Top ranked Alabama will test its early season mettle today against ACC stalwart Virginia Tech. The Crimson Tide and Hokies are set to square off in the Chick-fil-A Classic at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, which has a scheduled start time of 5:30pm ET. Today's meeting between the two squads will be broadcast live on ESPN. Week 1 College Football Picks from offshore bookmaker 5Dimes have Alabama listed as a -21 against the spread favorite and the Over/Under set at 45.5 points.

Alabama has reached the point where it avoids the dreaded rebuilding year and instead just reloads. Yes, Nick Saban has a well oiled machine up and running in Tuscaloosa, and that is a bad thing for the rest of the SEC and pretty much every other team in college football.

Virginia Tech, an historic program in its own right, is certainly not immune to being steamrolled by the Tide, and Head Coach Frank Beamer probably spent the majority of the summer preaching that message to his team. Not to break their confidence, but to make them realize how fine tuned they will have to be in order to compete with Alabama.

The Crimson Tide bring back 13 starters from last year's National Championship team, including seven from a defense that held opponents to a meager 10.9 points per game.

The Alabama offense lost three starters along the line as well as running back Eddy Lacy, but quarterback A.J. McCarron returns as do his top four receiving targets (Amari Cooper, Kevin Norwood, Kenny Bell, Christion Jones). And Lacy will be replaced by, arguably, a better player in T.J. Yeldon. Yeldon rushed for 1108 yards (6.3 ypc) and 12 touchdowns a season ago.

The Hokies have a lot of talent, particularly on defense, and they are poised for a bounce back season; however, they may not be ready for the problems Alabama will pose tonight.

Defensively Virginia Tech should expect some success against Saban's offense, but it is difficult to envision the Hokies offense generating much of anything against the Tide's formidable defense.

Alabama vs Virginia Tech Week 1 College Football Picks:

Alabama Crimson Tide -21 (-110), Over 45.5 (-110), -1375 (Moneyline)

Virginia Tech Hokies +21 (-110), Under 45.5 (-110), +900 (Moneyline)

College Football Free Picks: Alabama vs Virginia Tech Betting
What college football bettors need to know about betting Alabama vs Virginia Tech on Saturday (8/31/13) - a free pick from Pregame.com's Marco D'Angelo with Ken Thomson.

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