What was the most important play in the 2012 BCS National Championship game?

[BamaInMo1]

The initial KICKOFF because that's when they stompin'began.

 

[capnfrog]

The first field goal because that was the confidence builder for Shelley. As it ended up that was all it would take to defeat LSU.

 

[MacadamianNut]

I'm gonna go with Sunseri pressuring Jefferson and preventing an easy TD. The last thing we needed was for LSU to get any kind of confidence in a still tight game score-wise

 

[Bear Disciple]

Tough to beat the team effort since our entire team played so perfectly the whole game. Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I think Norwood's few catched against Mathieu were also huge. Those plays established a deep threat passing and threatened the invincibility of the Honey Badger, two things that I think were very important to the rest of the game.

 

[BamaGal99]

I voted for Shelley's kick right before halftime to put us up 9-0 because I could sense then that LSU wouldn't be able to beat us. I told the Bama fan sitting beside us (who was still nervous during halftime worrying that LSU could still score a TD and a FG to win) that LSU couldn't kick if they couldn't get into field goal range. I told him that the way we were playing, I didn't think they'd even score. I didn't really expect a shutout, but it was a thing of beauty!! Am proud of the whole team and they way they stepped up to the challenge of a rematch. Am proud of our wide receivers who stepped up when Maze went out with an injury. Am proud of how our defense didn't miss a beat when CJ got hurt. For any other teams, losing two key players would be a disaster. Our team overcame it and fed off of it. Am proud to be a Bama fan!!

 

[ROLLTIDEFANATIC]

The coin flip! When we chose to start on defense!

 

[Tidetwin]

Jefferson fumbling the snap on the 3rd and 2 on the first series of the game didn't hurt.

 

[bmcklv]

My first thought was the Punt Return by Maze as soon as I read the question. Second would be the fake punt that was SOOOO close to being LSU football. I think that one really got in the player's heads.

 

[bmorris2784]

Coach Sabans pre-game walk-through when he circled Les and gave him his game face. Les never recovered.