LSU vs Alabama: 10 Things We Learned in the Tide's Loss to LSU

At long last, the wait is finally over as the "Game of the Century" between LSU and Alabama finally arrived, and as expected, lived up to the hype.

If you are a fan of physical, knockout, defensive football, this was the game for you.

With a spot in the BCS championship game likely on the line for the winner, how fitting that this matchup between the nation's two best teams would be decided in overtime.

Let's look at 10 things we learned about Alabama in their 9-6 loss to LSU.

Tide's Special Teams Aren't so Special

The LSU special teams had a decided advantage coming in and a well-deserved one at that.

The Alabama special teams needed to come up with some plays of their own but didn't come close to matching that of the Tigers.

While Marquis Maze is solid in the return game, the kicking game isn't very solid.

Nick Saban turned to long-range kicker Cade Foster a couple times early from 50 yards, and he wasn't close. The change in field position could have hurt the Tide.

Then he turned to short-range kicker Jeremy Shelley who had his 49-yard attempt blocked.

That was nine points left on the field and a big change of field position all in the first 18 minutes of the game, but in the end, Foster redeemed himself by nailing a 46-yard field goal to give the Tide the lead.

But the special teams hurt Alabama once again in the fourth quarter when Maze failed to fair catch a punt that cost the Tide 30 yards in field position and once again in overtime when Foster wasn't close from 52 yards out.

No Situation Is Too Big for A.J. McCarron Except Overtime

If A.J. McCarron would have been nervous or jittery at the beginning of this game, it may have been understandable.

He's been good enough to this point that we forget that it's his first season as a starter.

Instead, McCarron stood tall and confident in the pocket, made solid decisions and handled the massive amount of hype that came with this game remarkably well.

One example came early in the first quarter when McCarron had to drop back in the shadows of his own end zone on third down. Instead of doing something costly, he stood tall and completed a big third-down pass to Maze.

McCarron made one mistake on the night that cost Alabama three points, but overall, turned in a pretty solid performance.

That was until overtime when he missed a wide-open Richardson, then on the following play took a sack in the only situation of the game that he couldn't take a sack in.

That knocked Alabama out of field goal range and resulted in a third missed field goal by Foster.

While they played a pretty clean game overall, mental mistakes (including an illegal substitution penalty) in overtime cost the Tide a perfect season.

Barrett Jones Is a Beast

It's no wonder that McCarron can afford to stand comfortably in the pocket. The Alabama offensive line may be the best in country.

That unit's leader is Barrett Jones, who was a fantastic guard a season ago, but is now excelling as a tackle.

The Tide run behind him on almost every play, and he does a big part on keeping McCarron's jersey clean.

Even with the talented LSU front four, Jones made it look easy.

The Tide's Secondary Is as Good as It Gets

Has there ever been a game that featured two more talented secondaries than this one?

Everyone knows about the Crimson Tide defense that has allowed less than seven points per game on the season, but a huge part of that is the play of the Alabama secondary.

Led by the play of corner Dre Kirkpatrick, the Tide defensive backs are aggressive in coverage as evident by their first-half performance.

Alabama allowed a mere 51 yards in the air through the game's first 30 minutes, 29 of which came on a busted coverage late in the first half on a completion to Russell Shepard.

They also made a big play, picking off Jarret Lee for only the second time all season, when Robert Lester did the honors in the first quarter.

Mark Barron then set up Alabama's second field goal with an interception of his own.

Not only are they a great unit in pass coverage, but all four guys do a great job coming up stopping the run as well.

The Tide Can't Read the Option

Give Les Miles credit for sticking with Jordan Jefferson once he realized that the option was the only thing that the Tigers were having success with offensively.

Once they were having success going sideline to sideline, it made sense for LSU to stick with it.

The Tide had to know it was coming but didn't do a very good job on the pitch man early on in the game.

Nick Saban Plays Les Miles Game Unsuccessfully

You win as a team, and you lose as a team.

It would have been easy for Saban to not run his field goal kickers out anymore after the first three failed attempts. If it were me, I would have thought twice about it.

Yet, Saban showed confidence in his guys, and it paid off as they put the first six points on the board for Alabama. If it would have worked out differently, Saban likely would have put the blame on his shoulders.

That has to be nice for a player to know that your coach will stand by you in a big moment of a big game.

But all wasn't good for Saban as he got caught playing Miles' game, going for a gimmick play when he didn't need it, resulting in an interception from Maze.

Trent Richardson Won't Win the Heisman Trophy

A big game from Richardson on such a big stage possibly would have vaulted him to the top of the Heisman Trophy watch.

While he got off to a good start to a good start to the game, Richardson wasn't able to sustain things as the LSU front seven pretty much dominated the game from the middle of the second quarter.

However, while he didn't have a big statistical day, his presence was felt in other ways. Just the mere fact that the LSU defense had to respect him made the play-action pass a weapon.

Richardson also caught two big passes early in the game, something the Tide never really got a chance to go back to until a late fourth-quarter screen pass.

Even though it wasn't his best day, he showed what kind of runner he is.

Is there a tougher back to tackle in the game today?

Injuries Derail Tide

In such a physical game, bumps and bruises are to be expected, but Alabama fans had to hold their breath as they watched a bunch of guys have to come out of the game.

The list included Jesse Williams (arm), Brad Smelley (shoulder), Maze (ankle), Kirkpatrick (head) and Jones (leg).

All returned to the game except Kirkpatrick and showed that a few injuries won't slow the Tide down.

But Saban's decision to use Maze on a punt return with a bad ankle turned out to be a huge play in the game. Maze couldn't make the fair catch, and instead of Alabama starting with the ball around the midfield stripe, they began the possession inside their own 20-yard line.

You Just Don't Get into the End Zone on Alabama

Alabama set LSU up in golden position throughout the game.

Three botched field goals. A first-half blown coverage that set up a goal-to-goal situation. A second-half interception that set up another goal-to-goal situation.

The Tigers clearly won the field position battle throughout the game but simply couldn't score.

Of course, neither could the Tide, but that just shows how good these two defensive units really are.

Against any other team, LSU easily scores over 20 points to win the game. Against this Alabama defense though, it's next to impossible for that to happen. The Crimson Tide just tackles so well and rarely gives teams opportunities to capitalize on mistakes.

Need a player of the game? I recommend the 22 guys on the defensive side of the ball for both teams.

A Game of the Century II Needs to Happen

LSU now has the clear path to the BCS championship game, but no matter who came out of this, they were victorious. You would be hard-pressed to convince anyone that these still aren't the two best teams in the nation.

If you didn't enjoy watching that game, you may have to check to see if you have a pulse.

A one-loss Alabama is a better team than any of the possible remaining teams that could finish the season undefeated, and if the goal is truly to have the two best teams in the nation square off for the BCS championship, then fans really need to see this game again.

You can make the argument that a team that doesn't win its conference shouldn't be playing for a national championship, but put the Tide in any other conference, and they likely run through it.

In reality, only a couple dominoes will have to fall for Alabama to get their rematch against LSU. Alabama fans may want to start rooting for Oregon to defeat Stanford and Oklahoma to defeat Oklahoma State.

After that, let the chips fall where they may.