BCS Rankings: Oregon Deserves To Be Ranked Ahead of Alabama

Not Alabama, but Oregon deserves another shot at LSU in the BCS National Championship.

The Crimson Tide were closer to beating the Tigers than the Ducks were, but at least Oregon actually knew how to find the end zone.  While LSU managed to drop 40 points on the Ducks, their defense put on an equally dominating effort against Alabama. 

Besides the fact that LSU and Alabama are both in the SEC and that two teams from the same conference should never face off in the national title, the week in which the loss took place must also be taken into consideration.

Oregon lost to LSU all the way back in Week 1.  Alabama’s loss came just a little over one week ago.  While the Ducks were still rusty and coming together as a team when battling the Tigers, the Crimson Tide had already played eight games together.

If LSU and Alabama were to matchup again, fans would most likely see the exact same teams that they fell asleep watching on November 5 .  Oregon, on the other hand, is a completely different ball club.  Since losing to the Tigers, they have scored at least 40 points on all but one of their opponents.

On Saturday night against Andrew Luck and the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal, the Ducks looked like they were playing at a different speed.  LaMichael James rushed for three touchdowns on 7.3 yards a pop on the way to a 53-30 Oregon win.  The Ducks made Stanford Stadium look like their home field as they embarrassed the Cardinal and their No. 1 rated quarterback prospect and Heisman candidate.

In the latest USA Today Poll, Oregon is ranked behind No. 3 Alabama.  No matter what the coaches say, though, the Ducks deserve to be ahead of the Crimson Tide in the latest computer rankings.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.  Follow him on Twitter.