like I'm at ease," Riddick said. "Everything slows down tremendously and I think it's just helped me."
Ask anyone on the Notre Dame offensive line how Riddick has handled his return to running back, and they'll say they believe he's hitting his best stride at the perfect time.
That being, title game.
"He's been unbelievable," offensive lineman Zack Martin said. "Especially in the last three or four games of the season, he's been great. To have a guy like that behind you, he's fun to block for."
That probably can be said for Wood and Atkinson as well.
"It's a credit to all three of them that they've stuck with it and prepared hard every week, and some weeks they've gotten more touches, but that's the nature of the beast," said Chuck Martin, the offensive coordinator. "But we're very fortunate to have three very talented kids at that position."

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Alabama AD made a brief stop at Notre Dame

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Mal Moore's career was adrift.
A quarter century of winning games and titles as an Alabama player and assistant to Bear Bryant had ended, and Moore was passed over to succeed the famed coach.
He was thinking about getting out of the profession altogether before Notre Dame's Gerry Faust called one Sunday morning to gauge his interest in a job.
"At the time, I kind of felt like a man without a country," Moore said. "I was in a strange position that I'd never been in before."
He flew to South Bend that day for an interview, then served as running backs coach from 1983-85. From one elite program to another and, ultimately, back to his alma mater to stay.
Moore's stopover in northern Indiana is now a footnote in a 50-year career defined by the eras of Bryant, Gene Stallings and now Nick Saban. He has been around for nine national titles at Alabama and is hoping to crack double digits Monday night when the Tide faces No. 1 Notre Dame.
But back in the 1980s, Moore's career moves were the height of intrigue and drama in the college football world.
He was either a player or assistant for Bryant during all but one season of a historic 25-year run. Bryant, who died a couple of months after stepping down following the 1982 season, won 323 games, six national titles and 13 Southeastern Conference championships during his tenure in Tuscaloosa.
When he left, Moore and fellow assistant Ken Donahue interviewed for a job that went to Ray Perkins, then coaching the NFL's New York Giants. And Notre Dame made an attention-getting hire.
"It was considered quite a coup, an amazing coup," said Lou Somogyi, senior editor of 247Sports' Notre Dame site and Blue and Gold Illustrated. "All of a sudden, here's Mal Moore, who's been part of so many national titles with Bear, and he's looking for work.
"Out of the blue, Gerry Faust called him. That was a pretty extraordinary set of circumstances."
It was also quite an adjustment for a Southern Baptist heading to a Catholic university.
Moore lived for several months in the Morris Inn on campus, where he could step out the door, glance left and see the golden dome. Wife Charlotte, who died in 2010, and daughter Heather moved to South Bend after their home was built.
"It was a good three years," said Moore, who had become Alabama's first offensive coordinator in 1975. "We weren't a great team during that time. We went to two bowl games, but it was quite an experience. Especially for Charlotte. Charlotte was Catholic growing up. She loved her time there and on the campus."
Moore then went on to coaching stops in the NFL before returning to his alma mater as Stallings' offensive coordinator in 1990, helping the Tide to a national title two years later. He's been athletic director since 1999, hiring Saban from the Miami Dolphins in his best career move. The football and athletic administration building is named after him.
Moore was on the opposite sideline for the first four of six meetings between Notre Dame and Alabama. The Fighting Irish won by one point in 1973, two in 1975 and three in 1976.
Notre Dame's 7-0 win in 1980 broke the pattern of one-point increase in scoring margin.
"Bear Bryant said after the (1976) game: "I don't think I'm going to be around for the four-pointer," Somogyi recalled.
He noted that "Notre Dame fans were groaning" after Alabama missed a field goal in '80 that would have created that four-point margin.
Moore and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbuck had several discussions about trying to set up regular-season meetings, perhaps at some neutral site like New York or Orlando.
"We just never could quite pull it off," Moore said. After the BCS matchup was set: "I called him and said, 'Jack, you and I couldn't put a game together but now we let the players do it.'"
After ups and downs for both programs, they're once again vying for national supremacy. And Moore, of course, will have a prime view.
His stop at Notre Dame showed him the similarities both programs share. Notre Dame had Knute Rockne and Ara Parseghian, Alabama Wallace Wade and Saban. Both have had five different coaches claim national titles.
Traditions galore.
"A powerful university. Great history, great tradition," said Moore, who has talked to several of his former Notre Dame players leading up to the matchup. "That is what's so similar between the two programs, is the great success that both have enjoyed through the years.
"There's a lot of people that have had success at both universities. The alumni at both expect greatness. This is what here at Alabama I hope never changes. Once it doesn't matter then you are in trouble."

