Football: Oregon, Kansas State cruise to victories. 4C
Sports
S U N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 4 , 2012
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
21
17
INSIDE
LIFE AFTER DEATH
With its BCS title hopes about to be buried , Alabama comes to life to beat LSU in Death Valley
PHOTO | JASON HARLESS
Coming to life Alabama offense misfires, but comes to life on game-winning drive | 5C
Quarter glance Breakdown of each quarter | 5C
PHOTO | JASON HARLESS
Pushed to the limit LSU pushes Tide, but UA makes big stand at the end | 6C
Inside the numbers Statistical glance at Alabama’s game with LSU | 6C
PHOTO | JASON HARLESS
TOP: Alabama’s T.J. Yeldon scores the game-winning touchdown against LSU with 51 seconds left to play at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. BOTTOM: Alabama’s Brandon Ivory celebrates the Crimson Tide’s 21-17 victory, which kept No. 1 Alabama unbeaten at 9-0.
STAFF PHOTO | ROBERT SUTTON
Alabama Analysis
Tide drives 72 yards in less than a minute for winning score
Coaching decisions play big part of game’s outcome | 7C
LSU made Alabama look a little more human
A
By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor
Alabama notebook The tone of the game was set early in Death Valley | 7C
Four downs Answers to questions from earlier this week about the game | 7C
For video and a photo gallery of Saturday’s game go to www.tidesports.com
BATON ROUGE, L A . | One adjective did not survive No. 1 Alabama’s trip to Tiger Stadium on Saturday night. Untested. For most of the second half, it appeared that Alabama itself — or at least its BCS and Southeastern Conference hopes — would not be the survivor. LSU dominated much of the second half, but gave Alabama an opening with 1:34 to play and the Crimson Tide marched through that sliver of hope to a 21-17 win that ranks among the school’s most dramatic victories ever. Alabama took over at its own 28-yard line after a Drew Alleman field-goal miss that would have extended LSU’s SEE T IDE | 5C
Despite penalties, Stillman rolls past Clark Atlanta
BATON ROUGE, La. mong the endless flow of praise and compliments that had been pointed to this University of Alabama football team over the course of the season, one kept recurring. “Machine.” As in Alabama “plays like a machine,” or “is a machine.” The mantra of “playing to a standard” was part of that, the standard being an almost non-human perfection of execution, a mistake-free, emotionless win-manufacturing unit. On Saturday night in Tiger Stadium, the machine didn’t function quite so well. Alabama was minus-two in turnovers, bereft CECIL of forward momentum, a team that looked HURT young and rattled and, well, human. Which is what made the fi nal few minutes, and the improbable win which emerged from Baton Rouge, SEE HURT | 6C
STAFF PHOTO | ROBERT SUTTON
No. 4 Notre Dame stays alive in BCS race with overtime win
By Cameron Kiszla Special to The Tuscaloosa News
TUSCALOOSA | Travis Robinson scored twice in the fourth quarter to lock up a 37-12 Stillman win over Clark Atlanta on Saturday. Robinson scored on a 10-yard pass from Josh Straughan and on a 1-yard run to cement the fourth-quarter lead for the Tigers, even though it seemed at times excessive penalties might lead to a Panther comeback. Stillman fi nished the game with 16 penalties for 181 yards, and Clark Atlanta was flagged 19 times for 172 yards. “I’m happy that they got a win,” Stillman coach Teddy Keaton said. “I’m still disappointed in the undisciplined PHOTO | ERIN NELSON things. There are a lot of unnecessary penalties that we get. Big penalties. It’s not little penalties, it’s big penalties Carlos Wilson makes an interception during that kill us. That’s something that we will have our main Saturday’s game against Clark Atlanta at Stillman SEE STILLMAN | 4C College.
The Associated Press
SOUTH BEND, I ND. | Down 20-6 in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame was going to need some big plays and a little luck to stay undefeated and keep its national title hopes alive. It got just enough of both. Everett Golson scored on a quarterback sneak in the third overtime as the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish came back from a 14-point deficit and beat Pittsburgh 26-23. Notre Dame (9-0) is off to its best start since 1993. Pitt (4-5) missed a potential game-winning field goal in overtime.
Golson re-entered the game after being replaced by Tommy Rees and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter as Notre Dame cut Pitt’s lead to 20-12. Notre Dame’s chances for a comeback appeared to end when Pitt cornerback K’Waun Williams intercepted a pass by Golson in the end zone. But the Irish defense held, and Golson completed a 45-yard pass to DaVaris Daniels to the Pitt 5. Golson then threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Theo Riddick and ran in for the t wo -point conversion to t ie the game. SEE OVERTIME | 4C