Breeze from the Southeast

NEW ORLEANS -- Ohio State getting thumped by a Southeastern Conference school in the Bowl Championship Series title game is no longer a sentence, it’s a ritual.

Last year it was Florida doing the dishonor, Monday night it was Louisiana State, which spotted Ohio State a 10-0 lead and then switched the stop light to “geaux” en route to a 38-24 win in front of 79,651 at the Superdome.

LSU sealed this Dixie deal on a late touchdown to go up by 21 and Ohio State scored even later to make it sound closer, 30 years from now, for the grandkids.

“It just feels incredible,” said LSU senior quarterback Matt Flynn, who threw four touchdown passes and was named the game’s most outstanding offensive player.

“I’m just so blessed to be part of such a great team, great guys, and it’s so sweet to end it this way.”

This is what you get on television during a writers’ strike: a rerun.

Last year, Ohio State ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown against Florida in Arizona and ended up trailing, 34-10, at the half.

Monday, the Buckeyes jumped out to a 10-0 lead and then watched LSU score 31 unanswered points.

So which SEC team is going to smoke Ohio State next year, Georgia?

LSU (12-2) won its second BCS national title since the 2003 season, when Nick Saban coached the Tigers to victory over Oklahoma at the Superdome. Before that, LSU had not won a national title since 1958.

This championship was truly a gift from the BCS gods.

“I have to give great credit to some divine intervention and grace that allowed us to be in this position,” LSU Coach Les Miles said.

Miles then let out a wild “Wa-hooo!” in his postgame news conference.

“Sorry, I just had to say that,” Miles said.

On the morning of Dec. 1, LSU was seventh in the BCS standings and Tigers fans awoke to news that Miles was about to take the Michigan job.

The next day, Miles was working out details of his new LSU contract and his team, thanks to losses by Missouri and West Virginia, jumped all the way to No. 2 in the final BCS standings.

“That seems like a thousand years ago,” Miles said.

LSU became the first two-loss team to win a BCS title and Miles, according to his contract terms, must now be no worse than the third-highest-paid coach in college football.

Wa-hooo!

The party has just started, and it isn’t even Mardi Gras yet.

Ohio State had all the motivation it could have wanted following last year’s BCS loss, but LSU, like Florida, had too much speed for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State is now 0-9 in bowl games against the SEC and 7-11-2 in all games against the conference.

Six of those wins were against Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Since 1935, Ohio State’s lone win over the SEC was against LSU in 1988.

“It hurts tremendously,” Ohio State tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells, who rushed for 146 yards, said of the loss. “The pain, you really can’t compare it to anything. To go to the national title twice and lose, it’s incredible.”

No one with a memory got too excited when Wells broke through a gap in the LSU line and raced 65 yards for a score on the Buckeyes’ fourth play from scrimmage.

Been there, seen that.

Ohio State made it 10-0 on a Ryan Pretorius field goal.

OK, that was nice, now what?

Here’s what: LSU cut the lead to 10-3 with its own field goal and then tied it at 10-10 on Flynn’s quick-strike scoring pass to tight end Richard Dickson

This is where the game got away.

Ohio State had a chance to take the lead back, quiet the pro-LSU crowd and hope to keep the game close enough in the end to pull out a miracle.

That’s what happened in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, when Ohio State withstood Miami’s best shot for 3 1/2 quarters and then stole the national title game (literally, some Miami fans still contend) in double overtime.

Monday, after the game was tied at 10, Ohio State drove to the LSU 21, where quarterback Todd Boeckman tossed a perfect pass to Brian Robiskie for what appeared to be a touchdown.

LSU defender Chevis Jackson, however, got enough of his hand on the ball to poke it away.

Instead of a touchdown and a 17-10 lead, Ohio State had to settle for a 38-yard field goal attempt.

And that was blocked by Ricky Jean-Francois, the ball recovered by Darry Beckwith.

“I was shocked,” Jean-Francois said. “It changed the momentum of the game.”

LSU drove 66 yards in 10 plays to take a 17-10 lead on Flynn’s perfectly timed 10-yard scoring pass to Brandon LaFell.

It was Florida all over again.

Last year, just before the half, the Gators forced a Troy Smith fumble at the Ohio State five. Florida punched it in from there to make it a 34-14 game.

Monday, still down only seven points, Boeckman, under heavy pressure from blitzing safety Harry Coleman, threw a pass that was intercepted by Jackson. He returned it 34 yards to the Ohio State 24 and, five plays later, Jacob Hester scored on a one-yard run.

Unlike last year, though, Ohio State did show some second-half fight.

Down only 14, with plenty of game left, the Buckeyes forced a punt on LSU’s first third-quarter possession.

On fourth and 23, Austin Spitler made a Buckeye-line for LSU punter Patrick Fisher.

Spitler was so close it seemed he could have taken the ball off Fisher’s foot.

Yet, not only did he miss it, Spitler incurred a roughing penalty that gave LSU a first down.

That led to a short-but-sweet touchdown reception by Early Doucet, who sideswiped two Buckeyes defenders, Kurt Coleman and Donald Washington, on his way to a four-yard score to make it 31-10.

Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins’ interception would later set up a touchdown to cut the lead to 31-17, but the Buckeyes couldn’t get any closer.

LSU, after a crazy year, won the title.

And Ohio State was left to hear about it for another year.

“I worry about the disappointment because I know how hard our kids work,” Coach Jim Tressel said. “I don’t worry too much about criticism. If you’re not tough enough to handle criticism, you better get out of this game.”

