BCS Rankings 2011: Highly Ranked Teams That Will Crumble Under BCS Pressure

The first Bowl Championship Series poll of the season was just released and a few highly ranked teams will inevitably stumble in the coming weeks.

Look for these three top-level teams to crumble under the BCS pressure before the season ends.

2 Alabama Crimson Tide

The Crimson Tide have a salivating matchup with No. 1 LSU on November 5, and I think that will be the game that ruins Alabama's national championship prospects.

The Tigers defense is just downright frightening and they should be able to somewhat contain super-stud Trent Richardson.

Alabama will still play in a BCS bowl game, but their SEC rivals will squash their title hopes.

3 Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma has been very impressive this season, but I don't expect them to finish undefeated.

The Sooners have six games remaining, four of them against ranked opponents. To make matters worse, three of those are on the road.

Oklahoma has to travel to No. 17 Kansas State, No. 20 Baylor, and No. 6 Oklahoma State. The Sooners are clearly a very talented and well-coached team, but I don't think they'll survive that gauntlet of a schedule.

Depending on when/how they lose, they could still find themselves in the national title game.

However, I wouldn't count on it.

8 Stanford Cardinal

They have the nation's best quarterback, but I'm not completely sold on Stanford.

That's mainly because the teams they've been beating are, well, awful. Victories over Duke and Colorado aren't exactly impressive.

I'm expecting the Cardinal to stumble on November 12th, when they take on Oregon and their high-powered offense.

They won't lose again after that, but one loss will be enough to keep Stanford out of a BCS bowl.