Alabama Football: And Then There Was Just One, Hurdle That Is, Left in the Way

With the stunning loss by such a large a margin of Stanford to Oregon and the crazy finish and loss of Boise State to Texas Christian, there is only one unbeaten team left standing in the way of an Alabama-LSU rematch for the BCS Championship.

Alabama fans will now have to rely on Oklahoma to beat Oklahoma State to make that happen, as most don't think Iowa State has a good shot at defeating them.

So on the last game of the season, Saturday, December 3rd, will the Crimson Tide fans be as big a Sooners fan as the most ardent Oklahoma alumni?

You can count on it.

Yes, the Tide has business of their own to take care of, but with two weak opponents left to play, that may not seem like it should garner more concern than having Oklahoma help the Tide find a way back into a BCS Championship clash with LSU for the "Game of the Century Part Two."

Legendary coach Bobby Bowden once said on a national press conference on the eve of playing Miami for the second time in one season, that the hardest thing for a team to do is beat the same team twice in one season.

But Alabama has done that before, beating Florida twice, once in regular season and again in the SEC Championship game.

And if the Sooners can pull off the upset, then LSU will have a chance to become one of the rare teams to have beaten the same team twice in one season.

Saturday was a good day for Alabama. Two potential problems fell by the wayside and then there was just one left.

With many Alabama players nursing injuries from the brawl with LSU, the Tide fell one point short of making the spread set by Las Vegas against the Bulldogs of LSU. The defense finally gave up a touchdown, but the offense continued to stumble.

By winning the game and resting the most injured players, Alabama puts itself in good position to finish the season strong.

With just one marginally good team, Auburn, left on the schedule for the rest of the season, and a cake walk over Georgia Southern, it is up to teams like Oklahoma and Iowa State to help the Crimson Tide out and put them in position for a win.

If that doesn't happen, then look for Alabama to play in the Sugar Bowl and then spend a long winter wondering what would have happened if only they had made one of the four field goals they missed against LSU.