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RBs Riddick, Wood give Notre Dame 1-2 punch

MIAMI (AP) — Notre Dame tailbacks Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood showed how interchangeable they are in the final two games of the regular season for the Fighting Irish.
Game 11 against Wake Forest, Wood ran for 150 yards, while Riddick had 20.
Game 12 against USC, it was Riddick running for 146 yards, and Wood for 20.
And so has been the theme for the Irish this season: Two running backs — and sometimes three — are better than one. That approach has served Notre Dame pretty much since training camp, and the top-ranked Irish (12-0) are hoping it holds true once Monday night when they face No. 2 Alabama (12-1) in the BCS title game.
Riddick has run for 880 yards and five touchdowns this season, Wood 740 yards and four scores, and George Atkinson III — who got only 51 carries, compared with 180 for Riddick and 110 for Wood — added five touchdowns and 7.1 yards per carry.
"We try to utilize all their strengths," Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin said. "The truth be told, they all could be a feature back, they all could do all the things. Everybody is like, 'He plays more, what's wrong with him?' There's nothing wrong with any of the three. We'd like to get George 20 carries a game but there's one football."
Notre Dame was unranked to start the year, which means not many — well, very few — people thought the Irish would be in the national title game against the reigning champion Crimson Tide.
Among those who thought the Irish would play in the season's last game: Riddick, Wood and Atkinson.
"We've had RB meetings where we talk about what we want to do and what we all want to accomplish," Wood said. "In the beginning of the season, what we said normally was, 'We want to win them all.' That was word-for-word what we said. We want to win them all. And up to this point, we have. So we took that upon ourselves. We think we're one of the more skilled groups on the whole team. That's just how we go about our business."
Martin was asked in the days leading up to the BCS title game to describe all three backs in rapid-fire style. His responses:
On Riddick, "pound for pound as good a football player as they make."
On Wood, "as explosive a player as they make."
On Atkinson, "really explosive athlete."
Notice any trends there? The Irish love their backs, and Alabama is raving about what they see from them all as well.
"Riddick is probably quicker than the other two," Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said. "Great one-step quickness, the ability to make you miss, good stiff arm. Didn't think a former receiver would run with that much power, but he does run with power. They're really good backs."
Riddick came to Notre Dame as a running back, then primarily played wide receiver for two years and returned to the backfield this season. He said he never complained, said he never wondered which position better suited him.
Whatever it took to win was fine with him, Riddick said.
"What can I say? I feel like I'm at ease," Riddick said. "Everything slows down tremendously and I think it's just helped me."
Ask anyone on the Notre Dame offensive line how Riddick has handled his return to running back, and they'll say they believe he's hitting his best stride at the perfect time.
That being, title game.
"He's been unbelievable," offensive lineman Zack Martin said. "Especially in the last three or four games of the season, he's been great. To have a guy like that behind you, he's fun to block for."
That probably can be said for Wood and Atkinson as well.
"It's a credit to all three of them that they've stuck with it and prepared hard every week, and some weeks they've gotten more touches, but that's the nature of the beast," said Chuck Martin, the offensive coordinator. "But we're very fortunate to have three very talented kids at that position."

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Golf-Strong winds force suspension at Kapalua

Jan 4 (Reuters) - The 2013 PGA Tour got off to a false start on Friday when first-round play at the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii was abandoned because of strong winds.
Following an earlier suspension in play due to adverse conditions at the Kapalua Resort, the players were summoned off the course as winds gusted up to 42mph (67.6 kph) and balls oscillated on the exposed green at the par-three second.
With no realistic hope of a resumption on Friday, PGA Tour rules official Slugger White announced the interrupted first round would be washed out and that the players would try to complete 36 holes on Saturday with a two-tee start.
"We started in almost unplayable conditions and it just got worse," White told reporters. "We tried to play and Mother Nature just wouldn't help us."
U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson had been the early leader, moving to three under par after just seven holes in the elite, winners-only event on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Swede Jonas Blixt was at one under after five holes, a stroke in front of compatriot Carl Pettersson (after one hole) and Americans Kyle Stanley (four), Ryan Moore (three), Johnson Wagner (two) and Scott Piercy (one).
"It stings for me, but it's the way it goes," American Simpson said of the abandoned opening round at Kapalua. "I'm sure the Tour's decision was best for all the guys."
Earlier Simpson had described how challenging the conditions were on the hilly, par-73 Plantation Course.
"I feel like I'm in a hurricane ... my umbrella is breaking," he said.
FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker, one of six players in the 30-man field who did not tee off in the opening round, had already prepared himself for a daunting afternoon at Kapalua.
"I just striped an eight-iron on the range that went about 50 yards," Snedeker said. "I probably could have caught it."
Stronger winds have been forecast for Saturday, with conditions expected to ease at Kapalua on Sunday and Monday.

