Scott Rabalais: LSU beats Bama in a game for the ages … the age of Brian Kelly is here

It was as thrilling of a game as you could have imagined.

It was as big of a win as LSU could have hoped for.

And, in the process, the Tigers slayed the dragon, aka Nick Saban, and his Alabama Crimson Tide, knocking them out of College Football Playoff contention weeks earlier than you would have thought the law allows.

As a full moon sailed silently over Tiger Stadium on Saturday night before being obscured by fog and fireworks, Brian Kelly’s remarkable, surging, year one football team pulled off as dramatic, deeply satisfying and deeply meaningful of a victory as an LSU football team can have.

LSU 32, Alabama 31. In overtime.

How unbelievably far the Tigers have come in four weeks since being demolished on this same field 40-13 by Tennessee. To the moon and back, really.

Now consider this: LSU is in control of its own destiny to win the SEC West and make it to the SEC championship game. No. 1-ranked Tennessee, which got worked 27-13 at Georgia earlier Saturday, has no such control over where it goes.

Neither, LSU fans will delight in saying, does Alabama.

The Tigers hadn’t beaten a ranked Alabama in a night game in Tiger Stadium ever. LSU was 0-15, truly making this win one for the ages.

So what is this now, the age of … Brian Kelly?

The new coach practically was in tears as he was interviewed on the field amid a surging sea of Tiger fans, another $250,000 SEC fine be damned.

“To come here and restore the pride and tradition of this program means so much,” Kelly said.

Kelly reached much farther back for inspiration than the Tennessee game. He watched from the press box in Houston as Kansas State demolished a rag-tag LSU team in the Texas Bowl that had just 39 available scholarship players.

“I knew what we looked like in January,” Kelly said. “So, to see where we are today, that’s pretty emotional.”

The Tiger Stadium crowd lifted this LSU team to another emotional level. It was loud. Loud like it hasn’t been since before the pandemic. According to ESPN, a decibel meter hit 108 during one LSU defensive stand in the first quarter.

That’s brains leaking out of your ears loud.

This wasn’t your Joe Burrow versus Tua Tagovailoa score fest from 2019, the one the Tigers won 46-41 in Tuscaloosa. This was old-school LSU versus Alabama. Shoving, grunting, hitting, blitzing, swearing, fighting, clawing for every play. Every yard. Every stop.

Back and forth the lead seesawed in the second half after LSU led 7-6 at halftime, like a doubles match volley at the net. Bama went in front 9-7. LSU went back up 14-9. Bama answered 15-14 after a missed 2-point try, and LSU went back in front 17-15 with a Damian Ramos field goal with 6:52 left.

You knew what it was coming down to. LSU was going to have to get a stop against Bryce Ever-lovin’-reigning-Heisman-Trophy-winner Young to win.

First try, LSU whiffed. I mean, literally whiffed. Two Tigers missed him as he stepped up in the pocket and threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Corey Brooks with 4:44 left, with that kind of magic no one in college football but Young seems to possess. Another missed 2-point try, but LSU would need a touchdown to take the lead down 21-17.

It was hero time for Jayden Daniels, who used to play youth football against Young in Southern California. He got the Tigers going with a 31-yard keeper, then found tight end Mason Taylor in the end zone in double coverage for a 7-yard touchdown pass and a 24-21 LSU lead with 1:47 left.

Immediately you had to think, did LSU leave Young too much time on the clock? Yes, it did. Young moved his team into range for a 46-yard Will Reichard field goal. Reichard, forgetting that Alabama kickers are supposed to gag in these situations, drilled it with 21 seconds left to send the game into overtime tied 24-24.

LSU had a chance for a Hail Mary — or at least a Hail Daniels scramble — but Kelly decided to have Daniels take a knee. The dice rolling would wait.

Bama got the ball first and scored on a 1-yard run by short-yardage specialist Roydell Williams. Then Daniels got the ball and scored on a 25-yard keeper around right end to make it 31-30.

Kelly should have gone for two in the season opener against Florida State, when LSU lost 24-23 on a blocked extra point. He decided to gamble this time. Daniels rolled right, found Taylor again at the pylon, and then … well, it had to be another earthquake game, right?

“I wanted coach to go for it,” Daniels said. “I love the trust he had in me.”

They’re still celebrating.