Bryce Young deserves better. Even after playing one of the lesser overall games of his splendiferous Alabama career, he went to the sideline for the final time with his team in the lead, but he is now destined to be the best quarterback of the Nick Saban era to not win a national championship as a starter.

Brian Kelly knew better. Especially after watching Young pull multiple rabbits out of his magician’s hat, he was not going to put the ball back in Mr. Heisman’s hands for even one more snap. At the end of the second overtime on another epic Saturday night in Death Valley, the new LSU coach went for the win and the throat of the GOAT and got both.

There was so much riding on Kelly’s bold decision to ride or die with his own talented quarterback. When Jayden Daniels delivered the pinpoint two-point conversion pass to give LSU the 32-31 victory, it unleashed the latest in a troubling weather pattern of field storms for the visitors in the red hats to escape. It also signaled a cloudy futurecast for a dynasty that has to be described at the moment as wobbly.

This is the first time Alabama has lost two games in the same regular season since 2019, which means – barring a blizzard of chaos elsewhere for the remainder of November – this will be the second time in four years the Crimson Tide does not reach the College Football Playoff.

That’s a relatively quick return to the island of misfit bowls for a program that appeared in seven of the first eight four-team playoff fields.

Throw in losses in the National Championship Games after the 2018 and 2021 seasons, and Alabama is staring at another dubious distinction for the Saban era: Only one national title in the last five years.