STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from New Orleans.
U: LSU, LSU, LSU...
JASON BEAUBIEN: Jubilant Louisiana State fans flooded onto Bourbon Street as the game ended. The decisive victory over the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes made LSU the first school to claim two gold championship series national titles. They also won it in 2004.
U: LSU, LSU, LSU...
BEAUBIEN: But in a college football season in which the number one ranking was as elusive as a clear-cut leader in the Republican presidential race, the victory for LSU didn't come easily. And early in the game, it was far from certain. Soon after the opening kickoff, Ohio State fans at a bar called Utopia celebrated the Buckeyes' early 10-to-nothing lead.
U: It is early - not even five minutes into the game - but Ohio State could not have scripted a better start so far.
BEAUBIEN: But LSU clawed its way back in the first half. The Tigers' defense blocked a field goal and then picked off an Ohio State pass to shift the momentum of the game solidly in LSU's favor.
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BEAUBIEN: In a city known for the blues and that's known sorrow on biblical proportions of late, Louisiana State's appearance in the national title game was another excuse for a celebration. And on a beer-strewn sidewalk in the French Quarter, LSU sophomore Lee Engel(ph) was doing just that.
MONTAGNE: This is New Orleans, the most dirtiest, nastiest, most beautiful place on the planet. And either way, I don't care who wins, it's all good.
BEAUBIEN: Buckeye fans were also reveling in the beautiful nastiness of Bourbon Street. Ohio State alum Jason Smith(ph), beer in hand, shrugged off the loss.
MONTAGNE: Yes, I'm disappointed, but you know what? Getting in the National Championship Game two years in a row was a feat in of itself, but too bad we lost.
BEAUBIEN: Jason Beaubien, NPR News, New Orleans.