What? You thought the Game of the Century would feature 100 points?
Admittedly, most of us assumed there would at least be a few touchdowns. Just one would have been nice. But for anyone who found No. 1 LSU’s 9-6 overtime victory over No. 2 Alabama on Saturday to be ugly, unsatisfying or somehow unimpressive, Tigers defensive end Sam Montgomery has a message for you.
“This is the way football is supposed to be played,” said the man whose third-down sack of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron in the first overtime possession typified a night of defensive dominance. “It’s not about running up the score. This is how two great teams in a great atmosphere are supposed to play.”
I agree. If college football went back to more defensive modes, I would watch it more. These wide open, spread option games where no one can play defense do not inspire me to watch. If I want 100 point games, I’ll watch basketball or Arena League football.
Some of the great LSU teams of the past were built on a strong defense. Even die hard fans still want some offense, but some of the greatest games that I can recall were defensive struggles. LSU vs Notre Dame 1970 with a score of 0-3 in favor of the Fighting Irish and 1985 10-7 in favor of the Tigers are a couple of those games.
Both Alabama and LSU have a long history of dominating defenses. While I’m a Crimson Tide fan, I knew going in that it was going to be most likely a low scoring game.
Both defenses kept the opponents out of the endzone for the entire game and overtime period. I would have liked the Tide to have prevailed, but I congratulate the LSU Tigers on their victory last night.