BCS Rankings: Saban's Right, the Title Game Should Feature the Two Best Teams

During a recent press conference, Alabama head coach Nick Saban was asked about what his thoughts are concerning a potential rematch between LSU and Alabama.

Saban made it clear that he didn’t think the fact that the two teams played earlier in the season should have any bearing on if they should meet again or not in the national championship game. He said it was about putting the two best teams in the game.

Even though he obviously has to say that, given his team's current positioning at No. 2 in the country, Saban is still 100 percent correct.

The mission of the BCS is to put the two best teams in the national championship game every year.

Never before have we seen a rematch in a BCS bowl game that’s had national title implications, but it’s not often that you see a situation like this when the best two teams in the country are in not only the same conference, but the same division as well.

Still, that is, if you believe that Alabama really is the second best team in college football behind LSU.

The Tide are currently one of five one-loss teams in the BCS Top 10 (and that doesn’t count undefeated Houston).

Can Alabama sufficiently separate itself from the rest of this year’s college football crop and really say that it’s truly worthy of being a national championship game participant?

Most importantly, has Nick Saban’s squad done enough to prove that they’re a better option to play LSU in the title game than No. 3 Oklahoma State is?

If the Cowboys beat No. 10 Oklahoma in the Bedlam game, that will give them their seventh win of the season over an opponent that’s been ranked in the BCS Top 25 at some point this year.

Alabama only has five such wins.

USA Today’s Jeff Sagarin ranks Oklahoma State’s schedule as the eighth toughest in the country and Alabama’s as the 23rd.

So the question has to be asked then, if both teams finish with identical 11-1 records, shouldn’t the team with the tougher schedule get the benefit of the doubt?

Strangely enough, the Tide’s saving grace is a great-looking loss to the No. 1 team in the country. Yes, that looks much better than losing to an unranked Iowa State team.

It’s that very loss, however, that will cause all of the upcoming debate and disagreements.

Alabama has already shown that it can’t get the job done against the No. 1 team on its home field. And that means the Tide aren’t the top team in college football this year.

Point taken. Argument over.

If you’ve got the best team in America on your home turf and you can’t beat them, what does that say?

It will be up for interpretation, and everyone will have their own opinions when the BCS title game pairing is announced on Dec. 4.

So while Nick Saban is exactly right when he says that the two best teams in the country should play in the BCS national championship game, he forgot to mention the fact that his team may not necessarily be the true No. 2 team in the country.