NEW ORLEANS – In a dream season that saw LSU ride its dominant defense to the 2003 Southeastern Conference Championship and 2004 Sugar Bowl, it is only fitting that the Tigers captured the BCS national championship with another suffocating defensive effort in a 21-14 win over Oklahoma.
The deciding score even came on a defensive touchdown.
The Tigers held the Heisman Trophy winner Jason White and the potent Sooners offense, who came into the contest averaging 45 points and more than 460 yards of offense per contest, to just 14 points that came off LSU mistakes and 154 yards of offense.
Tigers defensive end Marcus Spears led the defensive charge in disrupting White, Oklahoma’s fourth Heisman Trophy winner who finished the season with 40 touchdown passes and 3,846 passing yards in leading the Sooners to a 12-1 regular season record.
White finished with unHeisman-like numbers, completing 13-of-37 passes for 102 yards and two interceptions. His second interception proved to be the most costly.
After Spears sacked White for a loss of three yards on the first play of the second half with LSU leading 14-7, the junior defensive end from Southern Lab dropped into zone coverage on the next play, intercepted the OU quarterback and rumbled 20 yards for what ended up being the game-deciding score.
“I was just dropping back, something that we’ve done all season,” Spears said. “I put my hands up, the ball kind of fell in there and I just took it to the house.”
It was Spears’ third career interception and first of the 2003 season. The score gave LSU a 21-7 lead, which they were able to hold onto for its first national championship since the 1958 season under coach Paul Dietzel.
“It was one of those things where I think our scheme confused [White] and he threw it quicker than he wanted to,” Spears said. “It just fell into my hands. We actually dropped back before that play happened, but I think it was because of the play they were running. I think there was a receiver behind me because the way the ball came out, it looked like a quick grab.”
White acknowledged that the confusing scheme caused the turnover.
“As I dropped back, I didn’t see [Spears] drop out in coverage,” White said. “I didn’t even see him drop out, and I thought I had a wide receiver wide open so I threw it.”
Spears was not the only member of the Tigers’ defense to come up with big plays on the night.
White also was intercepted on his first pass of the night in the first quarter by Tigers defensive back Corey Webster.
“Coach did a mean job of preparing us,” Webster said. “The scheme they put together for us was great. We just sat back and played our scheme and put pressure on the quarterback.”
The Tigers also sacked White five times, including a game-clenching sack from junior linebacker Lionel Turner with about two minutes left in the game. Turner led the Tigers with nine tackles and had two sacks while defensive linemen Marquise Hill and Melvin Oliver also had one each. Linebacker Eric Alexander also had eight tackles.
White credited the Tigers defense for shutting down the Sooners’ offensive attack. He said LSU did not blitz as much as he thought it would and gave credit to the Tigers for outexecuting them. His name can be added to the list of quarterbacks that includes Georgia quarterback David Greene and Ole Miss’ Eli Manning that have fallen on hard times against LSU’s defense.
“[White is] Mr. Heisman and we wanted to go at him all night,” Hill said. “That’s a big award and if you win it, you’re going to pay for it. I said to him, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Heisman. I’m going to be coming at you all night.’ He just nodded his head at me. I think our conference is the hardest and Jason White wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen before.”
When asked by a reporter if LSU’s defense was the best he has ever faced, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said it was.
Spears said the Tigers rattled White and had him expecting pressure all night long.
“I think any time you hit quarterbacks it gets them thinking,” Spears said. “The guy is good. He’s a real good quarterback. I don’t want anybody to take this game and think he’s not. Some of the plays he did make were those pro-caliber plays.
“I think once you hit those quarterbacks, no matter how good they are, they’re going to start looking over their shoulder and try to feel the pressure coming from behind them. That’s something that has worked to our advantage all season.”
Oklahoma could not give White much help with its running game either. The Sooners only mustered 52 running yards on the night.
“We didn’t try to look at it like ‘let’s outplay them,'” said All-American defensive tackle Chad Lavalais. “We looked at it as let’s just play our game. From the beginning of the year we felt when we play our game we can beat anyone in the country.”
The Tigers’ secondary put the clamps down on Oklahoma star receiver Mark Clayton as well. Clayton, who had 83 catches for 1,425 yards on the season, finished with four catches for 32 yards and could not hold onto a White pass in the fourth quarter that would have tied the ballgame.
“LSU has a great defense, a great secondary,” Clayton said. “Their secondary is really smart. They did a great job of swarming. They tackled really well and finished plays.”