re: Tuscaloosa

Meridian (from BR)
3.5 hours to Meridian
1.5 hours to Tuscaloosa
1.5 hours to Meridian
3.5 hours to BR
10 total hours

Birmingham
6 hours to Bham
1 hour to Tuscaloosa
1 hour to Bham
6 hours to BR.
14 total hours.

Also these numbers are going to be off because depending on when you leave Tuscaloosa it could take you 3 hours to get back to Birmingham with traffic/construction.

ETA: For those reasons alone I'd choose Meridian. Birmingham would be a more "fun" place to stay but I see no reason to drive that extra time if you're just looking for a close place to sleep.

May want to look into gameday condo rentals (AirBNB and other options) in Tuscaloosa too. Seems to be a pretty underutilized way to get a good deal on a nice place to stay in town. Especially with the current state of the multihousing market in Tuscaloosa, there are a lot of empty condos people are trying to rent for gamedays. May be booked up since it is LSU but I'd at least check.