I can buy the argument that the 21-0 victory in 2012 BCSCG was the moment everything changed in the series. Heck, it is the literal (literally) start of the 8 game streak. It thwarted LSU wrapping up possibly the most accomplished BCS champion resume for Les Miles' 2nd title and instead secured Alabama's 2nd title (3rd overall) by Saban's fifth year in Tuscaloosa. I'm going to pull a bit of a Malcolm Gladwell of football prognostication and make an off-beat but reasoned case for the November 2015 game.
In 2015 LSU was in the midst of a magical season with a dominant tailback, Leonard Fournette, that covered down on some of the plodding aspects of Miles' increasingly conservative offensive approach. Fournette turned the off-tackle toss into an explosive play. Fournette made teams commit so much to stopping him that an uncomplex passing attack became an explosive one. The defense was not shutting folks down but they were scoring a lot of points and nobody was concerned. This all came to a crashing halt on a misty cold November night in Tuscaloosa.
Leonard Fournette was stymied after seemingly being an unstoppable force all season. Sure, there were a few times where our corners made gutsy tackles when isolated on Fournette. Those were big but mostly rare moments where a guy was challenged to man up and they got the job done with form tackling. More often, Fournette had three crimson jerseys - if not more - around him before getting out of the backfield and even Fournette can't do much about that scenario. Their OL was getting whooped. Conversely, a similar type of back on Bama's sideline was routinely getting clean alleys allowing him to get into his stride and make huge gains.
In that 4 hour moment the entire tenor of the competition changed. Alabama was clearly physically superior to LSU. The rivalry in the Saban era from 2008 through 2014 had been one where LSU was often the most physical team we'd play all season. They'd be the team capable of producing consistent effective runs against our defense. They'd be the team that would force Alabama to pass to win a game. Two wins in this streak involved Alabama pulling out a rabbit's foot and four-leaf clover with late drives to repel LSU who had arguably outplayed Alabama for most of the game. On November 7, 2015 Alabama physically dominated LSU on both sides of the ball. The score got prettied up late to disguise what had really happened on the field.
2016 Alabama's lacking passing attack might have hidden this shift for some. The 10-0 win would lead some to think back to the 9-6 game but the difference here is that LSU could've played 120 minutes that night and still not have scored. 2017 saw a slightly improved passing attack from Alabama which allowed for the running attack to sustain some success against a weaker DL than the "norm" for LSU. Last night with LSU unable to focus on the run game, Alabama nearly had two 100 yard rushers. All three of these games involved Alabama's DL salting the earth over LSU.
How did this happen? My theory is that their recruiting was slowly but surely damaged by the discontent from their fanbase post-BCSCG rematch. It became a real vocal problem in 2014 around their local beat. The message board grumbles became a talking point for the local commentators. The 3 game losing streak that started in Tuscaloosa ought to have resulted in Miles' resignation or termination. The mood around the program was beyond recovery and I think the lacking level of talent in several positional groups today goes back to 2014-2015.
So maybe 2015 was the culmination of the stinging blow dealt in the 2011 season? Perhaps they're tied together and this isn't really an either/or deal?
In 2015 LSU was in the midst of a magical season with a dominant tailback, Leonard Fournette, that covered down on some of the plodding aspects of Miles' increasingly conservative offensive approach. Fournette turned the off-tackle toss into an explosive play. Fournette made teams commit so much to stopping him that an uncomplex passing attack became an explosive one. The defense was not shutting folks down but they were scoring a lot of points and nobody was concerned. This all came to a crashing halt on a misty cold November night in Tuscaloosa.
Leonard Fournette was stymied after seemingly being an unstoppable force all season. Sure, there were a few times where our corners made gutsy tackles when isolated on Fournette. Those were big but mostly rare moments where a guy was challenged to man up and they got the job done with form tackling. More often, Fournette had three crimson jerseys - if not more - around him before getting out of the backfield and even Fournette can't do much about that scenario. Their OL was getting whooped. Conversely, a similar type of back on Bama's sideline was routinely getting clean alleys allowing him to get into his stride and make huge gains.
In that 4 hour moment the entire tenor of the competition changed. Alabama was clearly physically superior to LSU. The rivalry in the Saban era from 2008 through 2014 had been one where LSU was often the most physical team we'd play all season. They'd be the team capable of producing consistent effective runs against our defense. They'd be the team that would force Alabama to pass to win a game. Two wins in this streak involved Alabama pulling out a rabbit's foot and four-leaf clover with late drives to repel LSU who had arguably outplayed Alabama for most of the game. On November 7, 2015 Alabama physically dominated LSU on both sides of the ball. The score got prettied up late to disguise what had really happened on the field.
2016 Alabama's lacking passing attack might have hidden this shift for some. The 10-0 win would lead some to think back to the 9-6 game but the difference here is that LSU could've played 120 minutes that night and still not have scored. 2017 saw a slightly improved passing attack from Alabama which allowed for the running attack to sustain some success against a weaker DL than the "norm" for LSU. Last night with LSU unable to focus on the run game, Alabama nearly had two 100 yard rushers. All three of these games involved Alabama's DL salting the earth over LSU.
How did this happen? My theory is that their recruiting was slowly but surely damaged by the discontent from their fanbase post-BCSCG rematch. It became a real vocal problem in 2014 around their local beat. The message board grumbles became a talking point for the local commentators. The 3 game losing streak that started in Tuscaloosa ought to have resulted in Miles' resignation or termination. The mood around the program was beyond recovery and I think the lacking level of talent in several positional groups today goes back to 2014-2015.
So maybe 2015 was the culmination of the stinging blow dealt in the 2011 season? Perhaps they're tied together and this isn't really an either/or deal?