If we hadn’t been here before, having seen Alabama and L.S.U. tussle in Tuscaloosa back in November, you’d think the B.C.S. National Championship Game was following in the footsteps of the 2001 Orange Bowl. High-grade offenses reduced to jelly under a defensive-themed onslaught; one otherwise stalwart, experienced team left flailing in frustration, unwilling to adapt to an opponent’s challenge. Offense? It was here, but with matching caveats. Against F.B.S. opponents not named Alabama, L.S.U. was averaging 36.8 points per game. Against F.B.S. opponents not named L.S.U., Alabama was averaging 34.7 points per game.
But we’d been done this road before, having seen Alabama and L.S.U. tussle two months ago, and the defense-first, last and always approach from both sides lent credence to the idea of “big boy football,” a style of play put forth earlier this week by Les Miles.
“Big boy football,” as an idea, strays away from Chip Kelly’s spread-based offense and back, back, back in time to a simpler age, when offenses went north-south and defenses dictated the tempo. When the biggest deviation from normalcy was the halfback pass; when games were won in the trenches. SEC football, in short – such as it’s been for generations.
Big boys on one side, big boys on the other. The size difference: negligible. The speed difference: negligible. Yet Alabama, with the benefit of 60-plus minutes of tape and 40-plus days of preparation, completely handled the same team that came into Tuscaloosa on Nov. 5 and won, 12-9, in overtime. It was again a game of field goals; however, Alabama could have taken home the national championship with one.
The final score, 21-0, does little to explain the true margin of victory. No team in college football was scoring on Alabama last night, thanks to another jaw-dropping performance from the best defense in recent college football history, and there was no way L.S.U. was putting a single point on the board with its vanilla, pedestrian and miserable offense.
For L.S.U., it was a blooper reel without the laughs, though the pratfalls remained intact. There was Jordan Jefferson firing a shovel pass towards the back of his intended target; not surprisingly, the pass sailed right past an unsuspecting Spencer Ware and to C.J. Moseley, who made the easiest interception in B.C.S. play since Alabama’s Marcel Dareus took a shovel pass to the house against Texas.
There was one drive that passed midfield, a rite of passage that didn’t occur until midway through the fourth quarter. And with the push into Alabama territory came a frightening realization: for L.S.U., it would only get tougher from there.
There was that same drive ending in familiar fashion, with Jefferson sacked, stripped and held at bay while Alabama pounced on the loose ball. That was L.S.U. and Alabama, part two, in a nutshell. L.S.U., the little brother, was held at bay while the big, bad, bullying older brother had his way.
This was “big boy football,” but with a twist. Instead of taking its place on college football’s Mount Rushmore, L.S.U. was assaulted by a tougher, meaner, stronger and more talented team. A better team, from top to bottom.
Les Miles stuck with Jefferson throughout, as suspected, but few could have predicted Jefferson to revert to his prior form. Forget 2010; Jefferson reverted back to his 2008 style of mismanagement, complete with botched reads, poor pocket presence and woeful option play.
The latter is key: when these two teams met in November, L.S.U.’s option caught Alabama off guard. Clearly, L.S.U. does not have a deep bag of tricks. Nick Saban and Alabama were keyed into the option from the start, leaving the Tigers and offensive coordinator Greg Studrawa grasping at straws.
That may be putting it kindly. Studrawa and L.S.U. didn’t grasp at straws as much as throw up their hands, rolling out an offensive game plan as imaginative of your 1040 form for the I.R.S.: C.P.A.’s rejoiced, but running a fullback dive on 3rd-3 — the same play run three plays before — reeks of throwing in the towel. At best, it smells of a lack of offensive imagination and ingenuity.
Those two qualities come in handy against an Alabama, as led by the brain trust of Saban, Smart and company, and a failure to adapt and adjust against these defensive stalwarts leads to this level of offensive ineptitude. Off balance, off kilter and out of sorts, L.S.U., Jefferson and this offense never had a chance.
On the opposite side, Jefferson’s counterpart, A.J. McCarron, was nearly perfect. He wasn’t flashy, instead leaving the fireworks to his receivers, who came through for him on a handful of sideline grabs — one, to Kevin Norwood, will receive heavy focus on Alabama’s year-in-review DVD.
Here’s McCarron: everything Alabama asked him to be. Don’t win the game so much as not lose the game, Saban and his offensive staff asked. McCarron trumped that, playing careful, error-free football to the tune of 23 completions in 34 attempts for 234 yards. Asked to do just enough, McCarron did more.
For much of three quarters, L.S.U. took the game out of Trent Richardson’s hands and forced McCarron to make plays. That he did unveiled a crippling flaw in the Tigers’ defensive system; that McCarron delivered on the biggest stage of his career is a testament to Saban and Alabama, who kept calling on the hot hand throughout his coming-out party.
The Tigers limited Richardson, but only to a degree: you may slow a diesel train, but you’re never going to stop it in its tracks. Richardson finished his evening – and his college career, one suspects – with 96 yards on 20 carries, highlighted by a 34-yard touchdown run with less than five minutes left that put the capper on Alabama’s 21-0 win.
This was “big boy football,” as done in Tuscaloosa. It’s about sticking to scripts, not flying by the seat of your pants. Trusting in your players. Believing that the message has stuck, and that your best trumps your opponent’s best — that the opponent really doesn’t matter, as no team can beat you while at your best.
“Big boy football” is Alabama football, and Miles should regret asking his team to play the Crimson Tide at their own game. Alabama: the best team in college football, 2012. After a 60-minute pummeling, L.S.U. was left pleading its case for the top spot in The Associated Press poll – quite a slide for a team fresh off what many believe to be the most accomplished regular season in college football history.
This has become par for the course for Saban, and we should have expected nothing less. The last team to challenge his reign ended on the trash heap: Florida and Urban Meyer received their comeuppance from Saban a year after the fact, in Tim Tebow’s final SEC game, and the Gators have yet to recover. Revenge tastes good cold, as it was with Florida, but it tastes better warm, such as it was last night.
As in the 2009 SEC Championship Game, Saban and Alabama got their revenge. It was men against boys – “big boy football,” as played by the Crimson Tide. It was Alabama football, 2012.
You can also follow Paul Myerberg and .
Recruiting takes center stage this Wednesday night as the Maroone High School Gridiron Report counts down toward Feb. 1 with a trio of guests that will help you prepare for National Signing Day.