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UPDATE 1-Golf-Strong winds wipe out first day at Kapalua

* Opening round to start fresh on Saturday
* Kapalua winds gust up to 45 mph (72.4 kph (Adds further quotes, detail)
Jan 4 (Reuters) - The 2013 PGA Tour got off to a false start on Friday when first-round play at the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii was abandoned because of strong winds.
Following an earlier suspension in play due to adverse conditions at the Kapalua Resort, the players were summoned off the course as winds gusted up to 45 mph (72.4 kph) and balls oscillated on the exposed green at the par-three second.
With no realistic hope of a resumption on Friday, PGA Tour rules official Slugger White announced the interrupted first round would be washed out and that the players would try to complete 36 holes on Saturday with a two-tee start.
"We started in almost unplayable conditions and it just got worse," White told reporters. "We tried to play and Mother Nature just wouldn't help us. We have decided to scrub this round, wash it out completely. No shots count.
"We are going to start the first round tomorrow morning. I can honestly say the forecast isn't real good but maybe we'll get lucky. That's the hope."
U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson had been the early leader in Friday's aborted round, moving to three under par after just seven holes in the elite, winners-only event on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Swede Jonas Blixt was at one under after five holes, a stroke in front of compatriot Carl Pettersson (after one hole) and Americans Kyle Stanley (four), Ryan Moore (three), Johnson Wagner (two) and Scott Piercy (one).
"It stinks for me," American Simpson said of the abandoned round. "I got off to a great start but that's the way it goes. I'm sure they made the decision that's best for all the guys.
"But the good news is, I had a good start and I'm playing well. I was able to make a couple of putts and that's what you have to do on a day like today."
BRUTAL CHALLENGE
Earlier Simpson described how brutally challenging the wet and windy conditions had been on the hilly, par-73 Plantation Course.
"I feel like I'm in a hurricane ... my umbrella is breaking," he said.
While Simpson was bitterly disappointed by the decision to wipe out the opening round, compatriot Scott Stallings had every reason to celebrate after battling to seven over par after just four holes.
FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker, one of six players in the 30-man field who did not tee off in the opening round, had already prepared himself for a daunting afternoon at Kapalua.
"I just striped an eight-iron on the range that went about 50 yards," Snedeker said. "I probably could have caught it."
Also among those yet to tee off was veteran American Steve Stricker, who won last year's Hyundai Tournament of Champions by three shots to clinch his 12th PGA Tour title.
Stronger winds and intermittent rain have been forecast for Saturday, though conditions are expected to ease at Kapalua on Sunday and Monday.

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Golf-Fowler flies blind on yardage at windy Kapalua

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Yardage numbers were often meaningless for Rickie Fowler on a brutal Friday at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii where the first round was eventually abandoned because of severe gusting winds.
With golf umbrellas bending sharply in intermittent driving rain and balls being blown off line on the more exposed greens, Fowler realised he simply had to choose his shot and then try to pull it off.
"For the most part, I told my caddie I almost didn't even need any (yardage) numbers today," American Fowler told reporters after the opening round was scrapped because of winds gusting up to 45 mph (72.4 kph).
"It's more looking at the shot and seeing what the weather is, just grab a club and pick the flight and hit it. Numbers were kind of irrelevant at times.
"I had a ball that rolled up the hill on (hole) six with a gust; and that was a few holes back from when we finished. We didn't say anything. We were just kind of toughing it out ... guinea pigs up front."
Fowler and fellow American Jason Dufner had teed off as the first pairing of the day in the PGA Tour's season-opening event at the Kapalua Resort.
They had completed only eight holes, with Fowler slipping to three over par and Dufner sitting at one over, when play was suspended.
Organisers later decided to wipe out the first round and send the players out on Saturday in a bid to complete 36 holes.
"After the strong winds that came through and the weather, I felt like it was a smart decision," said Fowler, who booked his place in the elite, winners-only field of 30 with his maiden PGA Tour victory at last year's Wells Fargo Championship.
"Obviously Webb (Simpson) is probably the only one that may be a little bummed," he added, referring to U.S. Open champion who was three under for the round after seven holes. "He was out there playing well and had control of his golf ball."
The killer blow for Fowler came when he double-bogeyed the eighth after dumping his tee shot into a hazard, and he was delighted when play was abandoned soon after.
"I'm really glad that didn't count because after hitting that and hearing the horn blow a minute later as I'm walking off the tee made me a little upset," he said.
"I felt like I was playing pretty well up until we had to hit in some crazy weather on eight and I ended up making double. Other than that, one over par, I felt like it was pretty good over seven holes.
"It was brutal out there. You definitely had to be hitting solid golf shots and picking the right times to hit.

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