In an emotionally charged performance against one of college football’s most star-studded defenses, Alabama QB AJ McCarron looked inept for most of four quarters. Unable to move the ball through the air, he relied on the Tide’s ground game.

Down a field goal, the junior game manager came through in the clutch, completing 4-of-5 passes for 72 yards in the final minutes, setting up sensational true freshman RB T.J. Yeldon with a Barrett Jones-recommended game-winning screen toss that kept Nick Saban’s squad perfect.

Much more impressive than McCarron in a 21-17 losing effort was LSU QB Zach Mettenberger, a fireballing Georgia transfer. Despite two aggressive special-teams miscalculations — a failed fake field-goal attempt in the second quarter and an onside kick in the third quarter — the game shifted in the favor of LSU. 

That’s when Mettenberger, dubbed the “Mettsiah” by LSU fans, came out firing. He used his rifle arm to exploit the deep outside third of the field against Alabama’s soft two-shell and helped LSU convert 10-of-20 third downs for the game.

Continually targeting the side of the field opposite the nation’s top cornerback, Alabama junior CB Dee Milliner, Mettenberger led the Tigers on consecutive TD drives to overcome a 14-3 deficit. That gave LSU control of the game early in the fourth quarter and put Alabama’s hopes of winning back-to back national championships on the ropes.

A trio of junior Tigers defenders — mammoth, athletic DT Bennie Logan, hard-charging, high-effort DE Sam Montgomery and a very aggressive-filling MLB Kevin Minter ­— successfully limited the Crimson Tide to a pair of three-and-outs to open the fourth quarter.