LSU Tigers Gettin’ Set to Stop The Tide

Many argue Saturday's game between No. 1 LSU Tigers and No. 2 Alabama will be the National Championship game. One thing we know for sure, is the winner will be SEC champions.

Saturday's showdown is among the most important regular season games in each school's history. The winner will surely be No. 1 in the next Bowl Championship Series standings and poised to reach the BCS title game.

This incredible match up has the potential to produce an instant classic that will rank among the all-time battles in college football. But from the Tigers' position, it will have to be extraordinary to surpass LSU's epic battle with Mississippi in 1959 as the greatest game in school history.

LSU’s Billy Cannon slips by tacklers at the start of an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown Oct. 31, 1959, against Mississippi. It was the lone touchdown in a game the Tigers won 7-3.

That was the famous Halloween night meeting between the defending national champion and No. 1 Tigers and the third-ranked Rebels, a game LSU won 7-3 thanks to halfback Billy Cannon's 89-yard punt return in the fourth quarter. Ole Miss was stopped at the LSU goal line as time expired.

The Rebels came back to whip a Tigers team missing a handful of injured starters 21-0 in the Sugar Bowl. Mississippi finished 10-1, outscoring opponents 350-21, and shared the national championship with Syracuse. The loss to the Tigers kept the Rebels from being remembered as one of the greatest teams in college history.

If LSU wins Saturday, their odds of winning the national title will be even better this time around. They've already won the BCS series title twice, once in 2003 under Nick Saban, who now coaches the Crimson Tide, and then in 2007 under Les Miles. In 1958, LSU was ranked No. 1 in the AP Coaches Poll.

Alabama's storied history claims 13 national titles, the most recent in 2009 with Saban, beating Texas in the Rose Bowl. They also claimed their first Heisman Trophy Winner that year, with running back Mark Ingram, who now plays for the New Orleans Saints.

By the way, this year's BCS Championship game will be played in New Orleans on Jan. 9th, 2012.

If you're able to get tickets you'll pay through the nose online. Some are going for as high as $10,000.

LSU merchandise is going like gangbusters at Tiger Island, where they sell everything from LSU windchimes, to Tiger jerseys and polo shirts, to baby Tiger clothes.

If I were a gambling woman I wouldn't bet either way on the outcome of this match up.

Listen to the game of the century this Saturday on your home for the LSU Tigers - AM 1130, KWKH. Pregame begins at 5 pm with kickoff at 7.