Over the course of the last few weeks, we here at Bankroll Sports have counted down the Top 25 college football matchups. The first 24 games were awfully difficult to be able to place, but there has never been a doubt as to what the top game on the docket would be. The LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide clashes in two absolutely amazing games last year, including in the BCS National Championship Game. Almost a full year later, the two are going to meet again, and they are likely to once again be meeting as two of the top teams in the entire country. Don’t miss what should be the most highly anticipated NCAA football matchup of the season, as we make our LSU vs. Alabama picks for the biggest clash of the year.

Alabama Crimson Tide @ LSU Tigers Picks & Info
Alabama Crimson Tide @ LSU Tigers Date: Saturday, November 3rd
Alabama Crimson Tide @ LSU Tigers Location: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA
Alabama Crimson Tide @ LSU Tigers Spread: LSU Tigers -2.5

We have spoken a ton about Alabama in this countdown of our Top 25 college football games of the year. QB AJ McCarron is going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC this year, and he is going to have a great team in front of him once again. Last year, the Tide came into this battle with the Bayou Bengals with a ton of experience. The bad news is that LB Dont’a Hightower and LB Courtney Upshaw are gone, as are a slew of other starters from a campaign ago. The problems in the kicking game clearly haven’t been fixed, and that could come back and really hurt the team this time around as well. Remember that if Head Coach Nick Saban had a solid kicker, the Tide would have ran the table and finished the year with a 14-0 mark, and Alabama would have been known as arguably the best team of all-time. This year, there definitely isn’t that threat that this could be the best team ever, but being a National Championship contender definitely isn’t out of the question. However, losing this game would not just cost the Tide a shot at the title, but once again at the SEC West, too.

Alabama Crimson Tide vs. LSU Tigers Past Games (Since 1995)
2012: Alabama 21 – LSU 0 (BCS National Championship Game)
2011: LSU 9 – Alabama 6
2010: LSU 24 – Alabama 21
2009: Alabama 24 – LSU 15
2008: Alabama 27 – LSU 21
2007: LSU 41 – Alabama 34
2006: LSU 28 – Alabama 14
2005: LSU 16 – Alabama 13
2004: LSU 26 – Alabama 10
2003: LSU 27 – Alabama 3
2002: Alabama 31 – LSU 0
2001: LSU 35 – Alabama 21
2000: LSU 30 – Alabama 28
1999: Alabama 23 – LSU 17
1998: Alabama 22 – LSU 16
1997: LSU 27 – Alabama 0
1996: Alabama 26 – LSU 0

Meanwhile, LSU was the team that did run the table in the regular season last year, and had it not put forth a total dud in January, it would have been known as the greatest team ever. Once again, this is going to be one of the best defenses in the nation, and that’s in spite of the fact that DB Tyrann Mathieu, last year’s Heisman Trophy finalist and DB Mo Claiborne are gone from the team. Head Coach Les Miles always finds way to replenish his team in a hurry though, and there aren’t all that many years in which t Bayou Bengals aren’t one of the Top 10 teams in the land. QB Zach Mettenberger is going to be the man that has to take over this offense, and he can’t possibly score any fewer touchdowns than QB Jordan Jefferson and QB Jarrett Lee did last year in two starts against the Tide. Look for the big time stable of running backs to try to do it all against Alabama. That was the recipe last year in this game when these two teams met in Tuscaloosa, and it is going to surely be the recipe once again if the Tigers are to roar loudly and get the job done in the biggest game of the season.

Alabama @ LSU Free Picks^^: We know that this is going to be the biggest game of the college football season, and it should live up to that billing. Both of these defenses are going to be excellent once again, and there is just no reason to think that there is going to be anything but a struggle for both offenses no matter how many returners that are on both sides. The two games last year featured a combined 36 points, and though we do think that we are going to see some touchdowns, we know that they are going to be few and far between. In the end, just as LSU was able to go on the road and win this fixture, we think that the Crimson Tide are going to repay the favor in Baton Rouge in the biggest game of the year.

^^Disclaimer: Our college football picks by our sports blog writers are independent of those from our Expert NCAA Football Handicappers. All NCAA football odds and lines in our Top 25 are from the month of August, and those lines could and likely will change by the time the game kicks off.

You won’t want to miss our Alabama @ LSU picks when our expert college football handicappers have them posted on the week of 11/3/12.