In more than 120 minutes of football the past two-plus months, Alabama and Louisiana State produced one touchdown, countless violent collisions and enough field goals to fill up a lengthy how-to video. 
  
 In two games, each school won in the other’s home state. But it was Alabama claiming this season’s Bowl Championship Series national title with its convincing 21-0 victory Monday before a divided, deafening crowd at the Superdome. 
  
 “A lot of people did not think we belonged in this game. But we showed everybody with offense, defense and special teams,” Alabama linebacker Dont’a Hightower said. 
  
 While Monday served as a rematch of LSU’s 9-6 overtime victory in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Nov. 5, it certainly was not a rerun of the Tigers’ narrow victory. Alabama place kickers Cade Foster and Jeremy Shelley combined to miss four field goals in that game. Shelley made five field goals Monday (23, 34, 41, 35 and 44 yards), a record for the BCS title game. 
  
 The victory by Alabama (12-1) represented the sixth straight BCS national title for the Southeastern Conference and the third overall for Coach Nick Saban, who also won in 2003 with LSU and 2009 with Alabama. Saban, the only coach to win BCS crowns at different schools, also became the first coach to win three BCS titles. 
  
 Saban’s third came with what will be considered one of the best defenses in recent college football history. Alabama led the nation in every major statistical category and allowed just 8.8 points per game in the regular season, the lowest average since 1988 (Auburn). 
  
 The defense was at its best Monday, when it held LSU to five first downs and 92 yards of offense. LSU’s offense drove into Alabama territory just once in the game. 
  
 Alabama was so sound in virtually all facets that it won without a pass reception by Marquis Maze, its best receiver who was hurt during his 49-yard punt return in the first quarter. Maze would watch the second half from the sideline, where he was seen crying. 
  
 “You can’t give Nick Saban 47 days to prepare to have him not have a plan,” Hightower said. 
  
 Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw was selected as the game’s defensive MVP. Quarterback AJ McCarron, who completed 23 of 34 passes for 233 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions, was the offensive MVP. 
  
 Both teams had important special teams plays in the first half: Alabama got the 49-yard punt return from Maze and LSU blocked a field goal. But that’s where the similarities ended. 
  
 Alabama dominated every other aspect of the half: The Crimson Tide collected 13 first downs to LSU’s one; it outgained LSU 225 to 43 total yards; and Alabama controlled the ball for nearly two-thirds of the half en route to a 9-0 halftime lead. 
  
 Holding a 12-0 lead midway through the third quarter, Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley intercepted a shovel pass by LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson at the Tigers 28-yard line. 
  
 Mosley appeared to suffer a leg injury after the interception. While being taken to the locker room on a cart, Mosley raised his right arm, prompting roars from the Crimson Tide faithful who had long awaited a second chance at their bitter rival. 
  
 Dating from the Nov. 5 game, the teams played more than 110 minutes before the first touchdown, which was scored by Alabama running back Trent Richardson on a 34-yard run with 5 minutes 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter. 
  
 More than a month of buildup and hype reached a zenith Monday. Scalpers asked for close to $2,000 for some tickets. Outside of bars, fans of both teams stood in long lines that snaked around corners. Others cooked up gumbo and barbecue in tailgates more than a mile from the dome. 
  
 Across the street from the Superdome, 3D animated graphics of LSU images as well as a 31 / 2 -story, continuously updated scoreboard projected on the side of the 28-story Entergy Corporation building. 
  
 Fans who came to see defense got what they wanted. 
  
 Alabama shut down LSU’s offense from the game’s start, forcing the Tigers into consecutive three-and-outs. The option attack, which was effective at times in the first meeting with Jefferson under center, had little success on LSU’s second possession. 
  
 Jefferson pitched to running back Spencer Ware, but Upshaw dragged him down for no gain. That led to the first big play of the game, a line-drive punt by Brad Wing that Maze took through the middle and down the sideline for a 49-yard gain to the Alabama 26-yard line. That soon led to the night’s first field goal. 
  
 Early on, Alabama leaned heavily on Brad Smelley, the tight end who saw increased production late in the season and who caught four passes in the first quarter alone Monday. But it was an acrobatic 26-yard completion to wide receiver Kevin Norwood, who leaped over cornerback Tyrann Mathieu and kept one foot inbounds, that further propelled Alabama. 
  
 On fourth and four from the LSU 32, Alabama trotted out Foster to attempt a long field goal. But McCarron, who was the holder for the kick, took the snap and flipped the ball to tight end Chris Underwood for a four-yard gain. The first trick play — by Saban, not the so-called Mad Hatter Les Miles — gave Alabama a first down by inches. 
  
 When the drive stalled, Saban sent in Shelley for a 42-yard field goal attempt. But 6-6 Michael Brockers got a hand on it, and the block ignited the LSU side of the dome. 
  
