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Christensen: Roll Tide

By Todd Christensen, The Mtn. Insider
January 10, 2012

Two months ago, in one of the many "Games of the Century" that college football seems to have, LSU eked out a 9-6 victory over Alabama in overtime on their road to an undefeated season and the honor of being the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation.  Following the contest, Nick Saban told his Crimson Tide players to keep their heads up and if they stayed the course they might be able to garner a rematch.  Those machinations did indeed come to fruition and as a result, with the possible exception of the USC-Texas six seasons ago, this was the most anticipated National Title Game in memory.

Coming into the contest, it was felt that Alabama held a psychological advantage with the chip on their shoulder hoping to exact revenge and that it is always difficult to defeat a team twice in one season.  But others felt that having defeated Alabama in Tuscaloosa and now playing the game in New Orleans, the next closest thing to a home game in Baton Rouge, negated that.

Obviously, it turned out to be the former.  The final score of 21-0 does not reflect the dominance with which Alabama whipped the Bayou Bengal Tigers.  LSU did not cross midfield until the middle of the fourth quarter, and in this day and age of 300-400 yard games being commonplace in football, the Tigers totaled a mere 53 yards passing.  In fact, they failed to total 100 yards in total offense.  There is little debate that this was the single most dominant defensive performance by a team in the history of BCS title games, perhaps even in bowl history.  

Sadly, it besmirched an unprecedented regular season in which LSU had been undefeated and had beaten eight ranked opponents, something that had never been done before.  An argument could have been made for a split National Champion had the game been close like the first one, but it was not.  The sea of crimson that was the Alabama defense saw to that.

Nick Saban can now be discussed in the same breath with Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Bud Wilkinson, Knute Rockne and yes, even Bear Bryant as one of the all-time great coaches.  It was the sixth straight victory for the SEC in the title game and while many do not care for the arrogance and self-promotion of that conference, the reality is that the skins are on the wall.  But the MW will benefit from the addition of Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McIlwaine who, if he continues to have game plans like the one he had for LSU at Colorado State, then Ram Nation has much to look forward to.
See all of Todd Christensen's blog entries HERE.