Fans entered Saint Louis' Edward Jones Dome Saturday, escaping temps in the low thirties and a touch of snow on the ground, to see if LSU and Alabama could make it an SEC day in the tournament Semi-Finals. The winners of today's games meet on January 28th in New Orleans.
Game 1: LSU 34, Stanford 17
For Stanford, it was deva vu all over again. The fourth seeded Cardinal were in the Semi-Finals last season, playing number one seed, champion of the SEC Auburn. And last year, Stanford scored first, but Auburn won easily. Gulp, things played out in an all too familiar way against number one LSU.
Stanford and QB Andrew Luck took the opening kickoff, and went on a drive for over five minutes, culminating in a Jordan Williamson 27 yard field goal, and the Cardinal had the 3-0 lead.
After two punts, LSU drove 80 yards in the final minutes of the opening frame, and Jordan Jefferson hit Rueben Randle for an 18 yard TD pass, and LSU led 7-3.
The ensuing Stanford drive stalled at their own 37, and the Cardinal punted it back to the Tigers. Early in the second quarter, Stanford's 50 yard punt was fielded by LSU's Tyrann Mathieu, and the "Honey Badger" returned it 87 yards for the TD, and even held onto the ball before reaching the end zone. The LSU led 14-3, as both teams failed to score during the remainder of the first half.
If Stanford thought that they could start with a burst to get it closer in the second half, they were sorely mistaken. LSU took the second half kickoff, and in their second play from scrimmage, Jefferson hit Randle for a 52 yard pass to the Stanford 20. On the next play, Jefferson's 20 yard TD pass to Deangelo Peterson gave the Tigers a 21-3 lead.
Finally, with 3 1/2 minutes left in the third, Andrew Luck hit Griff Whalen on a 16 yard pass play for touchdown, cutting the lead to 21-10. However, Jefferson hit Randle on an 11 yard TD pass early in the fourth, and the lead was 28-10, LSU.
Fourth quarter scoring included a Jeremy Stewart 5 yard TD run for Stanford, and subsequently two LSU field goals, and the final score was 34-17, and LSU would return to Louisiana to play the winner of Game #2 in the championship game.
Game 2: Alabama 22, Oklahoma State 14
Would the highly anticipated match-up of the 2nd and 3rd seeds turn out to be a scoring frenzy or low scoring drama.
At first is looked low scoring would win out, with each team punting off their first drive. However, OSU's Brandon Weeden's interception put the Tide in scoring territory, as Alabama had the ball on the Cowboy 10. Alabama could only get a field goal, though, and took the early 3-0 lead.
Oklahoma State then took the ball on a 6 minute, 65 yard drive, all the way to the Alabama 6 yard line, but failed on a 4th and 1 try, leaving them scoreless. Three punts later, Alabama started a 5 minute, 66 yard drive, that ended with a Trent Richardson 4 yard TD run, and the Tide led 10-0. OSU seemed to have used up all of their energy on their fruitless drive in the 1st, and Alabama took the 10-0 lead to halftime.
In the third, Oklahoma State's offense still could not get anything going, and could not even take advantage of Alabama QB A.J. McCarron's interception. Soon, Alabama had another drive of their own, capped by a McCarron 3 yard TD pass to Michael Williams. The PAT missed, but Alabama seemed to be in complete control 16-0 midway through the third quarter. Through seven quarters of action of the Semi-Final doubleheader, it seemed like SEC domination, and that close games were not to be. But the Cowboys had a burst of energy in their holsters.
Early in the fourth quarter, OSU completed a 16 play, 75 yard, nearly 8 minute drive, with a 5 yard TD pass from Weeden to Joseph Randle, and the score was 16-7.
Still, this one won't get close, right? Well, three "3 and punt" drives only used up about 4 minutes off of the clock, when OSU took the ball back to start a 12 play, 78 yard, 3 and 1/2 minute drive ending with a Weedon 9 yard pass to Josh Cooper, and the score was 16-14 with just under seven minutes to play.
Alabama did not flinch, taking the ball on a 9 play, 44 yard, 4 and 1/2 minute drive leading to a 35-yard field goal, which provided a 19-14 lead with 2 and 1/2 minutes to go.
Oklahoma State had the ball only four plays, coming up a yard short on 4th down, and Alabama had the ball back in OSU territory. Bama added a field goal to take the 22-14 lead with only 45 seconds to go. Weeden's first play resulted in an interception, and the game was basically over. Alabama withstood the OSU 4th quarter rally, and the Tide will head to New Orleans for a re-match with SEC West rival LSU.
UPDATED TOURNEY RESULTS:
FIRST ROUND:
In Pittsburgh:
7 Boise State 62
10 West Virginia 70 (4 OT)
In Green Bay:
8 Wisconsin 45
9 Clemson 19
BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):
Orange:
1 LSU 25
8 Wisconsin 21
Rose:
4 Stanford 35 (OT)
6 Arkansas 32
Sugar:
2 Alabama 34
10 West Virginia 0
Fiesta:
3 Oklahoma State 38
5 Oregon 37
Semi-finals in Saint Louis:
1 LSU 34
4 Stanford 17
2 Alabama 22
3 Oklahoma State 14
BCS Championship in New Orleans (January 28th)
1 LSU
2 Alabama
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