(AP) -- Alabama sat atop the final regular season UPS Team Performance Index by the slimmest of margins. After its performance in the BCS title game, Nick Saban's squad firmly separated itself from the rest of the pack in more ways than one.

Ranked No. 2 in both the AP Top 25 and BCS standings when bowl matchups were finalized, the Crimson Tide topped the index in early December, nipping Kansas State by just one-hundredth of a point at the time. After claiming its second straight national championship and third in four seasons Monday night with a dominating 42-14 victory over previously top-ranked Notre Dame, Alabama (13-1) ended the season with a significantly more comfortable 4.64-point buffer over second-place Oregon.

Only Southern California's 55-19 victory over Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl proved to be a more lopsided championship outcome in the BCS era. That title was later vacated due to NCAA violations.