Sunday Hangover: LSU

Last night was probably the worst game Alabama has played all season. Yet the Crimson Tide won versus an amped-up and revenge-seeking LSU squad. 

In Baton Rouge. At night.  

The Tigers dominated the game. Check out these statistics, Alabama compared to LSU:

• First Downs: 18 to 22
• Net Yards Passing: 165 to 296
• Total Offensive Yards: 331 to 435
• Fumbles Lost: 2 to 0
• Third Down Conversions: 1 of 9 to 10 of 20
• Total Offensive Plays: 52 to 85
• Time of Possession: 20:45 to 39:15

The last three bullet points are the most telling of the game. The Tide defense was on the field a long time. Way too long. It couldn't get off the field. 

LSU's somewhat maligned quarterback had a career day. He slinged it around with accuracy and did so often on third and long. It was really freakin' annoying. 

The major turning point was when Alabama was driving in the game, about to either make a touchdown or at least get a field goal, when McCarron didn't hand the ball off the Yeldon right, and Yeldon fumbled the ball. 

I don't know about Mrs. Nasty at that time, but I know I was going starting to go through Kubler-Ross's stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. 

At the point in the game when LSU had scored two straight touchdowns in the second half, I was certainly in the depression stage and veering toward acceptance that Alabama had been out-played, out-coached, out-hustled, and out-muscled. And out of the national title hunt. 

Then the Tide got the ball back with under two minutes to play in the game. McCarron finally got his @#$% together; he threw four straight passes to Kevin Norwood (LSU fans might remember him from the BCS title game), one of which was an incompletion in the end zone; and then McCarron dumped off an exquisite screen pass to Yeldon for the game-winning touchdown with less than one minute left. 

Victory in Death Valley. 

I can still bounce back to the anger stage though. I could talk about how our best defensive player--C. J. Mosley--was not on the field enough, or I could talk about the poor play of our safeties, or I could talk about our ineffective blitzes, or I could complain about the offensive play calling and numerous three-and-outs, or I could talk about how this game was the first game where Alabama gave up over 100 yards on the ground (139), or I could write about some other stuff. But I'll not go into details about all that here. 

Let's enjoy the victory. 

Last night's game was one of those games I hated watching, but I'll enjoy thinking about it in the future. 

Considering Alabama's poor play last night, the Crimson Tide better get it together against Texas A&M next Saturday in Bryant-Denny. That team, in my opinion, is the best two-loss team in the nation and probably better than some undefeated and one-loss teams out there.