Alabama Leaves No Doubt: LSU Mauled In BCS Championship, 21-0

Not a whole lot LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu can tweet at Alabama’s A.J. McCarron about this one:

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Via Sports Radio Interviews:

Could you ever have envisioned the national championship game playing out like that?:

For the individual too lazy to modify his own totally necessary five-consecutive-national-titles T-shirt, the SEC presents the following.

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Given how poorly Jefferson played, it’s not surprising the rumor exists, but Miles denied the confrontation occurred during a press conference Tuesday. From USA Today:

Miles was also asked about losing top QB recruit Gunner Kiel to Notre Dame:

Of course you would!

↵This might be the favorite, especially since the best thing about it is that it doesn’t have much to do with the trophy itself. Just a pretty normal day at the Huntsville Kroger with Nick Saban pizza and Bear Bryant pizza.

This may seem completely unhelpful to you, but the Alabama fan is pretty much always happy to travel to NATIONAL CHAMPIONS, wherever it is that that may be.

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The overnight ratings for Monday’s BCS Championship Game are in and they are not good. In fact, they are historically bad, as Alabama’s 21-0 win over SEC-rival LSU drew a 13.8 rating on ESPN (via LA Times). That was the lowest rating championship game in the 14-year history of the BCS.

The championship game’s rating headlined what was generally a bad year for BCS bowls. The Rose, Sugar and Orange all saw dips in comparison to last year. Virginia’s 70-33 destruction of Clemson in the Orange Bowl drew at 4.5 rating, making it the worst-rated game in BCS history.

Jordan Jefferson is not one of those quarterbacks. He doesn’t even know that there was a problem. Don’t believe me?

Here is an example of one of Jefferson’s good decisions with the ball.

“F**k Nick Saban. Great football coach, sure, but he’s a bad person. He’s going to UT anyways. Everybody knows. Hope they can change the face on that statue!”

This was a female LSU fan smoking a cigarette outside the Superdome, talking about Nick Saban. This is what defeat sounds like. It was halftime at the National Championship in New Orleans, as we all stood there trying to make sense of an ugly, lifeless first half. It didn’t get any better after that.

It is Friday. Carnival season began the day before. King cakes have popped up all over the place, the glorified cinnamon buns shot through with cream cheese and coated with purple, green, and yellow sugar. Served in triangular slices, they mark the arrival of carnival season. A small seed sits inside each one: a plastic baby, the sign of good luck, whose owner quickly understands the obligation to bring King Cake to the party the following year, and possibly that he has just cracked a tooth badly and is in need of emergency dental surgery.

They are the first thing I notice in New Orleans. The second are the Rolling Elvii, a crew of Elvis impersonators. I scarcely noticed them; that in itself may be a testament to how quickly and quietly expectations are recalibrated upon arrival into the New Orleans Reality Distortion Vortex. One skinny Elvis is talking in my right ear while the Cotton Bowl sputters to an end on the flatscreen in front of us.

Alabama are losing Richardson and a number of key defensive pieces, but Nick Saban will be happy that he doesn’t have to worry about his quarterback or kicking game going into next season.

For more on the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, visit LSU blog And the Valley Shook, Alabama blog Roll Bama Roll and SEC blog Team Speed Kills.

23: Length of LSU’s longest drive. Nineteen of those yards came on a pass to Odell Beckham, Jr. The next three plays produced four yards, and LSU punted.

22.7: Percentage of LSU’s snaps that went for a loss. EDSBS’ Run Home Jack introduced the Spike Factor back in October:

For head coach Nick Saban and the Alabama program, it is the second national title in the last three seasons. Saban is now the only head coach with three BCS titles, with his two with Alabama joining the one he won with LSU in 2003.

Like most of the Tigers, quarterback Jordan Jefferson struggled on Monday night, completing 11-of-17 pass attempts for just 53 yards. Jefferson also tossed an interception on a shovel pass inside his own 30-yard line. The Crimson Tide was all over the Tigers’ option running game as Jefferson finished with just 15 rushing yards. Jefferson’s legs were the reason while LSU head coach Les Miles did not make a quarterback change.

In sports media, the idea of completely detached objectivity is usually a farce. Most journalists try to hide this fact, while many bloggers embrace it. And then, far beyond even the most biased of bloggers, are your local sports talk radio hosts, who rely on hyperbole and homerism to fill hours of dead air and elicit a reaction.

From ASAP Sports:

There will be no split national championship -- but there won’t be a unanimous one, either.

After Monday’s BCS National Championship, Tigers head coach Les Miles was asked if he felt his team deserved any first-place consideration from AP voters. From ASAP Sports:

The SEC was well represented in the final USA Today Coaches Poll, with Alabama and LSU finishing first and second, as expected, and Arkansas and South Carolina each climbing to finish in the top eight.

Virtually the entire poll was shuffled, as only two teams -- Oklahoma State and Boise State -- kept the same ranking from before bowl season. Notable risers include Michigan and Michigan State, who each jumped three spots to finish ninth and 10th, respectively. Virginia Tech, who lost to Michigan in the Sugar Bowl, fell six spots from No. 11 to 17, while Clemson fell eight spots from No. 14 to 22.

Those paying close attention to ESPN’s studio setup noticed a No. 13 Alabama helmet in the College GameDay pregame setup, but a No. 14 one in the postgame arrangement. The followers of the Bear are a numerative people.

Here’s the before and after:

Upshaw seemed surprised when he was named the winner and immediately shared credit with all of his defensive teammates. “Yes sir, the entire defense,” he said as he accepted the award, quickly handing it off to his teammates. “That’s why I’ma pass this on to my whole defense. Touch that thing folk. Leggo! Roll Tide, baby!”

For more on the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, visit LSU blog And the Valley Shook, Alabama blog Roll Bama Roll and SEC blog Team Speed Kills.

I mean, who doesn’t want a hug from an elephant?

It was supposed to be another defensive slugout, but Alabama racked up a substantial 381 yards. LSU, however, did not do its part, tallying a meager 92 yards -- 249 fewer than FCS Georgia Southern put on Alabama.

The worst college football season ever ends with the country’s most zealous sports fans enjoying a title, and in a year in which their state was hammered by tragedy before the season began. For the third year in a row, the state of Alabama takes the crown.

SI.com: Live LSU-Alabama box score

Richardson, the 2011 Doak Walker Award winner, bounced an inside carry to the sideline, burst around left end with but a few minutes left in what looks to be a runaway Alabama victory, and raced 34 yards to paydirt. The run was the longest play of the night by either team, and staked Alabama to a 21-0 advantage.

SI.com: Live LSU-Alabama box score

Not this time, though. Mathieu barely even had a chance to field his first crack at the ball, digging it up off a bounce in traffic. He was swarmed, and there went LSU’s best chance of scoring on the day. Not even joking. That was their best chance of scoring.

SI.com: Live LSU-Alabama box score

And so LSU’s offense is left to make headway against a fearsome Alabama defense on its own.