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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Begin text of infobox

FIRST QUARTER -- OHIO STATE 10, LOUISIANA STATE 3

PASSING LEADERS

Ohio State

Boeckman... 2 for 5, 51 yards

Louisiana State

Flynn... 4 for 6, 35 yards

RUSHING LEADERS

Ohio State

Wells... 6, 89 yards, 1 TD

Louisiana State

Hester... 6, 33 yards

RECEIVING LEADERS

Ohio State

Saine... 1, 44 yards

Louisiana State

Doucet... 3, 14 yards

* Momentum: Ohio State’s Chris “Beanie” Wells followed a trap block from guard Ben Person and ran away from Louisiana State’s secondary for a 65-yard touchdown to give the Buckeyes an early lead. Ohio State’s defense then stepped up to force LSU to punt after three plays, which led to a field goal by the Buckeyes. The Tigers responded with a lengthy drive for a field goal to end the quarter.

* Unanswered questions: Did Ohio State seem to be quicker and better prepared than it was against Florida in last year’s BCS title game? Why did LSU misfire on two key plays and have to use a timeout because of confusion on offense?

* Did you notice? LSU’s defensive line was pushed back by Ohio State’s offensive front every time the Buckeyes ran the ball inside the hash marks. The Tigers looked for senior wide receiver Early Doucet when they needed to complete a pass downfield.

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SECOND QUARTER -- LOUISIANA STATE 24, OHIO STATE 10

PASSING LEADERS

Ohio State

Boeckman... 4 for 8, 60 yards

Louisiana State

Flynn... 7 for 9, 83 yards, 2 TDs

RUSHING LEADERS

Ohio State

Wells... 4, 30 yards

Louisiana State

Hester... 7, 23 yards, 1 TD

RECEIVING LEADERS

Ohio State

Hartline... 2, 19 yards

Louisiana State

Dickson... 2, 28 yards, 1 TD

* Momentum: Ohio State’s defense picked up two ill-advised 15-yard personal foul penalties to boost LSU’s first touchdown drive, which ended with a 12-yard pass from Matt Flynn to Richard Dickson. Ohio State then lost its edge after Brian Robiskie dropped a touchdown pass and the Buckeyes had a field-goal attempt blocked. That led to a big roll for the Tigers, who scored 24 unanswered points to take a commanding lead into halftime.

* Unanswered questions: Why did Ohio State’s passing game fail to connect when it had chances against LSU’s secondary? Why did the Buckeyes’ defense look so lost once the Tigers offense picked up the pace and mixed up its formations?

* Did you notice? LSU used a trick formation and quick count and caught Ohio State flat-footed on Flynn’s touchdown pass to Dickson. The Tigers’ Ricky Jean-Francois bowled over Ohio State guard Ben Person to block a Buckeyes field-goal attempt.

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THIRD QUARTER -- LOUISIANA STATE 31, OHIO STATE 17

PASSING LEADERS

Ohio State

Boeckman... 2 for 2, 8 yards, 1 TD

Louisiana State

Flynn... 5 for 8, 43 yards, 1 TD

RUSHING LEADERS

Ohio State

Boeckman... 2, 18 yards

Louisiana State

Hester... 5, 20 yards

RECEIVING LEADERS

Ohio State

Robiskie... 1, 5 yards, 1 TD

Louisiana State

Doucet... 2, 11 yards

* Momentum: Ohio State linebacker Austin Spitler cost his team when he whiffed on a punt block and was called for roughing the punter to keep a key LSU drive alive. The Tigers then extended their lead with Flynn’s third touchdown pass of the game. The Buckeyes scored a touchdown late after an interception by Malcolm Jenkins, but LSU still held a commanding advantage heading into the final quarter.

* Unanswered questions: Why did Ohio State players continue to talk trash and commit personal foul penalties? Could LSU really beat Georgia, West Virginia or USC on a neutral field?

* Did you notice? The Buckeyes’ lack of composure -- two more personal-foul penalties and sloppy tackling -- cost them on LSU’s first touchdown drive of the second half.

The Buckeyes folded once things did not go their way but picked up their play after Jenkins’ interception.

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FOURTH QUARTER -- LOUISIANA STATE 38, OHIO STATE 24

PASSING LEADERS

Ohio State

Boeckman... 7 for 11, 89 yards, 1 TD

Louisiana State

Flynn... 3 for 4, 13 yards, 1 TD

RUSHING LEADERS

Ohio State

Wells... 5, 18 yards

Louisiana State

Murphy... 1, 24 yards

RECEIVING LEADERS

Ohio State

Hartline... 4, 56 yards, 1 TD

Louisiana State

Doucet... 2, 8 Yards, 1 TD

* Momentum: Ohio State had a chance to get back into the game but failed to convert on a fourth-down pass play early in the quarter when Boeckman was sacked and fumbled. Then after the Buckeyes’ defense forced LSU to punt, Ohio State’s offense again came up short and the Tigers dominated and ended the game in full control.

* Unanswered questions: Why didn’t Ohio State play faster on offense when it was trailing by two touchdowns? Why did Boeckman force an ill-advised deep pass that was intercepted when the Buckeyes only needed one yard for a first down?

* Did you notice? LSU’s defensive backs played aggressively once Ohio State fell behind and was forced to pass on every play. The Buckeyes looked like a high school team on offense after LSU took a big lead.

-- Lonnie White