Nick Saban held up the Waterford crystal football in the Superdome in 2004 for LSU.

Les Miles held up the same football in the same stadium in 2008.

So in this year's game played in the now-named Mercedes-Benz Superdome, a rematch of an epic battle of a couple of months ago matching up guys that led LSU to their last two National Championship wins, it only seems fitting that I should do some comparisons to try to get to how I came up with my prediction on the outcome of Monday night's Allstate BCS National Championship Game.

Saban comes across as a brash, and opinionated person who basically has a team that has a chip on their shoulders, and says that they beat themselves. LSU is not better than they are, and in a game that neither team turns the ball over, Alabama can beat LSU straight up.

Miles comes across as a person with a even-keel personna, but at times can do some crazy things during the game. The team he coaches wants to come out and play the game without all the talk we hear from the other side.

Miles is known as the "Mad Hatter," but in the first meeting, it was Saban that tried out a couple of trick plays, including having reciever Marquise Maze throw the pass that Eric Reid went up and stole at the LSU one-yard line.

Do I think that Les puts on his "Mad Hat" this time? I don't know, but I also think Nick will approach this game more conservatively than last time since the Crimson Tide thinks that they can win straight up.

Ok, now on with my prediction on the outcome.

I still do think you will get a lot of the same great defense as the last game, but will also see more points scored than in November. What I also see is a more prominant role for Tyrann Mathieu this time around, as I can see a punt return for a touchdown early in this game. I can also see a turnover returned for a score late in this one, either by Mathieu or another one of his defensive teammates.

The game will stay tight up until the third quarter when the Tigers pull a little ahead. In the fourth, Bama will mount a comeback bid, but the late turnover will provide the margin of victory with the final score being LSU 31 Alabama 21.

Les Miles will raise the crystal for the second time in New Orleans, and maybe next year he can hold it up somewhere else like Saban did a couple of years ago for Alabama. The good news for Tiger fans, Miles will be able to hold it up for LSU someplace else.