I will respectfully disagree. If our OL was good, they wouldn't have been mugged by 3 other P5 teams we faced plus the directional schools. There's no other way around it.
What I will agree with you on is there IS a big talent gap there. Unlike the Florida game, for example, LSU's OL problems were not blown assignments. They are just that much less talented than the Alabama linemen. I have never in my life seen that many double-teams defeated so quickly and so consistently. Alabama also double-teamed Rashard Lawrence and Big Ed all night, but at least our guys had the decency to get held up a lot by double-teams.
I have never agreed with the stance Saban is some great tactician. From an X's and O's standpoint, he's fine. He's not a mad scientist on either side of the ball, he knows what he likes and what works, and he's fine. What he is, is the greatest recruiter in the world. Full stop. There's no long con here, no overarching plan that you're suggesting, I don't think. He knows the axiom "It's not the X's and O's, it's the Johnny and Joes" is correct, and he works it. The only sneaky and heady tactics Saban does at Alabama is targeting Louisiana kids HARD. I counted 9-10 LA kids for Alabama Saturday, 6 of whom were starters. Think LSU couldn't have used those guys? He knows 1) Louisiana is a talent rich state 2) He only has one school to beat out for Louisiana kids 3) getting those kids directly hurts the chances of the one team they play every year that could possibly be talented enough to cause them problems. Same reason other teams are occasionally able to catch them napping and upset them. It's impossible to make 18-22 year olds focus all the time. It's hard for grown men. Not LSU though. The bye-week before LSU is not an accident, just like we schedule ours before them also. LSU is the one game they will bring it 100% guaranteed, and that's the reason LSU can't tag them like Ole Miss or Auburn, and why LSU will not beat them again until Saban is gone...because nobody is going to out-recruit him and he's still going to drain too much of our lifeblood, the in-state recruits. We could abandon the pro-style attempts to a more pure spread, or get a guy like Hugh Freeze or Kendall Briles (which....please God, no) with a lot of creativity and score some more points. We'll also just lose to them by less. This is the only "Great Plan" Saban is guilty of, and mark it down, LSU will not beat Saban again.
The rest is just his guys are better than your guys. The end.
You say "LSU is that good." But it's not true. LSU is that good on defense. Good enough to hold Alabama to 21 points or less with a competent offense. Good enough to have some stars, but not stars up and down the roster. But we still don't have the D-lines we used to (because those guys go to Alabama now) and we still don't have elite O-lineman (because the state does not produce a ton, and the ones we produce, half go to...guess where). Oh, and we've lost the majority of the state's elite LBs to them as well. We'll probably still get elite DBs because our DB development and NFL success is insane. Everybody else....well, if you want to see a real mastermind, then look at Dave Aranda. What he does with a unit full of guys, half of whom couldn't start at Alabama, is great, and he does it with scheme.
I recall you also were inclined to think Les Miles was playing a lot of mind games over the years. It's funny to think about because he was indeed an interesting character. But I can tell you definitely he was not. Miles was exactly what he appeared to be. There were no tricks, no charades, no cons. Just a guy who loved the game and what you saw is what you got. That's also exactly what Saban is. What you see is what you get. He preaches recruiting, he does recruiting, he wants to win games.
I think we could expect Alabama to perform differently in some games against more creative teams than they do if he were playing some secret chess game where he's 11 moves ahead of everybody else. If I'm right, we can expect to see Clemson give them a punch in the mouth again, win or lose. And I believe they will.