Te'o's final game at Notre Dame sets tone in Alabama onslaught

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As Manti Te'o goes, so go the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Throughout 2012, that wasn't a problem. After all, Te'o won seven major awards and finished with the most Heisman Trophy votes of any solely defensive player in historyit makes sense to follow suit. It's a good call. Undefeated good. BCS No. 1 ranking good.

That Manti Te'o wasn't on the field Monday night in South Florida.

Even Manti Te'o wasn't sure what player was on the field.

Te'o's final game of his college career was the most important. It might also have been his worst. The Irish followed Te'o's suit and lost 42-14 to an Alabama team that dominated the Fighting Irish from the opening kickoff.

Notre Dame coaches let it slip in the seemingly never-ending buildup to Monday's game that Te'o had only missed two tackles all season. By the time Alabama was up 14-0, Te'o had missed two critical tackles.

By the end of the first half, the total was four. The unofficial number at the end of the game was seven.

What happened to the once-invincible Te'o? He was a step behind all game, and at times, he looked weak.

Before Monday's game, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco proclaimed that Te'o was practicing harder, despite his extensive travel schedule that jet-settted him around the nation for awards ceremonies.

Was he too distracted? Was he burned out? It doesn't matter. Te'o was manhandled by any and all Alabama blockers, and while it's impossible to say if Te'o's performance was induced by Alabama's manhandling offensive line or if it just appeared easier for Te'o to be manhandled because of his poor play, either way, the result was the same, and it was obvious from the first series of the game.

Before the game, fans in the stands of Sun Life Stadium had chanted "Manti Te'o" for over an hour. As Eddie Lacy ran over Notre Dame's superman for the game's first touchdown, the chants stopped. Reality set in, and the Irish were issued a wake up call.

Postgame, Notre Dame players all said that after Alabama took the first possession of the game 80 yards to the endzone without much resistance, they knew they had to make a stop.

Again, when the Tide rolled into the end zone on their second drive, the Irish had to step up their game.

By the time the score was 28-0, hope had been lost. The Irish were playing for pride, the National Championship had already been decided.

"Life goes on," Te'o said. "I had a lot of opportunities to make some plays and I didn't. But I played as hard as I could, and yeah, there were some plays that I could have done better on."

Te'o will shift his focus to April's NFL Draft. On Sunday afternoon, Te'o was considered a mid-first-round prospect by analysts and yahoos. Monday's game will assure that status will be questioned.

Te'o had composed perspective after the game and insisted that he'll use Monday's underwhelming performance as fuel to improve himself.

"That's all you can use it for," Te'o said. "What are you going to take form this? Are you going to sulk, and sit back? Or are you going to do something about it?"

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