TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- The first ingredient for any Game of the Century is a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.

A hot coaching rivalry and an historic venue can certainly spice things up.

Alabama-LSU six days from now will have all that and more.

For just the sixth time in 20 years, the nation's top two teams will battle in a regular-season game when No. 1 LSU travels to No. 2 Alabama at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Pick your poll from the BCS on down to the Harris Interactive, and it's the top-ranked Tigers against the second-ranked Crimson Tide. There already has been so much hype surrounding the matchup that there's the sense something nuclear will happen once kickoff occurs. Byes for both teams last week only loaded the game with more anticipation.

Rece Davis of ESPN and Tim Brando CBS know about the schools, the states and the rivalry.

Davis, 45, grew up in Muscle Shoals and attended Alabama in the late 1980s.

Brando, 55, was born in Shreveport, La., where he currently resides. He traveled to Baton Rouge on Thursday afternoon for a one-on-one interview with LSU coach Les Miles.

"We have some really important games this weekend," Brando said Thursday. "None of them is in the same stratosphere or even getting their just due in the build up for this weekend because everyone's anticipating next weekend. This is a matchup you will get only once every 10-15 years. I would put it in the all-time regular-season matchups in the history of college football in my lifetime."

There's plenty to consider, beginning with the head coaches.

Saban coached LSU from 2000-2004, guiding the Tigers to the 2003 national championship. He is in his fifth season at Alabama with the 2009 national title in his pocket, and talk of his ties with LSU has been muted.

One reason could have been the Crimson Tide's 24-21 loss at LSU last season, which seemed to suggest enough time had passed and Miles had proven he battle his predecessor on equal footing.

"Twelve months ago at the Tennessee game, Les was still fighting those demons about LSU fans saying, 'Well, he did it with Nick's guys,'" Brando said. "That was still out there. I think he conquered that in the win against Alabama. That exorcised those demons, and he is getting his just due and respect from fans and media alike that this isn't just the Mad Hatter, this is a quality coach."

In fact, the head-to-head coaching battle is part of the allure. It's another key ingredient to what makes this year's game so special. Brando went on to compare it to one of the most historic coaching rivalries.

"We now have one of the great coaching rivalries to go along with the great football rivalry," Brando said. "I would argue that Miles and Saban if they stayed five more years at Alabama and LSU, both of them, we would have a modern day Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes."

Schembechler for Michigan and Hayes for Ohio State battled 10 times, with Schembechler's Wolverines holding a 5-4-1 edge in head-to-head games between the two coaches.

Saban and Miles are 2-2 in head-to-head matchups since Saban's arrival at Alabama in 2007.

"These teams are very similar," Brando said. "Both have great defenses, both have a strong commitment to running the football. Both want to win the power game and wear down the opposition in the fourth quarter. There are striking similarities to how these teams play. But you could not find two coaches whose approaches to the game are any more contrasting than Saban and Miles."

Big games at Bryant-Denny Stadium were rare when Davis attended Alabama, but he recalls the Oct. 25, 1986, game between No. 2 Alabama and No. 6 Penn State. Attendance that afternoon was 60,210. On Saturday, the attendance will be a sold out 101,821.

The Nittany Lions went on to win that afternoon 23-3.

"The anticipation for that game on campus was at a fever pitch," Davis said. "That in my mind has always been a big one. Penn State won that one easily and went on to win the national championship. That one was big."

Davis said he has not been to Bryant-Denny Stadium for a regular-season game since the early 1990s because his job often relegates him to a television studio. But he has been to plenty of big game in plenty of big venues, and he still keeps an eye on his alma mater.

At times this season, Bryant-Denny Stadium has roared to the point of forcing teams such as Arkansas and Tennessee to burn timeouts. Saban has gone as far as to plead with fans to "do their job" and to keep their (rears) in the seats.

"If they (the fans) couldn't have some type of impact on the energy or the concentration level or lack thereof of the opponent then teams wouldn't win at home as often as they do," Davis said. "Coach (Lou) Holtz made an interesting argument on our show ... sometimes the visitor has the advantage because they don't have to worry about tickets, they don't have to worry about their family coming to town, they don't have to worry about the ancillary things that sort of surround the hype of a big game. He mentioned that the media tends to descend on the site of a big game. Those players, those coaches are in more demand. All of those things can be a factor. But the comfort of being at home, the energy you can get when things start going against you, I think can certainly have an impact on the game for sure."