TUSCALOOSA — Now that's what dominant football looks like. [slideshow]

It looks like Alabama, the No. 3 team in the BCS standings, outgaining No. 9 LSU by 200 yards.

It looks like Mark Ingram gashing one of the SEC's top defenses for 144 yards.

Dominant football looks like Julio Jones, rumored to be a pretty good playmaker but absent of late, sidestepping an LSU defender and outrunning one of the SEC's fastest defenses for the decisive score.

Dominant Alabama, a la the Crimson Tide of September, returned Saturday after taking October off.

It returned in Alabama's 24-15 victory against LSU, a victory that belied the score and clinched the Tide's second consecutive SEC West Division title.

Alabama and Florida will play in an SEC championship game rematch on Dec. 5 in Atlanta.

Assuming that each team wins out the regular season string — and they'll be heavy favorites to do so — they'll play a national-semifinal rematch.

Here comes the Tide again, but it's not the same team that lost to Florida in Atlanta last year.

"This team has a totally different challenge than last year's team," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "I'm proud of the way they've managed it and handled it.

"They have to be good because they want to be good, and last year's team … wanted to prove that they could be good."

All of this comes just when it looked as though Alabama, circa 2009, had forgotten how good it can be.

October saw the red zone become a dead zone for Alabama's offense. The Tide scored just two offensive touchdowns in its final three October games.

And just when it looked as though the Alabama's defense was so good that the offense wouldn't matter, it almost mattered. The Tide had to block two field goals to survive against Tennessee two weeks ago.

Then came a bye week, and Saban called for a less "risk-averse" approach.

Less risk-averse meant empty backfields against LSU, with Ingram lining up as a wide receiver at times.

Less risk-averse meant Greg McElroy throwing deep against LSU … not always connecting and not always throwing to the right team, but taking shots.

Suddenly, LSU felt the need to play off Jones on one fatal play. He caught a quick pass, made one move and sprinted 73 yards to the end zone.

It's supposed to be a routine play for player of Jones' talents, but it became far from routine.

It was the kind of play that reminds everyone that Alabama has dominant talent on offense, even if it didn't look so dominant for a month.

Sure, Alabama caught breaks against LSU. There was the LSU interception that was ruled an incomplete pass, and LSU lost quarterback Jordan Jefferson and running back Charles Scott to injuries in the second half.

But the Tigers took a 15-10 lead without them, and the biggest question coming into this game was how a wheezing Alabama offense would play against one of the SEC's top defenses.

Question answered, and the answer was as emphatic as a Nick Saban headphones spike. Alabama had far more points within reach than the 24 it scored.

What does it all mean in the big picture?

Saturday's result likely won't make much difference in the next batch of polls and BCS standings. No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Texas handled lesser opponents Saturday, much lesser opponents than LSU.

But none of that matters. Alabama is 9-0 and looks likely to be 12-0 headed into Atlanta and a showdown with Florida for a berth in the BCS title game.

Alabama looks primed for a strong stretch run after a month of stretching its luck.