Alabama Football: Arkansas Loses, Tide Title Bound? Not so Fast My Friend!

LSU is officially undefeated in the regular season after besting Arkansas with a score (41-17) that looked eerily familiar to the Alabama-Arkansas game, but Alabama's destination is anything but settled.  

The Alabama-LSU rematch looks like destiny to Tide fans, but the voters may see things very differently. You see, the voters, which account for two-thirds of the BCS, aren't all from Alabama.  They respect Alabama as a team that almost beat LSU, but that's not enough for them.

Their flawed logic leads them to believe that Alabama "had its shot."  By that they mean Alabama already lost to the team going to the national championship, so a team that hasn't lost to LSU deserves to play them.  

Do what, now?  Do many voters really think that a field-goal loss in overtime in a historic defensive slugfest against the then- and now-No. 1 ranked team is "worse" than a loss to a four-loss unranked team?

Yes, that's what looks to be a very possible scenario.  Far too many voters will likely side with Oklahoma State's "mulligan" loss to Iowa State.  Alabama has the best single loss in all of college football—a loss to the best team in the nation, a team who won by the skin of their teeth, a team that was outperformed in every category but field goals.

Unfortunately, far too many voters are sick of three things: hearing about Alabama, hearing about the SEC and the SEC winning it all every year for half a decade. 

Alabama faces Auburn this weekend in the Iron Bowl, and Oklahoma State faces Oklahoma in the Bedlam Series.  A convincing win by both teams could keep things in balance, as they should be, with Alabama at No. 2.  

If Alabama struggles against Auburn in a game that's decided by a touchdown or field goal (which seems to happen every year) and Oklahoma State wins convincingly, there could be a very different story Sunday night.  

Many people are still empathizing with Oklahoma State after they lost two coaches in a tragic plane crash just before they played Iowa State and attribute the loss to that.  The situation is that those were two women's basketball coaches, and cynics wonder if that really had any impact at all on the players.  

The bottom line is that many voters don't want to see a rematch, and whatever their flawed reasons might be, they hold the ballot.  They want to see Oklahoma State (or even Virginia Tech or Stanford) in the title game against LSU.  They don't want a rematch.  

What they want, however, may not be enough to keep them from voting how they should.  

Hopefully, the voters will do the right thing.  They will vote for the team that is most "deserving" (a term hated by the SEC) and the second best team in the nation proven through all 12 games this season.  

Alabama has a decent offense with a Heisman-hopeful running back, Trent Richardson, and the best defense in college football, proven by its No. 1 ranking in all top-five defensive categories.  

Voters, fans and coaches alike all believe the BCS is a flawed system.  Well, if they want to prove how flawed it is then they will vote against Alabama.  

The title game is supposed to feature the two best teams in the nation based on both performances and wins-losses.  

At the end of the season there will be indisputable proof that an undefeated LSU and a one-loss Alabama are the two best teams in the nation.  But Indisputable may not be enough.  

Now, back to the task at hand: the Iron Bowl!