BCS Rankings: Alabama Crimson Tide Won't Fall from National Championship Talks

The Alabama Crimson Tide should have beaten the LSU Tigers.

Nick Saban's team didn't only leave 12 more points on the board, but they dominated the game in every way but the most important one.

The Tide held the Tigers to less than four yards per carry and less than 100 yards passing.

While LSU's defense was even better against Alabama's run game, it was the Crimson Tide who had four more scoring opportunities.

Four missed field goals and a questionable interception later, LSU now has the inside track to a BCS National Championship berth while Alabama has to hope, pray and knock off Auburn in the Iron Bowl just have a shot.

But the shot is better than most would expect.

Assuming LSU goes unbeaten, which certainly isn't a "gimme" as they play Arkansas in the regular season finale, we could see three more contenders remain unbeaten.

Next week will be ultimate test for two of those three.

Boise State plays TCU and Stanford plays Oregon. Both teams are home, both teams will be favored and both teams do not have a more difficult game remaining on their schedules.

Should they both win, we can count Alabama out.

The third team, Oklahoma State, has a de facto Big 12 Championship Game scheduled for December 3 with the Oklahoma Sooners. The Bedlam Game, should the Pokes win and be undefeated on the season, will be more than enough for them to earn a place in the title game.

But this is a lot "ifs" and one thing we know is that an injured Stanford team and an upstart Oklahoma State have two extremely difficult tests in front of them to remain unbeaten.

Should they somehow lose, and Alabama win out, there is a better chance of an LSU-Alabama rematch than there is of Boise State earning a National Championship bid playing against only one ranked team all year.

A potential one-loss Oklahoma and potential one-loss Oregon (who has also only lost to LSU) will make strong cases too.

Yet, there is still a sense that things were completely decided last night.

A game between No. 1 and 2 decided in overtime with only five combined field goals never will give a sense of closure.

Expect the Tide to fall no lower than No. 7 for the time being. If/when the others go down, they'll quickly move back into place for potential National Championship berth.

Don't count them out just yet. Crazier things have happened.