Instant Analysis: LSU-Alabama

In a game tailor made for headline writers everywhere, one could say that LSU made Les mistakes just in the Nick of time. But if you really wanted to understand why the Tigers turned--and turned back--the Tide in Tuscaloosa, the real headline should be this: Early came through late.

LSU's No. 9 has proven to be the number one go-to guy in crunch time during Les Miles' tenure in Baton Rouge. With yet another fourth down requiring the Bayou Bengals to strut their stuff under fire in the final, fateful moments of this larger-than-life showdown, Early Doucet made the kind of play that defines seasons and reputations. Les Miles would have lost the one game he couldn't afford to lose in 2007 had it not been for the receiver he's come to trust more than any other.

The play that rescued LSU from the edge of defeat against Alabama was a simple sit-down route, but as CBS analyst Gary Danielson so wisely said during his call of the action, "Greatness is about making ordinary plays again and again." After his teammates dropped balls, coughed up turnovers, and produced penalties throughout this messy but mesmerizing affair, Doucet calmly cradled Matt Flynn's fourth-down flip and took the pigskin into the end zone to tie the proceedings at 34-all with just under three minutes remaining. On a night when LSU was its own worst enemy, the man named Early saved Les Miles' bacon before it was too late. The same young man recruited by Nick Saban to play for LSU wound up denying the Bama coach a win that would have sent the state of Louisiana scurrying into another state: disbelief.

Renewed by their ability to stare death in the face and live, the Tigers--stronger in the trenches all night long but nervous enough to falter in key situations--regrouped on defense and coaxed a game-deciding turnover from Crimson Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson. LSU's Chad Jones sacked Wilson to force a fumble that was recovered at the Alabama 3. Two snaps later, Jacob Hester scored another game-winning touchdown at the end of another death-defying dance with disaster from the ultimate trapeze artists of college football. Always on the edge of defeat but consistently able to stay on the sunshine side of success, the Tigers won much more than an apocalyptic and armageddon-level grudge match against their former coach; they now stand in complete control of the SEC West, due to twin tiebreaks over both Bama and Auburn. Because Early came up big in the late stages of this marathon (much like a World Series or Yankee-Red Sox baseball game, this contest lasted four hours and 20 minutes, which could very well be an unofficial record for a non-overtime college football game), a season was saved for a team that expects nothing Les than to haul in some heavy hardware at the end of 2007.

Had the Tigers lost this game, their Christmas would have been spent unwrapping presents the week before a bowl game not played in New Orleans. An SEC title would have eluded Les Miles' grasp for a third consecutive year. But thanks to their fourth-quarter heroics against Alabama, the Bayou Bengals still have their Christmas wishes intact. This proves what the folks in Louisiana know quite well: the only Saint Nick in Cajun Country is Santa Claus.