After a brief Buckeye drive ended in a punt, LSU was pleased to head into halftime with 24 unanswered points. Les Miles and his squad celebrate their victory in the 2008 BCS National Championship Game. Miles currently has a 1-0 record in BCS National Championship games. LSU took the ball and a 24-10 advantage into the second half. Ohio State responded by scoring two touchdowns in the third quarter to make it a close game again.
The final score was LSU 38, Ohio State 34. The win gives LSU its first national title since 1958.
In 2007, LSU defeated Oklahoma 42-14 in the BCS National Championship Game. This year's winner will be announced on January 10th at the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona. The game is being played at University of Phoenix Stadium.
LSU has won nine consecutive games against Ohio State. With its 12th win this season, LSU has won more games than any other school in NCAA history. The previous record was eleven wins held by Tennessee from 1947 to 1957 and by Alabama from 1975 to 1991.
Ohio State is coached by Urban Meyer who won a record of 13-1 this season. Before taking over for Jim Tressel at Ohio State, Meyer led Utah to a 10-3 record in 2001 and 2002. He was fired after the 2010 season when his team finished 6-7. He is now the winningest coach in OSU history with a record of 44-9.
LSU Miles, LSU fought against Tennessee to win the SEC title (7 BCS, No. 5 AP) and now faces No. 14 Tennessee. The outcome was a 21-14 win in the Southeastern Conference championship game on Saturday, and a slim opportunity to compete for the national championship. The victory also gave LSU coach Les Miles his second consecutive SEC title.
Miles said after the game that he wasn't concerned about not having any former winners of the game as assistants (Bobby Johnson is the only former winner who worked as a coordinator during the season). He also noted that his players had more important things on their minds than history.
"I don't worry about it," Miles said. "My players know what they're supposed to do and that's play football. They've got more important things on their mind than history."
Coach Johnson agreed with his former boss, saying he didn't want anyone to think about history when playing the game.
"It's about today and tomorrow," Johnson said. "You come out here and you play like you're supposed to be here and that's all that matters."
Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow was an assistant on Johnson's staff last year and played a major role in leading LSU to its first undefeated regular season since 1993. Johnson said he expects nothing less than another great performance from Tebow this year.
The game finished in a 16-16 draw after Auburn converted a 30-yard field goal in the final seconds. The Tigers (9-1) matched Tennessee on the road in September before losing 34-6 at home to independent Florida State in early November. They won the SEC title after defeating Florida, Georgia, and Alabama while avoiding LSU. Tennessee (8-3-1) had defeated Auburn 26-14 in overtime at Legion Field in late October before falling to Georgia 31-30 in Athens. The Vols then lost 21-17 at home to Texas A&M before finishing with three straight wins -- over South Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia Tech.
This was only the third all-SEC bowl game and the first since 1985 to feature teams from different divisions. The East champion Auburn Tigers were 7-4-1 against the spread versus 5-5-1 against the spread for the West champion Tennessee Volunteers.
Auburn opened as a 1.5-point favorite over Tennessee. The betting public agreed with that assessment; Auburn was favored by 3 points according to Sportsbook.com's odds.
Both teams were coming off disappointing losses -- Auburn fell short in its bid for a second consecutive undefeated season while Tennessee came up short in its attempt at its fourth SEC title in five years. This game presented an opportunity for both teams to put their recent struggles behind them and move forward toward better things next season.
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