NEW ORLEANS -- Many voters for The Associated Press Top 25 said they are not absolutely committed to selecting the winner of the Allstate BCS Championship Game as No. 1, opening the possibility that college football's top tier could have a split champion for the first time since LSU and USC in 2003.

A big part of the reason is that Monday's game between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama will be the first BCS championship featuring a rematch of a regular-season meeting. That Nov. 5 game ended with a 9-6 overtime victory for the Tigers on the Crimson Tide's home field.

The winner in New Orleans gets the Bowl Championship Series' crystal ball trophy and will be No. 1 in the final USA Today coaches' poll, which is contractually bound to have the winner of the BCS in the top spot of its rankings.

But the media members who vote in The Associated Press' college football rankings are under no such obligations. And for many of them, the choice is not so clear -- especially if the two teams stage another defensive struggle and Alabama wins narrowly.

"Awarding a championship to a team that loses its final game is beyond counterintuitive and may be un-American," said David Teel of the Daily Press in Hampton Roads, Va. "But if LSU loses narrowly, I will absolutely consider (voting the Tigers No. 1). That's how good the Tigers' regular season -- five wins over the Top 25, four away from Death Valley, including at Alabama -- was."

The AP asked voters who cast ballots for its Top 25 a few questions before the BCS game:

• Do you expect to vote the winner of the Alabama-LSU game No. 1?

• Would you consider voting LSU No. 1 even if it lost?

• Would you consider voting another team -- i.e., Oklahoma State or Stanford -- No. 1?