It’s here. It’s finally here.
After weeks of sampling the appetizers of the
other 34 bowls, the main course is at hand.
Alabama is looking to avenge its only loss of
the season, when it fell in overtime to visiting LSU in November.
The Bayou Bengals are looking to finish out a perfect season and
capture their third national title in nine years.
It’s here. It’s finally here.
After weeks of sampling the appetizers of the
other 34 bowls, the main course is at hand.
Alabama is looking to avenge its only loss of
the season, when it fell in overtime to visiting LSU in November.
The Bayou Bengals are looking to finish out a perfect season and
capture their third national title in nine years.
So from Nick Saban’s close call as a young man
to the goofy (and terrific) punter from LSU, here are 25 other
things to know about Monday night’s BCS title game:
1. Left tackle Barrett Jones is the third
Alabama player to win the Outland Award as the nation’s top
lineman. Jones, a junior, already has his degree in accounting and
is working on his master’s. He’ll be well-prepared for the millions
the NFL will be throwing his way.
2. Jones has spent the last two spring breaks in
Haiti helping victims of the catastrophic earthquake in January
2010.
3. According to a recent study by Forbes
magazine, LSU ranks fourth in most valuable football program to the
overall university. Texas, Notre Dame and Penn State are the
top
3. Alabama (sixth) is one of five SEC schools in
the top 10.
4. Alabama is wearing a No. 77 decal on its
helmets in memory of offensive lineman Aaron Douglas, who died of a
drug overdose in May.
5. LSU cornerback/punt returner Tyrann Mathieu
was fifth in the Heisman voting. He has grown to enjoy the nickname
“Honey Badger,” which sounds effeminate, but is really one of the
most ferocious animals in the world.
6. Mathieu, whose father is in jail for murder,
was raised by an aunt and uncle after his grandfather died when
Mathieu was 5. Riveting stuff.
7. Mathieu and partner Morris Claiborne became
the first teammates in history to be named first-team All-America
cornerbacks. Amazing when you consider last year’s top corner,
Patrick Peterson, left a year early and was one of the NFL’s top
rookies this season.
8. Alabama junior linebacker Dont’a Hightower,
one of the best in the nation at his position, missed most of the
2009 national title run when he ripped up his knee in the fourth
game of the season.
9. LSU guard Will Blackwell was the team’s
co-MVP on offense. He missed nine games last year with a broken
leg.
10. Alabama won three of its last four national
titles (1978, 1979, 1992) at the Superdome. Ditto for LSU’s two
most recent championships (2003, 2007).
11. LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson was
suspended for the first four games of the season after he was
charged with second-degree battery for his alleged role in an
August bar fight. Those charges have since been dropped to simple
assault and he has an arraignment hearing in February to get them
tossed completely. Jefferson maintains he wasn’t at the scene of
the alleged crime.
12. Tide quarterback AJ McCarron would rather
wear the orange and blue of Auburn than soak in the fame that comes
with being Alabama’s quarterback. “I don’t like to be around the
camera light and all that,” he said when the team arrived in New
Orleans.
13. LSU punter Brad Wing has the unlikely
distinction of being the first player to have a touchdown erased
because of a taunting penalty. He was on his way to the house with
a fake punt against Florida when the zebras called him for prancing
into the end zone.
14. Wing, a freshman from Melbourne, Australia,
led the SEC with 46.0 percent of his punts downed inside the 20.
For comparison, Alabama’s Cody Mandell was at 31.5 percent.
15. Alabama is third in the nation in fewest
penalties committed at 4.0 per game. LSU gets flagged 6.2 times
per.
16. LSU’s d-backs have scored eight return
touchdowns. The Tigers’ defense has allowed seven touchdown
passes.
17. The most watched BCS title game was when
Vince Young and Texas beat Matt Leinart and USC in the Rose Bowl
following the 2005 season.
18. The No. 18 that LSU safety Brandon Taylor
wears has become a legacy number that started with quarterback Matt
Mauck, who guided the Tigers to the 2003 championship. Coach Les
Miles, with help from team leaders, decides which player deserves
to wear it.
19. In four games against Top 25 teams this
year, Alabama running back Trent Richardson averaged 126.8 yards
rushing. He had 89 yards rushing and another 80 receiving in the
first meeting with LSU.
20. LSU center T-Bob Hebert is the son of Bobby
Hebert, who spent seven seasons (1985-92) playing in the Superdome
as the Saints quarterback. The “T” in T-Bob could be a nod to mom
Teresa. Or it could stand for T-Bone steak. Never can tell with
Cajuns.
21. The lowest-scoring BCS championship game was
the 13-2 yawner when Oklahoma beat Florida State for the 2000
title. Oddly, LSU and Alabama also combined for 15 points in their
first meeting this season; a 9-6 LSU win at ‘Bama.
22 . The father of Tigers wide receiver Odell
Beckham Jr. roomed with Shaquille O’Neal while at LSU.
23. Alabama coach Nick Saban was LSU’s coach
when the Tigers won the 2003 national title.
24. Saban was a quarterback at Kent State when
National Guardsmen opened fire at a protest in 1970, killing four
students.
25. “I could have been there,” Saban told the
Mobile Register at the 40th anniversary of the incident. “I was
more interested in having lunch … or I’d have been there. And if
you were there, you would have had a chance to get injured,
wounded. Four people got killed, and two of those people were
innocent bystanders.”
