Roller-coaster season ends with BCS title

What began with so much promise and twice seemed to be washed away like the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, all came together on Jan. 7 in New Orleans when LSU won the BCS National Championship after a 38-24 victory over Ohio State in the Louisiana Superdome.

LSU began the season ranked second in most preseason polls and then ran off six convincing wins, but fell in a triple-overtime thriller at Kentucky on October 13.

The Tigers were able to rebound and put together four consecutive wins, take the SEC Western Division crown and put themselves in position to win their second national title since 2003.

However, another triple-overtime loss to Arkansas at Tiger Stadium in the final game of the regular season seemed to derail LSU’s national championship hopes once again. But a funny thing happened after LSU beat Tennessee, 21-14, to win their 10th SEC title in school history – the top two ranked teams in the country also fell leaving Ohio State and LSU to play for the national title.

The Tigers were able to leap-frog past a few teams due to the fact that they won the nation’s best conference (the SEC) and had one of the nation’s toughest schedules. When it was all said and done, LSU went 5-0 against teams ranked in the final top-15 poll. Georgia (which went 2-1 against top-15 teams) finished second in some final polls and Southern California did not play a team in the top-15 during the 2007 season.

Against OSU, the Tigers (12-2) fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter, but then ran off 31 straight points (including 21 in the first quarter). Matt Flynn, who threw for 174 yards and a career-high four touchdowns, was named the game’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player. Flynn had a pair of touchdown tosses to Richard Dickson and one each to Early Doucet and Brandon LaFell. Jacob Hester had 86 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. LSU’s first points of the game came on a 32-yard field goal by Colt David. Defensive MVP went to lineman Ricky Jean-Francois, who blocked a key field-goal attempt with the score tied at 10-all in the second quarter.

As a defense, the Tigers stymied the OSU offense by allowing it to only convert 3-of-13 third-down conversions.

Ohio State has now lost all nine games its ever played in a bowl game against SEC teams.

Lady Tigers continue to win

In front of the sixth-largest crowd in school history (10,841), the 11th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team stormed to an 18-2 lead and held off Vanderbilt rally to earn a 62-51 victory on Sunday at the Maravich Center.

LSU (13-3, 2-0 SEC) was led by Sylvia Fowles, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds in her third game back from knee surgery. Fowles added three blocks and two steals to her double double, while Quianna Chaney added 12 points and six rebounds. Erica White chimed in with 11 points and five assists.

On Thursday, LSU defeated Arkansas on the road, 76-54. The loss was the first of the season for the Lady Razorbacks. In the contest, Fowles scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Chaney and Allison Hightower each poured in 15 points in the victory.

The Lady Tigers will take on Mississippi State at 2 p.m. on Sunday at home in its only action this week.

Tigers fall to Ole Miss

The LSU men’s basketball team fell to 7-9 overall and 0-2 in the SEC after a 74-71 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday.

In the contest, the Tigers fought from 22 points down to make a game of it in the second half behind 25 points from Marcus Thornton. Anthony Randolph added 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Garrett Temple poured in 16 points.

On Wednesday, the Tigers opened league play with a 61-39 loss to Mississippi State at the Maravich Center. In that game, LSU shot only 21.2 percent from the floor.

Thornton had 12 points, while Randolph added 10 points in the defeat.

The Tigers will play host to Auburn on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then travel to take on Vanderbilt at noon on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., in a game that will be aired by Lincoln Financial Sports.