LSU vs. Alabama Predictions: Do the Tide Deserve to Be the Favorite?

Alabama or LSU?

LSU or Alabama?

That’s the question that has been floating through the minds of college football fans around the country who don’t have a rooting interest in tonight’s big BCS championship game between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama.

If you aren’t a fan of either the Tigers or the Tide, you may have some trouble trying to pick a winner for tonight’s game, given how even the matchup is on paper.

Las Vegas installed LSU as one-point favorites for the game, but the money’s been coming in heavy on Alabama the past few weeks, and most books have now bumped the Tide up to two and a half-point favorites.

And to be honest, it’s hard not to like what the Tide have to offer.

The best running back in the country?

Check.

A historically great defense?

Check.

The most diligent and prepared head coach in the country?

Check.

Those are definitely three ingredients you want to have if you’re cooking up a national champion. And it doesn’t hurt that the Tide will have the all-important revenge factor, something we rarely get to see in a national championship game.

But while you can certainly make the case that Alabama is the more balanced and more talented team overall, it’s hard not to like the type of swagger that LSU has been playing with all season long.

When Les Miles is holding the Tigers back and getting them amped up before they run out on the field, the LSU players truly look like they’re wild animals that are preparing to pounce on their prey, and that’s the type of attitude that has served them well this season.

They play loose, they play fast, and most importantly, they play hungry.

When you're a team that has top-notch talent and you combine it with the right kind of desire and attitude, great things usually happen, and that was certainly the case this year, as LSU dominated its competition all year long and ended up with a perfect 13-0 record.

Still, it’s that one team that the Tigers didn’t dominate, the one that they barely got by, that will be waiting for them tonight in New Orleans.

Alabama players have had that 9-6 score permanently etched in the back of their minds since that fateful Saturday night in Tuscaloosa back on Nov. 5, and you can bet that the Tide will be ready to battle it out with the Bayou boys.

So who will prevail?

I’m rooting for LSU, but I’m also doing so knowing full well that giving Nick Saban and his coaching staff a month to prepare for a game of this magnitude is a scary thought indeed.

Whether you like the idea of a rematch in the BCS championship game or not, it’s hard to argue against the fact that these are the two most talented and powerful teams in college football, and if the offenses can step it up, this game has all the ingredients to be an instant classic.

I like what both teams have to offer, but since I've already had my fill of BCS chaos talk this season, I'll be rooting for LSU to notch its 14th victory and win a national title that simply can't be disputed.