Closer Look

LSU confounds Georgia's offense, then gets confused by BCS

By Luke Winn, SI.com

Lionel Turner (58) put LSU up 24-6 in the third quarter by intercepting David Greene. AP

ATLANTA -- As the final minutes of the first half ticked away at the Georgia Dome, the scoreboard flashed news from halfway across the country: Kansas State 21, Oklahoma 7. LSU's crowd, understandably rowdy at the time -- their Tigers had a 17-3 lead -- could only murmur at the update.

Was it good news? Bad? At the time, just confusing.

Fans stayed quiet, and a line of bowl scouts in their multicolored blazers formed around the press box televisions.

Nick Saban's defense makes its living by creating confusion with its varied blitz packages. It sacked Georgia quarterback David Greene five times and intercepted him thrice in a dominating, 34-13 victory.

The Tigers' D had an answer for nearly everything Mark Richt threw at them. And by having all the answers, LSU just managed to create confusion on a different front. Would they be playing in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4, or not? Was the door opened or closed by Oklahoma's loss?

The preliminary answer to the Sugar Bowl mystery, for LSU, is yes. The Tigers stand to move ahead of USC in the BCS standings, setting up an LSU-Oklahoma Sugar Bowl if the Sooners don't drop below No. 3 in the polls.

The biggest wild card is where LSU will finish in the AP and coaches' polls on Sunday -- if they stay ahead of Oklahoma, presumably at No. 1 or 2, the Tigers are in. If pollsters feel compelled to move USC up to No. 1 and slide one-loss Oklahoma in at No. 2, then LSU would be left out in the cold.

"We went out to prove a point, and we did that. Now it's up to a computer, and we have no control over that," said linebacker Lionel Turner, who returned a David Greene interception 18 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

LSU came into the game as the No. 1-ranked scoring defense in the nation but was widely regarded as a distant No. 2 in talent to Oklahoma. Turner and his teammates gave proof on Saturday that they may be the best overall defense in the country, which could be enough to convince poll voters to put them in the top two -- and consequently in the title game.

They held Georgia to 249 total yards, just 50 on the ground (minus-18 in the first half). The Dawgs weren't able to get out of the red in the rushing category until wide receiver Reggie Brown scampered on a 35-yard reverse with less than four minutes to go in the third quarter. LSU running back Justin Vincent, on the other hand, nearly eclipsed 100 yards in the first quarter (he had 99) en route to a 201-yard, two-touchdown performance.

Massive defensive tackle Chad Lavalais, a Lombardi finalist who finished the day with three tackles and a sack, said the Tigers, who contained Georgia in a 17-10 win on Sept. 20, were only more polished this time around.

"We just did the same thing we did the first game -- we came right after them," he said. "We just cut back on the mental mistakes we made. The first game, we had 25 or 30 mental errors. This game, we only had maybe three or four."

When Georgia finally came knocking at the beginning of the second half, LSU's defense closed the door. Dawgs safety Bruce Thornton intercepted Matt Mauck on the Tigers' opening drive of the second half, but LSU quickly forced Georgia into a three-and-out. Outside linebacker Eric Alexander pummeled Greene on a first-down blitz, quieting the Georgia crowd and killing the momentum.

Two drives later, Turner's 18-yard interception return put LSU up 24-6 on a play that cornerback Travis Daniels later called "the dagger in Georgia's back."

LSU provided all the answers it could -- by winning the SEC title game, capping off a seven-game stretch that included wins over Auburn, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Georgia for a second time. Its defense gained even more national respect.

Now, it must wait for the biggest answer of all. And the Tigers have an opinion as to what it should be.

"We just want everybody to know that we can compete with anybody in the country. We deserve to be in the national championship," wide receiver Michael Clayton said. " We just wanted to end the season with dominance and see where it goes."

That destination should be New Orleans. But for the next 12 hours or so, LSU is stuck in a state of confusion.