Look for Oklahoma vs. Big East champ in title game

Finally, after nine grueling weeks of the Division I-A college football season, coaches, players, and fans alike get to see how the top teams in the country stand in terms of major bowls. On Monday afternoon, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings were released with the Oklahoma Sooners, Miami Hurricanes, and Virginia Tech Hokies atop the list.

The remaining two undefeated teams in the country, North Illinois and Texas Christian, stand at tenth and 14th, respectively.

The way each team's remaining schedule appears, the National Championship game is looking like a showdown between Oklahoma and either Miami or Virginia Tech.

Oklahoma has a bunch of Twinkies remaining on its schedule, including Colorado, Baylor, and the high octane offense, but low octane defense of Texas Tech. Of its remaining five games, only the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who are ranked 19th in the country, and Texas A&M, have any sort of credibility.

If history repeats itself, Oklahoma should beware of its in-state rival and A&M. Last year, after dispatching then 14th ranked Colorado, the Sooners were 8-0. Oklahoma then proceeded to suffer a heartbreaking 30-26 loss at Texas A&M and then lost 38-28 three weeks later to the Cowboys. Oklahoma finished up at 12-2.

This year Oklahoma will be on the lookout for upsets and should perform better against the latter half of its Big 12 competition.

If anything is on Miami's side, it is luck. Somehow the Hurricanes maneuvered an improbable comeback against Florida in their second game of the season. With that game behind them, Miami looked to be in position to dominate the rest of its competition, but a near-loss to West Virginia and tough game at Florida State has exposed some weaknesses.

The third of the three major unbeaten teams is Virginia Tech. The Hokies have been untouchable this year partially because of the team's overall talent and partially because of the weak schedule they have played to date. They are ranked 60th in terms of strength of schedule by the BCS rankings, which means they most likely will have to go undefeated to get a shot at the National Championship.

There are three teams remaining on Virginia Tech's schedule that could pose a challenge. On November 1, the Hokies host the ever-dangerous Hurricanes. The winner of this game will most likely find themselves playing for the National Championship.

But not so fast. If the Hokies survive Miami's attack, the following week they face the high powered Pittsburgh Panthers offense. To conclude its season, Virginia Tech plays at in-state rival Virginia, which is always a tough game to win.

Running back and Heisman hopeful Kevin Jones and quarterback Bryan Randall will have to continue to play out of their minds if the Hokies have any chance at remaining undefeated.

Other teams with an outside shot at the National Championship are Georgia, Florida State, and Ohio State. Out of those three one-loss teams Georgia definitely has the toughest road remaining. Not only must the Bulldogs fight through the Southeastern Conference (SEC), arguably the toughest conference in college football, but if successful they will have to play in the make-or-break conference championship game.

This season, only the SEC and Big 12 have conference championship games, with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to follow suit in two years. While the game is a veritable money generator, it does make the road longer for any potential national championship contender. The winner of the game does receive an automatic BCS bid, but it could also lose and play itself out of the National Championship game.

With that said, Oklahoma will have a much tougher time going undefeated than the winner of the Miami/Virginia Tech game.

The final two remaining undefeated teams in D-IA college football, Northern Illinois and TCU, pretty much have no shot at the national championship. If either team ends up finishing the season undefeated, the BCS would feel pressure to give either an at-large bid, but a National Championship seems out of the question since the two have a strength of schedule of 100 and 96 respectively.