Robert Carter: Tide’s total domination left no doubt about No. 1
I’m stealing this line from our office manager, the lovely and talented Danielle Pelkey. Actually she stole it from Donna Reid off Facebook, but I saw Danielle’s first, so here goes anyway:
“The last time I saw a tiger get beat that bad, his wife was chasing him with a golf club.”
Jokes aside, Alabama’s domination of LSU in Monday night’s BCS Championship Game was total and complete.
What can you say about a defense that keeps the Tigers from crossing the midfield line until the fourth quarter? Or which makes quarterback Jordan Jefferson look more like sitcom character George Jefferson?
(Yeah, I swiped that line from Facebook, too. Sue me.)
Everyone expected the game to be yet another defensive war, just like the regular-season matchup. And despite the 21-0 whitewash, it really was one. Take off your crimson-colored glasses long enough to remember that the Tide didn’t score a touchdown until Trent Richardson’s run late in the game, and couldn’t get inside the LSU 10-yard line until then.
It was only by the grace and foot of place kicker Jeremy Shelley that Alabama was able to accumulate a lead on the scoreboard, three points at a time. And admit it, Tide fans — after Shelley’s problems in the first “Game of the Century,” weren’t you all holding your breath on every field goal attempt, especially after one was blocked?
Of course you were.
Be that as it may, it was simply a beatdown, pure and simple. The Bayou Bengals, playing the biggest game of the year, could not even muster 100 yards total offense. Vanderbilt did better than that in the regular season. Even Mississippi State did better than that.
And the Honey Badger? Tyrann Mathieu was almost a no-show. Six tackles, one for a 1-yard loss. One kick return for a single yard. “Honey Badger don’t care,” he said some time ago. Apparently he didn’t, but not about what we thought.
Much was made prior to the game of the Tide’s 44-day layoff between the Iron Bowl and the title game. Honestly, I think it worked to Bama’s advantage. There’s no one I can name in college football right now who prepares better in the run-up to a game than Nick Saban. Give him more time, and he just prepares even more. And it showed Monday, as the Tide seemed to have an answer for everything Jefferson and the Tigers tried.
Of course, it’s not like this was Saban’s first trip to this rodeo. The man has now hoisted three crystal footballs — one at Bama the other while at Baton Rouge — and holds the record for most BCS titles by a coach.
During the late stages of the game, as the outcome became clear, ESPN play-by-play man Brent Musberger asked rhetorically, “Could this be the coach that makes Tide fans forget about The Bear?”
You could almost hear the entire state say, “What the [bleep] are you talking about?”
Musberger quickly followed up with, “No one could ever forget The Bear.” He got our attention, all right. Of course they couldn’t.
But he has a point. Saban has now, even in his relatively short time at The Capstone, catapulted himself into the status of a legend. That happens when you win two national championships in three years, and he shows no signs of letting up.
So the BCS did what was promised, and gave us the two best teams. Now there’s just one.
Let there be no doubt.