As expected, three key pieces to Alabama’s championship run are leaving for the NFL, Tidesports.com reported.

RB Trent Richardson, LB Dont’a Hightower and CB Dre Kirkpatrick are expected to announce today at a news conference that they will bypass their senior seasons at Alabama.

The Crimson Tide won its second BCS title in three years Monday, whipping LSU, 21-0, in New Orleans.

In his most recent mock draft, Sporting News draft expert Russ Lande projects Kirkpatrick to be the first Tide player off the board at No. 7 by Jacksonville. Lande projects Richardson will go 16th to the New York Jets. Lande does not have Hightower being selected in the first round, but does have Tide teammate, safety Mark Barron, being taken 17th by Cincinnati.

The LSU and Alabama showdown promises to be a throwback to old-school football.

Both top-ranked but barely tested LSU and No. 2 and mostly unchallenged Alabama are built on power runs and run-stuffing defenses in a time when spread offenses are in vogue and huddles are optional.

"If you want to see 1970s smashmouth," Alabama tight end Michael Williams said, "then this is what you want to see right here." (MORE>>>)

It was halftime of LSU's Nov. 8, 2008, home game against No. 1 Alabama. The score was tied 14-14, thanks in part to Crimson Tide safety Rashad Johnson's 45-yard interception return for a touchdown against LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee late in the second quarter. For Lee, a redshirt freshman from Brenham, Texas, who'd been pressed into action following the offseason dismissal of expected starter Ryan Perrilloux, it was one of a staggering seven pick-sixes he would throw that season.

In a hallway in the back of the Tiger Stadium press box, writers and assorted dignitaries from the adjoining luxury suites mingled while noshing on hot dogs or watching highlights on a nearby TV. SEC commissioner Mike Slive, spotting the wife of an LSU administrator walking by, reached out to shake her hand. She returned the gesture, but with a dour look on her face. (MORE>>>)

It was hard to escape the hype around the LSU-Alabama game when both squads were off last week. Now, it's downright impossible.

Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower had just finished celebrating a win over Tennessee two weeks ago when he saw the first ad for the LSU game. When Barrett Jones chatted with family and friends back home in suburban Memphis, they didn't want to talk about the Vols game.

Like everybody else, they wanted to talk No. 1 LSU versus No. 2 Alabama. (MORE>>>)

College football’s latest “Game of the Century” is now officially on the radar, the upcoming Nov.5 matchup between Louisiana State and Alabama, the nation’s top two teams, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Both powerful Southeastern Conference foes will be idle the week of October 29, giving the game a Super Bowl-like two week buildup and essentially assuring they will head into battle as No. 1 (LSU) and No. 2 (Alabama).

It’s the kind of matchup that reminds us why the SEC is in the process of raking in $3 billion over 15 years from CBS and ESPN. (MORE>>>)