T-Bob Hebert On 2012 BCS Title Game in Reddit AMA: "Nothing out of the ordinary happened."

Former LSU center T-Bob Hebert hopped on Reddit today for an AMA (Ask Me Anything). Right off the bat he was asked about the 2012 BCS Title Game against Alabama. He responded thusly:

I don't think your going to like what I have to say, however it is the honest truth. Nothing out of the ordinary happened the night before the game. I understand why it seems like that absolutely cannot be the case. We beat 9 ranked teams, we beat the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, and National Champions that year. We won every game by at least 10 points with the exception of Alabama and nine of those came against ranked teams. We set school records for largest margin of victory against multiple SEC opponents. Had we won the National Championship we could have arguably been considered the greatest team of all time. How in the WORLD do you go from this to not even crossing the 50 yard line??? I do not know. Yes, Alabama had the best defense I have ever played against (I think almost two deep played in the NFL) but that is still no excuse for not being able to do anything. There must be a reason… and on the surface there appears to be one. Because we suffered this terrible loss, combined with the drama with my Dad and Les Miles in the press conference after the game, and topped off that myself/Russell Shepard/Jarrett Lee didn't play a single down in that game rumors started to swirl that there had been drama in the week/night before the game. None of them are true. Me and Jordan never fought. I didn't stage a revolution to try to get anyone subbed in. I've heard a 100 different stories of what supposedly took place. Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. I went into that game fully expecting to play. I knew I wasn't starting anymore (got pulled the last four games following a personal foul against western kentucky) but in the other games I was still filling in at all the three interior positions as a rotator. The fact that I didn't play is still one of the most shameful points of my career. Everybody wanted to win the game. The coaches stood to gain nothing by losing and if I didn't play that means that they flat out didn't think I could help them win. That bugs the hell out of me because I think I had proven to them that wasn't the case but that apparently I was wrong. I didn't get to touch the field during my final college football game and I will never be able to get an opportunity like that back. It will always bug me but thats just life I guess. Losing the National Championship like we did was like watching a life time of work evaporate before my eyes. To work so hard and be so close to achieving literally every goal you had set and then to fail so spectacularly will annoy me for the rest of my life. But, all in all I take positive memories from LSU as I had some amazing and truly unforgettable experiences both at the school and in Tiger Stadium.

He also responded to a question about the reaction to finding out they would be playing Alabama again:

At the time we were all in. We took the mindset we didn't care who we had to play. Looking back it really pisses me off hahaha. It frustrates me to no end that they got back in the National Championship game without even winning their half of the conference. I believe Ok St did enough to get a chance for us to steamroll them xD. But like I said, I will never stop being bugged by it, I am going to be a miserable old man complaining about how those damn Bama punks should have never been allowed back in. At the end of the day however, you don't really have a leg to stand on because we still had a chance to win the natty we just got our butts kicked.

It's an interesting take. There are gobs of conspiracy theories surrounding what happened. Most fans are infuriated that Jarrett Lee never saw a snap while Jordan Jefferson floundered. There were theories about academic struggles, infighting, alleged Alabama recording practices and on down the line.

T-Bob takes the high ground here, essentially summing it up that we just flat got beat. It's clear he's disappointed he didn't get a shot to make an impact in the game.

To make things more complicated, T-Bob is now a media member who gets to cover LSU, so he does have a vested interest in protecting the image of not only himself, but the program. To be clear, I'm not saying he's lying here. But if there were some deeper issues that have not come to surface, it would not serve him well to dispel them.

What do you guys think? Is this the true account of what happened? Could their be more to the story that he's unwilling to share? Or was Alabama just plain better than dreary Monday in New Orleans?