Alabama cruised past an overmatched Notre Dame squad 42-14 to win the BCS National Championship, then wrapped up its ninth Associated Press championship on Monday night with all 59 first-place votes. Stanford (12-2) finished seventh in the AP final poll and sixth in the final coaches’ poll.

In the second-to-last year before a national playoff system will be used to determine the national champion, Alabama (13-1) avoided most of the potential controversy by pushing Notre Dame (which came into the night ranked No. 1 in the BCS) all over the field at the Orange Bowl.

The Fighting Irish (12-1) dropped to No. 4 in the final AP rankings, which had Oregon (12-1) second and undefeated Ohio State (12-0) third despite being banned from the postseason because of NCAA sanctions.

Georgia and Texas A&M tied for fifth, with Stanford, South Carolina, Florida and Florida State rounding out the top-10.

The SEC once again led the way with six teams in the final ranking, while the Pac-12 finished with three teams in the Top-25.

Four of Stanford’s opponents finished ranked the final AP poll: No. 2 Oregon, No. 4 Notre Dame No. 20 Oregon State and No. 21 San Jose State. Rose Bowl opponent and Big 10 Champion Wisconsin was unranked.