BCS Standings Week 4: Alabama asserts itself as an immovable object
For a brief moment Saturday night — perhaps about 30 minutes or so — teams such as Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame had a glimmer of hope.
During that time, LSU led Alabama, was playing unbelievable defense and looked like it was going to turn the BCS on its head.
But in the blink of an eye -- the span of one drive that culminated in a screen pass that resulted in a game-winning touchdown -- the dream of BCS chaos was gone and Alabama stood on top of the mountain proclaiming that it wasn't going to be that easy to get rid of the Tide.
The 21-17 come-from-behind win did cost Alabama a first-place vote in the Harris Poll — Oregon picked that up — but it did very little otherwise to tarnish the Tide's quest for a national championship appearance.
Oregon remained the consensus No. 2 team in both the Harris and coaches polls, but its biggest move came thanks to the computers. Oregon, which moved from No. 4 to No. 3 this week in the BCS standings, was hoping for a big boost from its remaining four games as compared to the other teams in the top five. Oregon is still ranked fifth in the computer rankings, but its win over USC put it ahead of Notre Dame, which needed overtime to beat Pitt.
[More NCAA football: Alabama produces collection of T-shirts commemorating win over LSU]
Oregon also closed the gap with Kansas State. Last week, Kansas State led the Ducks .9400 to .9136 in the average standings. This week, Kansas State sits at .9318 while Oregon made a modest move to .9166.
Next week figures to yield little movement for Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame as none of them play a ranked opponent, but the final two weeks will be a mad dash to the national championship.
Alabama could have some issues with its game against Texas A&M this week. The Aggies have been better than expected and present an offensive challenge for a Tide defense that looked a little more human against LSU. For the second consecutive week, the upper echelon of the BCS standings will be keeping an eye on Alabama's result.
It's probably too soon to say Notre Dame is out of the race for the national championship, but its schedule does it no favors down the stretch and its computer numbers will continue to take a hit while Oregon's and Kansas State's either increase or stay steady.
But for all of the teams in the top four, it's all about style points from here on out.
This week's BCS standings:
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