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Was there any quarterback in the country facing more pressure than Alabama fifth-year senior Blake Sims during Week 11?
The only game he’d ever play against LSU was going to help mold whatever opinion Crimson Tide fans made of him, either long-lasting respect or forgotten as the fill-in post A.J. McCarron and before Jacob Coker.
RELATED: Video — Alabama celebrates win over LSU
Sims stepped up in the clutch, further proving he’s a leader capable of directing this year’s Alabama team to a possible division title and more.
This is one of the most remarkable wins in recent Alabama history. Unbelievable.
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) November 9, 2014
Blake Sims showed me something in final FG drive and w/ fade for winning TD in Death Valley. Saved Bama’s season. Congrats, young man.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 9, 2014
Where does Saturday night’s game rank in college football’s most intense rivalry since Nick Saban arrived in 2007?
It’s up there with the best.
5. 2008 — Alabama, 27, LSU 21 (OT): The first of three overtime games over the ensuing eight meetings, Nick Saban’s first win as a member of the other side of the rivalry in his return to Baton Rouge was a mistake-filled mess won on John Parker Wilson’s 1-yard keeper. Alabama picked off LSU’s Jarrett Lee four times including Rashad Johnson’s snare on the Tigers’ only possession in the extra session. Earlier in the game, Johnson returned a pick 54 yards for a touchdown. The top-ranked and unbeaten Crimson Tide eventually fell to second-ranked Florida in the SEC Championship Game to keep them out of the national title contest.
4. 2007 — LSU 41, Alabama 34: Saban claimed his first game as Alabama’s coach after five seasons at LSU wasn’t ‘personal’, but the Tigers played like it was during a shootout win. Trailing 17-3 in the second quarter, the Crimson Tide scored the next 24 points to lead by 10 late in the third. That’s when LSU seized momentum. Matt Flynn’s 32-yard touchdown pass with 2:49 to play tied the game at 34 and was followed by Jacob Hester’s 1-yard plunge to win it with just over a minute left after the Tigers had recovered a fumble inside the Alabama 5. LSU went on to capture the national championship that season.
3. 2011 — LSU 9, Alabama 6 (OT): The Tigers went into Tuscaloosa and left with a hard-fought overtime victory in a contest that lived up to its 1 vs. 2 national billing as ‘The Game of the Century’. It was college football’s 23rd regular-season matchup between the top two teams in the AP Poll ever. Alabama avenged the loss in the BCS title game two months later, blanking the top-ranked and unbeaten Tigers by three touchdowns inside the Superdome.
2. 2014: Alabama 20, LSU 13 (OT) — A matchup with major College Football Playoff implications for Alabama, the Crimson Tide’s fourth straight win over the Tigers seemed improbable late in the fourth quarter after T.J. Yeldon lost his 11th career fumble at his own 6-yard line with the score knotted at 10. After LSU kicked the go-ahead field goal, Alabama drove 55 yards with no timeouts to forced overtime. Blake Sims gave the Crimson Tide a go-ahead lead in the extra period with a 6-yard strike to DeAndrew White.
1. 2012: Alabama, 21, LSU 17 — Eventual national champion Alabama escaped the clutches of defeat in front of a deafening sell-out crowd at Tiger Stadium with the best drive of McCarron’s illustrious career. Trailing in any game for the first time all season with 94 seconds left in the fourth quarter, McCarron directed Alabama on a five-play, 72-yard touchdown drive capped off by Yeldon’s 28-yard score on a perfectly executed screen pass.
Watch: Alabama vs LSU 2014 highlights
