Tide’s win is no masterpiece for maligned SEC officials
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Daniel Moore, grab your brush. You’ve spent a lifetime committing to canvas some of the greatest moments in Alabama football history. Your work hangs in some of the state’s finest gallerias.
It’s kitschy; it’s cool with a bit of a velvet Elvis feel to it. It’s a bit Howie Mandel in that we see waaaay too much of them, considering the Bear’s been gone for a while and the Tide haven’t won so much as a conference title in 10 years, but it has an audience.
Seriously, though, where do you start with what happened Saturday night?
Your team won, 24-15 over hated LSU, and clinched a spot in the SEC title game for the second consecutive year. The national title dream is still alive. But even you, Daniel, have to admit that ‘Bama quarterback Greg McElroy was trying to set the conference record for most wide-open receivers overthrown in a single afternoon. It was so close that LSU was leading 15-10 in the fourth quarter despite missing three starters due to injury.
Fortunately for your Tide, the coaches made the startling discovery that tailback Mark Ingram can carry a misfiring offense. The much-smothered Julio Jones made basically one play — a 73-yard touchdown pass and run on a receiver screen — and that was it.
It was that close, that wonderful and that great, except for one thing: How, exactly, do you paint a conspiracy theory? That’s what they’ll be screaming from here to Fayetteville and back in the SEC. Did LSU corner Patrick Peterson come down inbounds with an interception of a McElroy pass with 5:54 left in the game?
CBSSports.com
11/9/9
