Nick Saban's team, first and foremost, helped itself, but it also was helped by the Fighting Irish's poor execution. Missed tackles and getting caught peeking in the backfield characterized the Irish defense's early showing. On offense, the play-calling, albeit eight plays, was less than inventive. Two run plays in eight chances, no establishing of Everett Golson as a run threat to work the safeties or use of the zone-read to find openings. When the Tide got the ball, they stuck to their well rehearsed plan of attack. An early run was stuffed by the Irish, but it also got the team from South Bend sucked up enough in its run responsibilities to make the second-down play-action pass a big success.