The SEC Blog: Get ready for No. 1 vs. No. 1

No, no, no. You've got it all wrong. Well, not all wrong, but your math is a little off, at least at the moment and subject to change. Sorry, Euclid, but in this geometric equation involving a space of 100 yards and time measured in 60-minute intervals, you didn't carry the 1. Allow me to explain.

You've been billing LSU's visit to Alabama next weekend as Game of the Century II, as the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup anywhere in college football since Game of the Century I, when the undefeated No. 1 Tigers outlasted the undefeated No. 2 Crimson Tide 9-6 in overtime in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 5, 2011.

That game made history as the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular-season matchup ever in the Southeastern Conference.

With LSU and Alabama both idle this weekend, their impending Nov. 9 showdown in Bryant-Denny Stadium has a chance to make a different kind of history in the SEC and beyond. Our research indicates that, if the top of the polls remain the same after this weekend's action, LSU at Alabama will likely be the first regular season No. 1 vs. No. 1 matchup in the 150-year history of the sport.

After surviving a Death Valley slugfest against Auburn with a 23-20 victory, its third Top-10 win of the season, LSU jumped over Alabama for the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press poll. It's the first time the Tigers have topped that poll since 2011. The Tide, despite earning the most first-place votes, slipped to No. 2 overall by the slim margin of two points.

The coaches who vote in the USA Today poll also were impressed enough with LSU's gritty Auburn victory to move the Tigers up one spot - but from No. 3 to No. 2. Who's No. 1 according to the coaches? Alabama, which stayed atop that poll after taking care of business against Arkansas 48-7 with quarterback Mac Jones filling in nicely for the injured Tua Tagovailoa.

So 8-0 Alabama is No. 1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, and 8-0 LSU is No. 1 in the AP Poll. Do the math correctly, and LSU at Alabama will be a No. 1 vs. No. 1 summit meeting of unprecedented proportion.

It seems fitting that the SEC would be the home of the matchup to end all regular-season matchups in 2019. This season has seen a steady stream of extra-large games involving conference teams.

When Florida and Georgia renew their annual rivalry Saturday in Jacksonville, it'll be more than the de facto SEC East Championship Game. With the Gators ranked No. 6 in both polls and the Bulldogs at No. 7 in USA Today and No. 8 in AP, this will be the sixth Top-10 matchup of the season involving at least one SEC team.

LSU-Alabama will be the seventh. Five of those seven top-10 meetings will have been SEC vs. SEC affairs. The only exceptions: LSU outscoring Texas from the Big 12 and Georgia outfighting independent Notre Dame.

Otherwise, the best conference in college football by any metric continues to provide a heaping helping of the biggest games in the country inside its own house.

No. 1 LSU at No. 1 Alabama will simply, historically, raise the roof. It'll be so much more than the Game of the Century II. To honor college football's 150th anniversary, it'll be the Game of the Sesquicentennial.