BCS Standings: College Football's Fast Five

With college football’s first BCS standings less than a week old, NBC/Universal has released Fast Five on DVD and Blu-ray.  Vin Diesel and Paul Walker provide the excitement of racing, while the “Rock” attempts to bring them to justice in this fifth installment of the Fast and the Furious story.

The release of this fast-paced film begs the question, however, “Which college football teams are racing to score points or stealing scoring opportunities from their opponents?”

The SEC boasts some of the country’s fastest defenses, while the Pac-12 highlights some of college football’s most prolific offenses.  Do the teams that score the fastest force their opponents to travel the furthest to score against them?

The following programs are the nation’s five fastest programs: the BCS Fast Five.

No. 5 Oregon Ducks

The Oregon Ducks are No. 5 on the list, not because their offense lacks any firepower.  Fans are used to the Ducks scoring early and often, but as it’s been seen twice in less than a year, the Ducks lack defense.

Chip Kelly’s offense is the speediest offense in the country when it comes to scoring on opponents.  Averaging a point every 31.46 seconds, the Ducks rely on their effective passing game to open the run for huge gains.  Don’t get in a shootout with the Ducks, because their offense will certainly outscore you.

The defense, on the other hand, is the Achilles' heel of this program.  As the country witnessed in the National Championship against Auburn and an early-season contest against LSU, the defense isn’t capable of matching an SEC opponent’s defensive effort.

If the offensive speed of a program was the only determining factor in these rankings, Oregon would easily top the list.

No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide

The Crimson Tide are methodical in scoring from Nick Saban’s pro-style approach.  The Tide won’t win a shootout if their defense collapses, but fortunately for Saban, a defensive collapse is an unlikely proposition.

The Alabama defensive speed compensates for the Crimson Tide’s more methodical, though fast, offense.  As they say, “defense wins championships,” and Saban’s group will certainly rely on that approach when it takes on the LSU Tigers and in a possible national championship game.  The Tide defense is fast vertically and horizontally and stout all around.

The Crimson Tide offense relies heavily on a good ground game to set up their pass, which slows down the game and extends Alabama’s time of possession, a factor in determining the speed of the offense.  As the clock ticks, Alabama scores while controlling the tempo of the game.  A slower scoring offense doesn’t mean a lesser team.  It just means Alabama will determine how fast or slow it hopes to proceed when defeating its opponents.

No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners

Like Alabama, the Sooners score fast, but not at the blazing speed of Oregon.  Oklahoma and Alabama are a near tie at this position.  While Alabama’s defense is a slight bit faster, the Sooners offense scores a slight bit quicker.

Despite the similarities in speed to their Tuscaloosa counterpart, the Sooners employ a spread offense designed to spread the field.  When the Sooners wish to increase the tempo, they can; or, they can slow the pace with their strong running game.  Oklahoma’s offense is powerful and complements the highly ranked program’s defense

Oklahoma is forcing its opponents to travel exactly 20 yards per point.  If an opponent wants to score a touchdown on the Sooners, it must post an offensive production of 140 yards per score.  If an opponent wants to settle for a field goal, it still must find 60 yards of production somewhere in its repertoire.  This is a tough Sooner defense that doesn’t give up points easily.

If Oklahoma and Alabama play each other in the national championship, it will be interesting to see which side of the ball determines the outcome—a slightly better offense or a slightly better defense.

No. 2 Stanford Cardinal

Despite their leader Andrew Luck being the Heisman frontrunner, largely in part due to his passing efforts, the Stanford Cardinal are one of the slower scoring outfits on this list.  Their defensive effort is one of the stronger defenses, however.

Just as Oklahoma and Alabama are comparable in team speed, so too are the Cardinal, though with a slight edge over both programs.  By comparison, Alabama scores one point every 42.92 seconds while forcing opponents to travel 26.3 yards per point, which is nearly the mirror image of Oklahoma’s stats.  Stanford beats Alabama by the slightest margin in both respects, scoring in 41.66 seconds and forcing opponents to travel 26.4 yards per point.

Though one can see the margin of difference between rankings two through four are by the slightest differences, the Cardinal are more efficient and more balanced than their SEC and Big 12 counterparts, moving a tad bit faster than both.

No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers

The most well-rounded team of the group, ranking No. 1 in fastest defense and No. 2 in fastest offense, the Wisconsin Badgers should feel slighted if they finish the season undefeated without an invitation to the national championship.

The Badgers force their opponents to travel a whopping 29.9 yards per point.  For a field goal alone, Wisconsin opponents have to find almost 100 yards of production.  Yes, the Big Ten has a bad reputation for its defensive efforts after Ohio State was pummeled in multiple national championships, but this Badgers team has an SEC-quality defense.

Adding to its place at the top of the list, Wisconsin scores a point every 32.04 seconds it has the ball.  If the Badgers have the ball for 3:30, you can bet they’ve probably scored a touchdown.  This is a balanced offense that is dominating its opponents effectively on the ground and in the air.  And it does so quickly.

If you don’t go out and rent Fast Five this weekend, you should definitely tune your television to the Wisconsin vs. Michigan State game at 8 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN3.  Not only will you see an offensive explosion against the Spartans, but you’ll witness a defensive massacre against the Badgers’ overrated Big Ten opponent.