Tide loses, but Saban wins a battle

TUSCALOOSA — At the end of the first half, Nick Saban walked off the field victorious.

Alabama’s game with LSU was far from its conclusion, and 30 minutes remained to be played, but it didn’t matter. For all intents and purposes, Saban had defeated the Tigers’ Les Miles in the coaches’ battle.

Down 17-3 with 14:56 remaining in the second quarter, the Crimson Tide fought back in a big way. Suddenly, Matt Flynn couldn’t find the right receivers. LSU’s defensive backs couldn’t cover Alabama’s receivers, and Tide stormed back to go up 20-17 before halftime. That wasn’t the defining half of the game. It wasn’t the defining half of the season, but it was the most important time for the two coaches.

In a game that was billed as coach versus coach, Saban successfully punched and counter-punched a team with greater talent. In a game where every little mistake would be criticized, Alabama, the underdog, could have won. The Tigers weren’t just supposed to win — they were supposed to destroy Alabama.

Some had billed this LSU team as the best in college football. In a lot of ways, its record doesn’t lie. Look at the quality wins the Tigers have had against Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Florida and Auburn.

Look at how they soundly defeated Tech, ramming the Hokies by 41 points, and they scored a 12-point victory over a solid South Carolina team.

All Miles needed was his team to come out, play a good game and beat Alabama by, say, 14 or 15 points. That sounds manageable against a team that needed a still-debated overturned call to beat Ole Miss. But no, no, no — that’s not what happened. LSU might have been the better team statistically, but was the worse team in so many other ways.

Look at the turnovers: LSU lost that battle 3-2, and those three interceptions that Flynn threw led to 10 Alabama points.

Then look at the penalties: The Bayou Bengals had 14 for 130 yards, while the Crimson Tide had two penalties for 15 yards.

Those stats aren’t exactly indicative of talent — they’re indicative of coaching. Now, this isn’t going to be one of those “Les Miles is worse than Nick Saban” columns. To be honest, we won’t know the answer to that question until years down the road when both have their players and their systems fully intact. This was the worst possible situation for Miles. He almost got beat by the man he is most compared to.

People know that Saban built the foundation for the juggernaut in Baton Rouge. Many of the guys he faced Saturday were players he recruited. Granted, Miles has maintained the talent flow, but there has always been that doubt in people’s minds.

You look at LSU fans with their “We love Les” T-shirts at Saturday’s game, and you have to wonder whether they actually believed the motto. After the game was over and LSU won, did they really, truly, deep in their bellies think they had the better man?

Maybe they do. Now all Miles has to do is go undefeated the rest of the year, win the SEC championship and defeat whatever team the Tigers play in the national championship game.

But this game Saturday was not the end of the rivalry — it was just the beginning. With a team of lesser talent, Saban showed Miles and the rest of LSU that his team can play down-for-down against a team with more skill.

He can take a kick returner at running back (Jonathan Lowe), a former walk-on at linebacker (Darren Mustin) and a former walk-on running back at safety (Rashad Johnson) and swap punch for punch with the Tigers.

You have to wonder how this will play out in a few years when Saban has “his players.” If I cheered for the Tigers, I would be nervous.