By MIKE LOPRESTI
Gannett News Service

NEW ORLEANS - LSU is No. 1. More or less. By late Sunday night in the Sugar Bowl, the Great BCS Debate was meaningless to the Tigers.

All that mattered was the 21-14 victory they hung on for against Oklahoma. The defense that turned Jason White into a shadow of a Heisman winner. The 117 yards rushing from true freshman Justin Vincent that helped give them a lead that needed to be frantically saved at the end.

LSU head coach Nick Saban celebrates at the end of their 21-14 victory over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. (AP photo)

All that was real was the sure and simple fact that they are 13-1 and national champions, according to somebody. For just the second time in their history, the first in 45 years. And nothing or nobody - computer or mortal - will ever take it away.

In a show of suffocation - they held Oklahoma to 154 yards of total offense - the Tigers secured the championship in the BCS and USA TODAY/ESPN poll, voted by the coaches. With USC No. 1 in The Associated Press media poll, college football has its first split title since Michigan and Nebraska in 1997, the year before the BCS was born.

To win their half a loaf, LSU had nothing elegant. USC might dazzle with its overall quickness and skill. But the Tigers sit at the top because of the sweat and toil of a defense that allowed only 11 points a game this season, a number no other team came close to matching.

A defense that needed every play Sunday.

"They did what they had to do to win," LSU coach Nick Saban said. "We got tired at the end of the game but we played from the heart.

"I believe in these guys and they believe in each other and that's why we're up here today."

LSU sacked White six times, intercepted him twice - end Marcus Spears returned one 20 yards for a third quarter touchdown - and held him to 13 of 37 for 102 yards.

And in the fourth quarter, with the Sooners sensing a rally, the Tigers took him apart.

LSU running back Justin Vincent (25) celebrates his touchdown against Oklahoma during the first half of the Sugar Bowl. (AP photo)

When Oklahoma moved to a first down at the LSU 12 in the last four minutes in a bid to tie, White threw four straight incomplete passes.

On third down, he was pressured by a blitzing Jessie Daniels into missing an open Kejuan Jones. On fourth down, the Tigers deflected a pass enough so Mark Clayton could not hold onto it in the end zone.

When the Sooners got the ball back in the last two minutes, LSU forced three more incompletions - he finished with eight in a row - and then added the killing blow with Lionel Turner's sack.

"We felt there was something special brewing in the state of Louisiana and on our football team," Spears said. "This was a great team effort, with guys watching each other's backs, just like it's been all year."

The Tigers had a punt blocked, fumbled away the snap at the Oklahoma 1-yard line, committed three turnovers and had two more nullified in the first half by Oklahoma penalties.

And still won. Always there to save the day was their defense. To the very last moment.

For 12-2 Oklahoma, once considered invulnerable with an unstoppable offense, the question will always will be what happened to them at the end of the season. The Sooners, who broke 50 seven times this year, scored three touchdowns their last two games, in losses to Kansas State and LSU.

Spears' interception and touchdown - White appeared to never see him as he tried to hit Travis Wilson on a slant - made it 21-7 early in the third period.

That stood into the fourth quarter, and seemed plenty for a defense that specialized in strangulation.

But Brodney Pool's 49-yard interception return to the LSU 31 for Oklahoma on the first play of the fourth period almost changed everything.

Suddenly, the Sooners had a cause again. Suddenly, White was making plays - such as a 19-yard pass to Mark Clayton on 4th and 11.

And when Jones dove in from the 1 for his second touchdown, the lead was only 21-14 with 11 minutes left. It was left to the LSU defense.

At halftime, with LSU ahead 14-7, the Sooners had 55 yards of penalties, and 44 yards of offense. They had four first downs. White's longest completion had been nine yards.

The Sooners scored only because Brandon Shelby blew through to block a Donnie Jones punt, and Russell Dennison recovered at the LSU 2.

And even then it took three plays for Oklahoma to score, on Russell's one-yard touchdown that tied it 7-7.

"It was not easy," Saban said. "This team has such character and shown such resiliency all year. ... I'm just happy we can make the state proud of something our football team can do."

"They really only gave up one scoring drive and that was on a short field."

LSU's first touchdown came on a 24-yard end-around by Skyler Green in the first period, the next an 18-yard zig-zag up the middle by Vincent, the game's MVP, in the second.

Vincent started the game with a 64-yard run on the first play. The Tigers wasted that chance when quarterback Matt Mauck fumbled the snap at the Oklahoma 1. But the Sooners gave the ball back when White tried to pass into double coverage and Corey Webster intercepted. Green scored soon after.

"It was exciting, but we had too many penalties and the early tackling really killed us," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said.

"Our guys competed to the end of the game. We kept giving ourselves chances to win. But in the end, LSU was the better team.

"I appreciate the fight in my team and that's what matters the most."

The night ended with Saban a richer man. His LSU contract stipulates that a national championship would make his salary $1 above the highest-paid coach in college football.

That would be $2.5 million. By Stoops.

So LSU went home with the championship, or half of it, anyway. And Oklahoma went home wondering where its greatness had gone.