LSU vs. Alabama: LSU's Offense, the "Game of the Century" and Overreactions

Before the "Game of the Century" on Saturday night everyone was anticipating a mammoth defensive struggle. Now, after a mammoth defensive struggle, the same people are bemoaning the lack of offense. They point to the game in the Big 12, where there were 97 points scored, as an example of "better" football. 

For those that were confused by the SEC game, allow me some latitude to explain something. That thing that was happening when the one guy on the one team was dragging the guy who had the ball to the ground is called a "tackle." It might not be something you'd recognize if you watched the flag football—erp!—Big 12 game. 

People are arguing that this isn't a case of great defenses pitted against one another, but of bad offenses not able to get the job done. 

Could anything be more ridiculous than this? Why are people reacting as though neither of the SEC titans had played a game before Saturday night? These are two teams that are each averaging almost 40 points a game when not facing one another. 

When Michael Wilbon argues on Pardon the Interruption that you want to see a good defense stop a "competent" offense and that "these offenses weren't competent," he acts as though these offenses were not in other games this season. 

Again, when these offenses aren't playing one another they are racking up 40 points per game. 

These defenses weren't shutting down average offenses; they were shutting down very good offenses. I won't go so far as to say they are the best offenses in the NCAA, but they were both far better than many are giving them credit for being. Certainly 40 points per game qualifies as "competent"!

Particularly when you look at LSU's competition, it is hard to argue to the contrary. 

LSU has averaged 31.3 points per game against ranked opponents. If you don't include the Alabama game, that number swells to 36.8 points against five ranked opponents. 

The fact is that LSU's offense has done very well when you consider its competition—even better statistically speaking than OSU! LSU, on average, scores 66 percent more than their opponent gives up. That's compared to only 61 percent more that Oklahoma State scores over what their opponents normally surrender.

Several have used words like "sloppy" to describe the game. There is a difference between a team being "sloppy" and a defense forcing errors and/or not giving up big plays. The teams combined only have turned the ball over 15 times all year, five by LSU and 10 by Alabama. Four of those turnovers, two by each team, came in the game on Saturday night.

These are teams that are adept at taking care of the ball. LSU only gives up .56 turnovers a game, the fewest in the country. I feel the need to repeat here that this against six ranked teams! How much "competence" is enough for you, Mr. Wilbon? 

LSU gives up just 2.6 plays of over 20 yards. They have given up only three plays all season of over 40 yards. This is a team that doesn't give up big plays. Alabama has been even stingier, giving up only 15 total plays of 20 yards or more. Combined the teams have only given up 38. 

The teams have given up a grand total of seven rushing plays of over 20 yards. Alabama has given up one rushing play of over 30 yards. LSU hasn't given up any.  

Were we expecting a plethora of 40-yard bombs? There were five plays of over 20 yards between the two teams, which is more than what they were giving up all year. 

It is incredible that when we are talking about overall rankings, we take into consideration schedules, but when it comes to yardage or point rankings we completely dismiss them. LSU has played six ranked opponents. OSU has played three. 

Of the ranked opponents that LSU has beaten, one is in the Top Five, two are in the Top 10 and three are in the Top 25. The only ranked team OSU has faced is 17th. Doesn't this factor into what you're looking at when it comes to yards gained?

The defenses LSU has played give up 340.83 yards per game. Oklahoma State's opponents have given up 421.98 points. How many more yards would LSU be rolling up if they didn't have to face the SEC defenses every week?

Perhaps some are thinking that the inverse is true as well. OSU's defense is better than advertised and to a point, it is. They give up only 28.56 points per game against opponents who average nearly a touchdown more at 35.1 points per game. This is not a "bash OSU" article. 

OSU is better defensively than they get credit for too. They hold their opponents to 81.35 percent of what they are used to scoring. 

However, LSU yields only 37.23 percent of what their opponents are used to scoring on the season. To suggest they haven't really stopped anyone is ridiculous! They've stopped everyone. 

It is plainly fallacious that some people want to look at just the last game and make a declaration based on that one game, as though for whatever reasons are darting through their myopic brains, that the totality of the seasons are measure in only the last game.

Take, for example, Cary Estes' article, which addresses LSU's defense and how stopping Alabama isn't the same thing as stopping the offensive firepower they are likely to see in the BCS Championship game. 

"

In the BCS Championship game, however, LSU probably would face a team with a prolific offense, be it Oklahoma State, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Boise State or even No. 6 Oregon, which the Tigers beat to open the season.

"

He's literally questioning whether LSU could beat a team that he acknowledges they've already beaten! How much sillier can you get than that? Let's not pretend (as some have) that one or two missing starters were the difference in that game. LSU was missing starters too, and they won by 13. In fact, it wasn't even as close as the 13-point margin of victory would indicate. LSU won that game going away. 

LSU"s defense has established it can stop elite offenses. In every single game that LSU has played this year they have held their opponents at least 11 points below their season average. They have faced five opponents who score at least 25 points a game. Those opponents have scored, on average, 13.5 points per game, 19.8 points fewer than what they score on average. 

Yes, LSU can stop an elite offense. The season didn't start Saturday! They've been doing it all year! One has to wonder why the inverse of that same inquiry is assumed to be true when it comes to Oklahoma State being able to "score on anyone in the country" when they have only faced one defense worth its salt in Texas, who is ranked 15th. The next best is 58th-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette.

By comparison, LSU has played the seventh-best offense in Oregon, the 12th-best in West Virginia, the 29th-best in Alabama (yeah, I went there!) and the 56th-best in Mississippi State. So why is it being questioned whether LSU can stop the elite offenses, but assumed that Oklahoma State can score on LSU?

I'm not bashing the Cowboys here; I'm bashing the logical inconsistency. 

Some point to West Virginia's yardage and argue that shows a weakness in LSU's defense. There are two things about that. First, all those yards don't matter on the scoreboard. Yards don't win games—points do. And while LSU was giving up yards, they were also posting 47 points but giving up only 21. It's hard to use something that happened in a game that LSU won by 26 points against them. 

It is mind-boggling to me that people have taken LSU's beating of Alabama and deduced by watching them beat the No. 2 team in the nation—on the road, in overtime—and taken from that that somehow, LSU isn't good enough.

Let's bring some perspective to this conversation. The season is 10 weeks old. LSU has played nine games. They've scored a lot of touchdowns. Not scoring one against Alabama (the second-best defense in the country) does not make them suspect.