LSU vs. Alabama: Who Will Win College Football's Super Bowl?

LSU or Alabama?

Alabama or LSU?

The Tide or the Tigers?

The Tigers or the Tide?

Trying to pick a winner for this Saturday’s mega-matchup between SEC powerhouses LSU and Alabama will certainly make your brain hurt.

These are two of the best college football teams we’ve seen this millennium, and in a matchup of this magnitude between two evenly matched opponents, the slightest little unpredictable occurrence can sway the momentum of the game one way or another.

One devastating turnover, one big kickoff return, one goal line stand—in a game like this, there’s just no room for error. However, it’s simply impossible to predict which team will come up with that one crucial big play.

Most of the talk leading up to the game has surrounded the two defenses, and for good reason.

On paper, these two defenses are certainly both special.

Alabama may rank first in the nation in every major statistical category, and the Tide may have future NFL studs on all three levels of the defense, but the Tigers are right up there in terms of talent and depth.

The type of athleticism and overall skill level that will be on display in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night will be unlike anything we’ve seen in a college football game in recent memory.

That’s what makes this game so tough to pick.

Alabama has the home-field advantage, one of the best overall players in college football in running back Trent Richardson, the best head coach in the game right now in Nick Saban and one of the most talented defenses in the history of college football.

How can you pick against that?

Well, when your other option is the No. 1 team in college football, it makes it a little bit easier.

After wavering back and forth for the last two weeks, I’m going to stick with the LSU Tigers.

In the preview I wrote two weeks ago, I predicted the Tigers would win 29-24 because of their experience at the quarterback position, and I’m sticking with that pick.

Yes, the LSU offense does scare me a bit, considering the Tigers only average 372 yards per game, but this is a team that just seems like it knows how to do enough to win. If you've watched the Tigers this year, it just seems like they have that special “it” factor.

Call it the Mad Hatter effect, or simply call it swagger, but whatever it is, this team’s playing with something special this year.

If ever there was a team that was built to go into Bryant-Denny Stadium and win on a big stage like this, it’s this LSU team.

The Tigers have the offensive playmakers, with guys like running backs Spencer Ware and Michael Ford and wide receivers Rueben Randle and Odell Beckham Jr., to put pressure on the Alabama defense, and they’ve got a defense that should be able to stand up and go toe-to-toe with Trent Richardson and Alabama’s big boys in the trenches.

You can crunch the numbers all you want, and break down every 3rd-down conversion percentage and red zone efficiency number, but in games like this, emotions take over and the numbers ultimately go out the window.

This is college football’s version of a Super Bowl.

This is one of those rare games when the players are just going to be playing on pure adrenaline and emotion.

There’s a reason that you’ve got 600 media members heading down to Tuscaloosa this weekend, and there’s a reason that tickets are going for up to $10,000 a pop.

This is the game.

Let’s just hope it lives up to the hype, and let’s hope that those fans paying for those big-dollar tickets get their money’s worth.

If they’re dressed in crimson, though, I have a feeling they might go home disappointed.

It’s been said before, but sometimes Les really is more.

Prediction: LSU 29, Alabama 24