BCS Rankings 2011: Predicting the Top 5 in December

There's still some football to be played between now and December, but any time is a good time for a top-five end-of-season prediction. 

The top four are clear-cut at this point, but at least two of those teams will lose the first weekend in December. 

Who gets in? Who gets left out? Which teams will sail into a BCS bowl and which teams will have a gripe about their impending snub? 

Here's a glimpse into what the BCS top five should look like in early December. 

5. LSU Tigers

LSU will lose to Alabama in early November, but no one is going to convince me that the Tigers are not one of the top five teams in the country regardless of a potential loss to the Crimson Tide. 

The Tigers will get a chance to play in the Superdome after New Year's, but it will be for a Sugar Bowl Championship instead of the coveted BCS National Championship.

4. Stanford Cardinal

Stanford still has to navigate a schedule that includes a road game at USC and a home game against No. 10 Oregon, but the Cardinal should have enough in the tank to win both of those games. 

What is much less certain, however, is Stanford's inclusion in the BCS Championship Game should the Cardinal indeed finish undefeated. 

3. Clemson Tigers

Clemson is making believers out of the critics every single week. It appears that Clemson might make it through the season without pulling a Clemson (an inexplicable loss to a team that isn't half as talented as the Tigers). 

Unfortunately for the future ACC champs, it won't be enough to get into the BCS top two. The competition left on Clemson's roster won't be enough to propel it into the title game in New Orleans. 

2. Oklahoma State Cowboys

It's all going to come down to the final weekend at Bedlam and although Oklahoma pretty much owns that series, it's time for the Cowboys to step up take the bull by the horns. 

On the strength of that unstoppable offense and opportunistic defense, the Cowboys will take home the Big 12 Championship and earn the right to play Alabama in the national championship. 

1. Alabama Crimson Tide

With a little over one month remaining in the season, the BCS title is Alabama's to lose. The Crimson Tide appear to be the best, most complete team in the country.

It doesn't hurt this prediction that the Tide will host LSU the first weekend in November. That will be by far the toughest game remaining on Alabama's schedule. It really doesn't matter who they face in the SEC Championship Game either. The SEC east is pitiful.