BCS Title Game Observation 1: Bama’s Defense

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Over the next couple of hours we’ll be posting a series of observations on Alabama’s 21-0 win over LSU in the BCS Championship Game last night.

We’ll start this morning where we left off last night on Twitter — are you following us there? — and that’s Alabama’s defense.  Right on cue, many non-SEC fans are seizing the opportunity today to complain about last night’s game being yet another defense-first, SEC snoozer.  On one national radio show this morning, the Crimson Tide’s strong defensive performance was being downplayed because “LSU doesn’t have an offense.”

Just a quick reminder for all the SEC-bashers who love their football to be high-flying and high-scoring:


* LSU hung 40 points on Pac-12 champion Oregon when the two teams met in Arlington, Texas to start the season.  (A Tiger win, 40-27.)

* LSU dropped 47 points on Big East champion West Virginia on the Mountaineers’ home field.  (Another Tiger win, 47-21.)


So much for LSU not having an offense.  The Tigers’ offense was pretty darn good when not facing Alabama.  In fact, Les Miles’ team ranked 17th nationally in scoring (35.7 points per game) just behind West Virginia, Southern Miss, Arkansas and Southern Cal.  And that 35.7 average includes both Bama games in which the Tigers mustered just nine points total.

No, anyone using LSU’s “poor offense” as a means of discrediting Alabama’s defensive performance simply has an agenda.  The fact is, LSU scored 35 or more points in 11 of 14 games this year.  They scored 19 against Mississippi State.  And they scored nine and zero against the Tide.

Bama finished the season ranked #1 nationally in scoring defense (8.2 ppg allowed), rushing defense (72.1 ypg allowed), passing defense (111.5 ypg allowed), and total defense (183.6 ypg allowed).

More impressive?  They were nearly 80 yards per game better than #2 in total defense, 20 yards per game better than #2 in passing defense, 10 yards per game better than #2 in rushing defense, and a full three points per game better than #2 in scoring defense (LSU).

Bama’s defense is one for the ages.  Last night it snuffed out an offense that had rolled through America’s toughest schedule.  And if Oklahoma State or Stanford had been on the field in place of LSU last night, the Crimson Tide would still be raising the crystal football today.