Julio Jones entered Alabama’s SEC West heavyweight title fight against LSU as the elephant in the room.

The 6’4”, 211-pounder from Foley, Ala., had been silent and nearly invisible, with only 20 catches for 229 yards and one touchdown over the first eight games of his sophomore season.

This excruciatingly slow start came after a 58-catch, 924-yard, four-score freshman campaign that led to premature All-American expectations from Crimson Tide fans as well as rotating, double-teaming defensive schemes by opposing secondaries.

But no one made more of an impact on Bama’s 24–15 win over LSU, as the Tide claimed their seventh SEC West title (1992, ’93, ’94, ’96, ’99, 2008, ’09) since the conference expanded to create the current divisional format in 1992 — and the second SEC West crown in three years under coach Nick Saban.

After disappearing earlier this year — with zero receptions vs. South Carolina, one grab for nine yards against Florida International and a pair of two-catch games for a combined 79 yards in back-to-back wins over Arkansas and at Kentucky — Jones was the star of the show this week, as the headliner of Bama’s top good, bad and ugly plays.

The good was a 73-yard go-ahead touchdown on a run-and-catch early in the fourth quarter to give the Tide a 21–15 lead they would not relinquish. Jones caught a short pass, made one move and was off to the races down the sideline before extending the ball across the plane for just his second touchdown of the season.

The bad came when Jones was the 12th man in the huddle on the doorstep of the goal line earlier in the fourth quarter, moving Bama back from the LSU 2- to the 7-yard-line and causing an irate Saban to slam his headset on the turf before storming off in disgust. As a result, the Crimson Tide was forced to settle for a 20-yard Leigh Tiffin field goal to pull within 15–13 of LSU.

Finally, the ugly play was an errant throw by quarterback Greg McElroy, who threw a sure-score wide right and off the fingertips of an open Jones late in the second quarter for a “here we go again” moment in the red zone. Bama settled for a 28-yard Tiffin field goal to take a 7–3 deficit into halftime.

With a sea of crimson No. 8 jerseys in the stands, Jones had four catches for 102 yards and a highlight reel 73-yard touchdown that went a long way to seal another undefeated regular season and rematch with SEC East champ Florida in the SEC championship game on Dec. 5 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Keystone King

As the consensus No. 1 high school senior quarterback in the recruiting class of 2008, Jeannette, Pa., native Terrelle Pryor was pursued by nearly every major BCS program in the country.

The assumed final four teams on Pryor’s list were Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon and Penn State — who may or may not have been seriously considered by the 6’6”, 235-pound dual-threat star but sent legendary coach Joe Paterno on an official visit with the young man, just in case.

Even before Pryor led the Buckeyes to a 24–7 win over the Nittany Lions in his first trip back to his native Pennsylvania, many openly wondered “what if” Pryor was playing in Happy Valley.

“I don’t think we envisioned him playing early, like he did at Ohio State. So, from that standpoint, I think it’s difficult to say what he would have done for us by now,” said PSU quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, following last week’s 34–13 win over Northwestern.

“We took our best shot at him. It would have been very similar to what we’re doing with Daryll (Clark). But whether he would have beaten Daryll out or not, who knows?”

Although his statistics were not spectacular, Pryor made big plays when they mattered most for underdog Ohio State in front of a hostile 110,033-strong, white-out crowd at Beaver Stadium.  Pryor completed 8-of-17 passes for 125 yards, two touchdowns — on a well-thrown 62-yard deep ball to DeVier Posey and a six-yard strike to Brandon Saine — and zero interceptions, while rushing for the game’s first score on a seven-yard scramble.

More important, Pryor played under control, harnessing his emotions and avoiding costly turnovers in arguably the biggest win of his brief career as a starter. And, no doubt about it, this “homecoming” game for Pryor was not only a huge win for the Buckeyes but a major accomplishment for the 20-year-old who chose Columbus over University Park.

“I was a little more amped up than usual,” said a smiling Pryor, who has a 16–3 record as a starter since taking over for Todd Boeckman against Troy on Sept. 20 last year.

With the win, Ohio State is in control of the Big Ten title race and a potential trip to the Rose Bowl, where the Buckeyes have not played since a classic 20–17 comeback win over Arizona State in 1997. First, OSU must defeat Iowa at the Horseshoe next week before the regular season finale at Michigan.

Mid-Major Upset

There was a time — say, two years ago — when Navy winning at Notre Dame was considered a major upset of historic proportions. Back in 2007, coach Paul Johnson’s Midshipmen snapped a 43-game losing streak with a 46–44 triple-overtime win over Charlie Weis’ Irish.

This time around, second-year Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo achieved the same results with a 23–21 win that was not even as close as the final score indicates, and received far less fanfare. With two wins in the past three years — including back-to-back victories at Notre Dame for just the second time (1961, ’63) since the series started in 1927 — Navy seems well equipped to beat a Weis-coached team.

In a land vs. air battle, the water warriors tallied 348 rushing yards and 56 passing yards. Meanwhile, NBC’s airwave riders had 452 passing yards and only 60 rushing yards. The Midshipmen crushed the Irish with substance over style, winning time-of-possession (32:19-to-27:41) and the turnover total (3-to-0).

“The way they play the game, the game is the clock seems like it’s eternally running. In the first half, we got the kickoff and we only had four possessions,” said Weis, whose team lost whatever outside shot it had at a BCS berth with its third loss of the season — against traditional rivals Michigan (38–34), USC (34–27) and now Navy (23–21).

“But the way the game played out, it really came down to not being able to stop the run in critical situations.”