The upset of Alabama may have come a week too late for the LSU Tigers, but maybe they can take some solace in finding the blueprint for beating the Crimson Tide.

Give all the credit for last Saturday's 29-24 win to the Texas A&M Aggies, but they should send LSU a gift basket for the assist. In watching the first quarter of the A&M-Alabama game, it was hard not to notice a familiar pattern emerging; it looked remarkably similar to last week's 21-17 Alabama win over the Bayou Bengals.

So here's me, your favorite college football nerd, actually taking notes while sitting on my couch and watching football – on a day off, no less. But what I stumbled across was the anatomy of an upset, at least when it comes to beating the best team in the SEC the past few years.