Tom Dienhart

NEW ORLEANS - Fear the hat.

That saying was illuminated — along with an LSU ball cap — on a tall building along Canal Street. You couldn't miss it. It was larger than life during the days leading up to the BCS title game.

It was, of course, a tribute to Les Miles, who now is larger than life in Louisiana after whipping Ohio State, 38-24, to win the national championship.

Miles is a coach who seemingly was headed off the Bayou to coach his alma mater, Michigan. Miles is a coach who seemingly didn't measure up to predecessor Nick Saban. Miles is a coach who seemingly never could win a championship — or a big game.

Look at Miles now, all smiley as he admires the national championship trophy. His place in college football lore is cemented. The "can't do it" coach is now canonized after his Tigers overcame a 10-0 hole to top Ohio State.

"We had to keep playing," says LSU quarterback Matt Flynn, who hit 19-of-27 passes for 174 yard and four touchdowns. "We knew they were going to come out with a big surge. We knew we just had to stay in there and keep playing."

That's two BCS titles in the past five seasons for LSU. And the win makes the Tigers the first repeat BCS champion in the 10-year history of the format. When we look back, we may label LSU the team of this decade. Yeah, I think it can be argued LSU has been even more impressive than USC.

We all thought LSU was going to be here. SN picked the Tigers No. 2 in the preseason. And we even considered making LSU No. 1. That honor went to USC, which after the results of this postseason showed it probably deserved to be in this game.

How good would a LSU-USC title game have been? Yeah, it's exciting to think about.

But give LSU credit for navigating what was one of the bumpiest college football seasons in recent memory.

The 2007 campaign was the Year of the Upset: Appalachian State over Michigan ... Stanford over USC ... Colorado over Oklahoma ... Illinois over Ohio State. And don't forget about Oregon, Cal and South Florida. The beat went on — and it was brutal. LSU wasn't immune.

Arkansas 50, LSU 48 ... in triple overtime ... in the last regular-season game.

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LSU was toast, or so it seemed.

With a shot at the title seemingly gone, the Tigers watched a second chance unfold before their eyes, as Missouri and West Virginia both lost the next week to give the Bayou Bengals another life.

LSU cashed in, bringing a bit of order to the chaos that was the hallmark of the season by winning the national title. There would be no upset to end the season.

And in many ways, it's fitting LSU was the first two-loss team to reach the title game. It shouldn't have been any other way in this way-crazy season.

If the game had gone according to the wild script that was cast in September, Ohio State would have pulled the upset. It would have claimed sweet justice by winning and undoing the embarrassment of last year's drilling by Florida.

But Ohio State failed, falling to 0-9 vs. SEC teams in bowl games. And, make no mistake about it: SEC pride mattered to this pro-LSU crowd.

FINAL TOP 5 IN 2009 POLLS AP Rank Team Record Points 1 Alabama (60) 14-0 1,500 2 Texas 13-1 1,399 3 Florida 13-1 1,370 4 Boise State 14-0 1,366 5 Ohio State 11-2 1,224 Coaches' Rank Team Record Points 1 Alabama (58) 14-0 1,450 2 Texas 13-1 1,360 3 Florida 13-1 1,323 4 Boise State 14-0 1,312 5 Ohio State 11-2 1,190

"SEC! SEC! SEC!" the crowd shouted in the waning seconds.

Surely they could hear that all the way back in Columbus, Ohio. Too bad for them. The SEC is the best conference in America. The truth hurts.

And just think: LSU won the national title despite having quarterback JaMarcus Russell go pro early and be picked No. 1 in the NFL draft. Would LSU have won it all had Russell remained?

As for Ohio State, it is starting to look a lot like the 1990s Buffalo Bills that went to four Super Bowls in a row — and won none of them.

Those who felt Ohio State didn't belong here — that it backed into a fortuitous situation — have more ammunition after the Buckeyes blew another flat in front of the world.

"The defense settled down," says Miles, whose team converted 11-of-18 third downs with just one turnover while Ohio State hit on just 3-of-13 with three turnovers in the key stats of the game. "We blocked that field goal, got a turnover on an interception and really stemmed the tide. Our defense started settling down and they really couldn't score with us."

Will history even remember these terrific Ohio State teams? I have my doubts. This is a program that isn't judged on winning middling Big Ten titles. Or even on beating Michigan. Both feats have become old hat. This is a program that is judged on winning national championships.

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For the record: Jim Tressel is 1-2 in these games. And that one win (in double overtime over Miami after the 2002 season) is tainted by the controversial — and late — pass interference penalty in the first overtime that kept the Buckeyes alive.

Now comes the difficult part for Ohio State: regrouping from another embarrassing BCS championship game loss.

For LSU, it's all about maintaining a pace that has the Bayou Bengals poised for greatness. Miles summed it up best in the postgame press conference.

"Wahoooooooooo!" he squealed. With his hat on, of course. A hat that said "national champions" on it.