BCS Rankings: Which Top 10 Teams Are Legitimate National Title Contenders?

The BCS rankings have, for the most part, stabilized over the last three weeks. We know definitively that LSU and Alabama are the two best teams in the country, and everyone else is just looking up at them. 

Obviously, Oklahoma State is going to move into the No. 2 spot with a win this weekend, because LSU and Alabama are playing each other. 

As much as we love Boise State, the odds of that team getting to play for a National Championship are slim to none. 

Stanford plays a schedule that even Boise State would call soft, with the glaring exception of their game next weekend against Oregon. Even if the Cardinal wins that game, it should not be enough to push them over the edge in the BCS title race. 

There are a select few teams in the Top 10 that still have a chance at playing for the greatest prize in college football. 

No.1 LSU & No. 2 Alabama

I am lumping these two teams together, because whichever team loses, they should still be in the race for the BCS title game. 

The one caveat is that the game has to be close. If it is a one-sided blowout, then you lose your chance. The SEC, as much as everyone not associated with the conference is tired of hearing it, is by far the best in the country. 

A one-loss SEC team deserves serious consideration for the BCS championship. If it is a rematch with a team they lost to earlier in the year, then so be it. 

No. 3 Oklahoma State

I was not sold on the Cowboys earlier in the season, but I am starting to come around. That can blow up at the end of the season against Oklahoma. Right now, though, this team belongs in the conversation as the best team in the country. 

They are not a glamorous team with a strong national following, but computers don't care about how popular you are. 

I would like to see this offense have the chance to go up against the defense of Alabama or LSU in the biggest game of the year. 

No. 4 Stanford

I bashed on Stanford earlier, but that game against Oregon is going to determine how high this team climbs.

The Ducks have turned things around quite nicely after that loss to LSU, and find themselves ranked in the Top 10 of the BCS themselves. 

If Stanford, which is ranked fourth in the BCS, gets a victory over another Top 10 team late in the season and stays undefeated, it will be hard for the computers to keep them out of the National Championship game.

In the immortal words of Tony Kornheiser, "that's it, that's the list." It might be boring to just go with the Top 4 teams, but that is the reality of the situation facing college football and the BCS this year.

Unless everything falls apart for these four teams over the final month of the season, there is no one else in the country that has a chance to play for a National Championship.

Oklahoma's loss should weigh them down, especially if it comes down to them or the LSU/Alabama loser. Oregon lost a head-to-head matchup with LSU, and Boise State....well, we have already talked about them.