Alabama Stays Unbeaten With Overtime Victory at LSU

BATON ROUGE, Nov. 8 -- With a heavy police escort, Nick Saban returned to Tiger Stadium wearing crimson. He barely got out of town with Alabama still unbeaten and No. 1.

After the Crimson Tide missed a chip-shot field goal on the final play of regulation, John Parker Wilson scored on a one-yard sneak in overtime to give Alabama a 27-21 victory over No. 15 LSU on Saturday, clinching a spot in the Southeastern Conference championship game.

The Tide (10-0, 6-0) has its eyes on a bigger prize, of course, and stayed on course for its first national title in 16 years. This was its toughest test yet, coming at a school Saban led to a share of the national championship in 2003.

The coach now is reviled by many of the Tigers faithful, who consider him a traitor for turning up at rival Alabama just two years after he traded LSU for the NFL's Miami Dolphins. He was booed loudly when he came on the field, surrounded by a contingent of state troopers that grew to a dozen by the time the game finally ended.

"It's really not sweeter clinching the [SEC] West in Tiger Stadium," Saban said, his voice rising. "It really isn't. My emotions for this place are positive, not negative. I didn't leave LSU to go to Alabama. I left LSU to go to Miami. Myself and my family learned that we didn't like professional football as much as we liked college. So we had the best opportunity to return to college football at the University of Alabama. There is nothing personal in that for me."

After Charles Scott tied it for LSU on a one-yard touchdown run with a little more than six minutes remaining, Alabama drove into position to win it. From the 12, Wilson ran to the middle of the field and fell down, then Saban called his final timeout with three seconds remaining.

Leigh Tiffin lined up for a 29-yard field goal, but his kick was low and Ricky-Jean Francois swiped it away with his big right hand.

After Alabama intercepted LSU on the first possession of overtime, Wilson hit Julio Jones along the sideline, and the freshman dragged his defender to the 1. Wilson powered across the goal line two plays later.

LSU (6-3, 3-3), the defending national champion, was eliminated from the conference race.