 Later in the half, Alabama engineered an 11-play, 58-yard drive that bled more than six minutes off the clock. But once again, the Crimson Tide was forced to settle for a field goal attempt. Shelley knocked the 34-yard kick through to give his team a 6-0 lead. McCarron exhibited full control in the final two minutes of the half, leading his team 52 yards in nine plays. That set up Shelley’s 41-yard field goal as time expired. 
  
 A football sailing through the uprights, one of the images that most resonated in Monday’s national title game. ||||| Alabama's Jeremy Shelley (90) has a field goal blocked during the first half of the BCS National Championship college football game against LSU Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Associated Press) 
  
 Alabama romped to another college football title by beating top-ranked Louisiana State 21-0 in the Bowl Championship Series title game Monday, using a smothering defense, a numbing barrage of field goals and one belated touchdown. 
  
 The Crimson Tide posted the first shutout in the 14-year history of the BCS, relying on Jeremy Shelley's right boot for most of the points _ he made a bowl record-tying five field goals _ and letting its defense do the rest. 
  
 While only crimson-clad fans will remember this game fondly, Alabama clinched its second title in three years and erased any doubts that it deserved to be in the decider above candidates like Oklahoma State or Stanford. 
  
 Then again, one of those teams might have actually scored a touchdown before Alabama finally did, with 4:36 left in the game, long after the game had been decided. 
  
 These powerhouse teams played each other twice in a span of about two months, and amazingly did not score a single touchdown until Trent Richardson broke off a 34-yard run. 
  
 "We certainly didn't play a perfect game, we got a field goal blocked, we couldn't find the end zone for a long time, but we just kept playing," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. 
  
 "Our offensive team did a great job. Defensively, we just played well, played the box. Our special teams did a great job." 
  
 LSU had beaten eight ranked teams _ including Alabama in early November _ to establish itself as the clear No. 1 going into the bowls, but the Tigers crossed midfield only once, and that was with eight minutes left in a mini-drive that looked like finally breathing some life into the game. 
  
 However the Tigers _ who were outgained 384-92 in total yards and managed just five first downs _ were immediately driven back. The last gasp was appropriately the sight of beleaguered quarterback Jordan Jefferson getting the ball knocked from his hand before he could even get off a fourth-and-18 pass. 
  
 Coach Nick Saban has won a pair of BCS titles at Alabama, plus another at LSU in 2003. He's the first coach to win three BCS titles, denying LSU's Les Miles his second championship. The Tigers will have to settle for the Southeastern Conferencetitle, but that's not likely to ease the sting of this ugly performance. 
  
 LSU simply couldn't do anything _ running or passing. Kenny Hilliard led the Tigers with 16 yards rushing, while Jefferson was 11 of 17 passing for 53 yards, usually hurrying away passes before he was sent tumbling to the Superdome turf. He was sacked four times and threw one mystifying interception when he attempted to flip away a desperation pass, only to have it picked off because his intended receiver had already turned upfield looking to block. 
  
 Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron was the offensive MVP, completing 23 of 34 for 234 yards. Richardson added 96 yards on 20 carries. But an even bigger cheer went up when the defensive award was presented to linebacker Clayton Upshaw, who had seven tackles, including a sack. 
  
 "This defense is built on stopping them, and that's what we did," Upshaw said. "We wanted to come out and show the world we beat ourselves the first game. We wanted to come out and dominate from start to finish, and that's what we did." 
  
 With the way his defense was playing, McCarron simply had to avoid mistakes and guide the offense into field-goal range. He did that to perfection. 
  
 "When you have a great offensive line like I have, and great players around you, it makes your job easy as quarterback," McCarron said. "I've got to give all the credit to them. I wish I could have the whole team up here." 
  
 LSU failed to match its BCS title game victories in 2003 and 2007, the last two times the game was played in New Orleans, about 80 miles from its Baton Rouge campus. 
  
 "We couldn't sustain any consistency," coach Miles said. "The calls became much more difficult." 
  
 Miles never considered switching to backup quarterback Jarrett Lee, who started the first eight games for the Tigers _ four of those while Jefferson was serving a suspension for his involvement in a bar fight. 
  
 "We felt like with Jefferson's feet and the ability to get out of the rush, that it was fair that he finished," Miles said. "He certainly had a tremendously strong year in any regard. Boy, we wanted to finish this one. It's hard to finish a season that was so successful this way." |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?
– One of the best defenses in college football history kept the Louisiana State Tigers at bay last night as the Alabama Crimson Tide won the Bowl Championship Series title 21-0. Alabama held LSA to five first downs and 92 yards of offense, with LSU's offense finding its way into Alabama territory just once, the Washington Post reports. The shutout is the first in the 14-year history of the BCS. "We certainly didn't play a perfect game. We got a field goal blocked, we couldn't find the end zone for a long time, but we just kept playing," Alabama coach Nick Saban tells AP. "Our offensive team did a great job. Defensively, we just played well, played the box. Our special teams did a great job."