The winner will be favored to run the table in the regular season (although LSU still has to play Arkansas and Alabama still must go to Mississippi State and Auburn in the Iron Bowl), handle either Georgia or South Carolina in the SEC Championship Game to earn a spot in the BCS National Championship game and then beat either Oklahoma State, Stanford, Boise State or Oklahoma to become the sixth straight national champion from the SEC.

In the 76 seasons of the AP poll, the top-ranked teams have met only 22 times in the regular season. The LSU-Alabama game will be the first since No. 1 Ohio State edged No. 2 Michigan, 42-39, in 2006. This will be only the third time the top two teams have both had an off week to prepare.

These are the two best defensive clubs in the nation, each stocked with future NFL players. The total at Bodog for the game is 41.5. Alabama (6.9) is No. 1 in the nation in total defense, scoring defense and pass defense – “only” No. 2 in rush defense. LSU is No. 2 in scoring defense (11.5), No. 4 in total defense and No. 3 in rush defense. The Tide have won every game by at least 16 points and have won their past six by a combined score of 240-37. LSU has won every game by at least 13 points and its past five by a combined score of 206-56.

Offensively they both score about the same: Alabama 39.4 ppg and LSU 39.3. Whoever scores first would seem to have the upper hand. The Tigers have scored first in every game this year. They may need the lead at the half as Alabama has outscored its opposition in the second half of the last six games by a score of 142-7, but has not allowed a second-half point in the last four games.

It probably comes down to which QB, LSU’s Jarrett Lee/Jordan Jefferson or Bama’s A.J. McCarron, makes the crucial mistake. While LSU has a better receiving corps, the Tide have the best offensive player on the field in Heisman candidate RB Trent Richardson, who has multiple touchdowns in all but two games this year.

LSU is 18-3 all-time in games played as the nation's No. 1 ranked team, which includes a 6-2 mark under Les Miles, who is 4-2 vs. the Crimson Tide. LSU beat Alabama last year in Baton Rouge, 24-21, snapping a Tide two-game winning streak in the series. Alabama is 25-1 in its last 26 games at Bryant-Denny Stadium, dating back to the start of the 2008 season. The Tigers have covered in five of their past seven trips there.

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