Ranking the 30 Greatest National Championship Games
By Zach Bigalke
10. 2012 BCS National Championship
#2 Alabama d. #1 LSU 21-0
BEFORE THE GAME
The BCS generated perhaps the greatest controversy of its entire existence after the 2011 regular season, when its calculations decided upon an SEC rematch for the national championship. Alabama had lost to LSU 9-6 in overtime in their regular-season matchup in Tuscaloosa. The Tigers went on to win the SEC West and knock off Georgia for the conference title. LSU was a no-brainer for the BCS championship game, with a team that won by an average of four touchdowns per game and the only undefeated record among power-conference schools.
11-1 Alabama was another story, however. The Crimson Tide finished ahead of several other 11-1 teams to get their rematch against LSU. Big 12 champion Oklahoma State fell out of the second spot after the Cowboys lost at Iowa State in the penultimate game of their regular season. Their Bedlam win over Oklahoma wasn’t enough to push Mike Gundy’s team into the national championship.
Despite dealing with the same division loss issue as Alabama, Stanford was also waved aside in favor of the Crimson Tide. The Cardinal crime was losing 53-30 at home to Pac-12 champion Oregon. The Ducks dropped out of contention a week after taking down Stanford, losing at home against USC. Had they swept their conference schedule, it might have been Chip Kelly’s Oregon squad that got the rematch against the Tigers after losing 40-27 in the season opener at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. Instead, the committee settled on another duel between Nick Saban’s Tide and Les Miles’ Bayou Bengals.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Even with the game taking place in LSU’s backyard in New Orleans, the Tigers came out tight against Alabama. Unable to gain any traction on offense, LSU ran just 17 plays, gained a total of 33 yards, and punted on all of their five first-half drives. But their defense was keeping them in the contest, as they kept holding Alabama to field goals. Jeremy Shelley went 3-for-4, hitting from 23 and 34 yards as well as a 41-yarder on the final play of the half. His 42-yard attempt early in the second quarter was blocked, though, and Alabama led just 9-0 at halftime.
Shelley was called upon to kick four more times in the second half. He went 2-for-3 on field goals once again, connecting from 35 and 44 but missing from 41. The kicker also missed the extra point after Trent Richardson’s 34-yard touchdown run iced the game with less than five minutes to play. Alabama vindicated the BCS’s decision to put them opposite LSU in the national championship, holding the Tigers to just 82 total yards of offense.