Getting to BCS National Championship not Impossible for Alabama Football

As the clock hit 0:00 in Bryant Denny Stadium Saturday night, Alabama football fans watched as the Texas A&M Aggies celebrated in the north endzone after upsetting the top ranked Crimson Tide. Disbelief was shown on the faces of those donning crimson and white, but whether it be inside the stadium, on the quad or around town there was only one question on everyone’s mind:

"Can Alabama still make it to the national championship game?"

The Beatles once sang “I get by with a little help from my friends” and with the season so close to the finish, the Crimson Tide will need a lot of help from their friends. In fact, the one person who could help out Alabama the most is the same person who helped them last season, Lane Kiffin of the USC Trojans (I’ll get into that a little bit later).

The first thing Alabama will need to do is win the rest of the season. This seems likely as Western Carolina comes to town this weekend, then the struggling Auburn Tigers the next. Those two victories would put Alabama into a SEC Championship game with the Georgia Bulldogs, currently the 5th ranked team in the country.

While it is important for Alabama to win out, it will also be just as important for Georgia to win their final regular season games as well. A win against a 5th ranked 1 loss Georgia would go a long way in helping the Tide to Miami.

But that will not be enough. Alabama will also need two of the following three teams to lose a game to jump back in: Kansas State, Oregon, and Notre Dame. Here is a break-down of each of these three teams and where they could slip up.

1. Kansas State Wildcats
Remaining games: Baylor (11/17) and 18th ranked Texas (12/1)
Overview: First things first. Robert Griffin III is not walking through the door for Baylor and that is only way the Bears could win this game. That brings us to December 1st, my birthday and the only remaining day of the regular season in which Kansas State could be upset. Texas, however, has been one of the most inconsistent teams this season and they’re defense is terrible. I can not say I am optimistic, but if Kansas State were to trip up, this is the game.

2. Oregon Ducks
Remaining games: 14th ranked Stanford (11/17), 15th ranked Oregon State (11/24) and likely the Pac 12 title game vs UCLA or USC (11/30)
Overview: Oregon is highly ranked, but they have been in no way been tested. The combined win-loss record for their opponents this season is 30-41 and their only struggle came against USC when the Trojans' defense was left at the hotel. However, they now find themselves in as tough a three game stretch you can imagine with back-to-back-to-back weeks against top 20 opponents. That is a tough task for any team, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Ducks trip up in any of these three games.

3. Notre Dame
Remaining games: Wake Forrest (11/17) and 21st ranked USC (11/24)
Overview: Wake Forrest is 5-5 heading into this game and while anything can happen, they have been trounced by ranked opponents this season so I am not too optimistic. That brings us to November 24th, the game with Southern Cal or as I like to call it “the game where Lane Kiffin can make friends with Alabama fans.” If Southern Cal’s defense can show up and the real Matt Barkley finally stands up, this could be where Notre Dame gets knocked down. Kiffin then would be in the running for a day to be named after him in Alabama if Southern Cal could run the table and knock out Oregon in the Pac 12 title game.