Updated: Tuesday, 10 Jan 2012, 7:10 AM CST
Published : Tuesday, 10 Jan 2012, 7:04 AM CST
(NewsCore) - The Alabama Crimson Tide more than avenged their only loss of the season Monday night, defeating the LSU Tigers 21-0 in the BCS Championship Game at New Orleans, in a game once again dominated by defense and special teams, FOX Sports reported.
For Alabama coach Nick Saban, it was his third BCS championship, making him the first coach with three BCS titles. He has two as the coach of the Crimson Tide and one from his days in charge at LSU.
"The goal today [Monday] was, you control your destiny. You control what you do," Saban said. "We certainly didn't play a perfect game. We got a field goal blocked, and we couldn't score a touchdown for a long time. [Yet] never once was anyone discouraged by what happened in the game."
The star of the night, along with practically all of No. 2 Alabama's defenders, was Tide kicker Jeremy Shelley, who accounted for nearly all of the game's scoring, with five field goals.
"Everybody's always asked me about pressure of hitting game-winners," Shelley said. "I've always said that you never know when the game-winner's going to come. It could be in the first three minutes of the game. You think you're going to kick the game-winner as a dream, but looking back on it, hitting five field goals ... I still can't believe it."
A game expected to be dominated by defense did not disappoint. After failing to score a touchdown off one another in their first game, they nearly did it again Monday with the game's first touchdown coming on a 34-yard run by Alabama's Trent Richardson with 4:36 to play, the first touchdown score by either team in either game. Back on Nov. 5, the No. 1 Tigers (13-1) defeated the Tide (12-1) at home, 9-6 in overtime. This time, while both teams again failed to hit pay dirt, the game carried a far different theme.
Alabama dominated play with the first shutout in BCS Championship Game history. LSU did not cross midfield until less than eight minutes remained in the game, and quarterback Jordan Jefferson was pressured throughout the game, often forced into bad decisions -- including two turnovers -- or unable to find time to hit open receivers.
The game got off to a familiar start at the Superdome, the two teams combining for nearly as many points (nine) as first downs (14) in the first half. And while that tells the story of defensive domination, a closer look shows how one-sided the half was.
Every point in the opening half came compliments of the right foot of Alabama kicker Jeremy Shelley. And all but one of the first downs were picked up by the Tide.
Shelley got the scoring going with a 23-yard field goal with five minutes to go in the first quarter. The kick culminated a five-play, 20-yard drive that was set up by a 49-yard punt return by the Tide's Marquis Maze to the LSU 26-yard line. However, Maze pulled up and trotted out of bounds on the return, then hobbled off with an apparent leg injury.
Shelley got the teams' first meeting this season off to a similar start, hitting a 34-yard field goal to make it 3-0 on Nov. 5. The Tigers won the game 9-6 in overtime when Drew Alleman made a 25-yard field goal after Tide kicker Cade Foster missed a 52-yarder.
"You know, I've been visualizing about this for the last week," Shelley said of Monday's night's effort. "That helped me see it once I stepped out on the field, you know, like it wasn't the first time."
Alabama dominated the first quarter in New Orleans, outgaining LSU 102 yards to 28 while limiting the Tigers to only one first down. The Tide, amazingly, were even more dominant in the second quarter, amassing 123 yards to LSU's 15 and holding the Tigers without a first down.
Read more: FOX Sports
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