College Football Rankings 2012: Most Overrated Teams in Top 25

Well, the first BCS rankings of the season are out and, as always, grumbles are reverberating throughout the country.

There's always the possibility of bias in rankings, of course, so it's no wonder why everyone tends to see the big picture differently. Some think the SEC gets too much credit. Others (like me) think an explosive offense overshadows a team's deficiencies on defense.

Here's a look at who I believe to be the most overrated teams in the Week 8 BCS rankings.

LSU (No. 6)

This isn't the same LSU team that made it to the BCS Championship Game last season—let's first be clear about that.

While a 6-1 record playing in the SEC is certainly noteworthy, I hesitate to call LSU No. 6 in the country. The Tigers did beat South Carolina last week, but the 14-6 loss to Florida and the unspectacular wins over Auburn and FCS opponent Towson are more telling, in my opinion.

LSU still has a poor passing game behind junior Zach Mettenberger and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

USC (No. 10)

USC may be 5-1, but the Trojans lost to the only ranked team they faced this season (Stanford). 

Senior quarterback Matt Barkley has not performed at the level many expected he would after a fantastic junior campaign and he hasn't even played well against Pac-12 opponents Cal and Washington.

On top of that, USC is not disciplined enough this season. The Trojans are averaging 10 penalties per game (worst in the FBS) and 78.3 penalty yards per game (117th), via cfbstats.com.

West Virginia (No. 13)

West Virginia may have an explosive offense behind Heisman contender Geno Smith, but the defense is one of the worst in the nation.

Week 7's blowout loss to Texas Tech was predictable. Coming into the contest, Texas Tech had a much better defense than West Virginia's.

Remember, the Mountaineers only beat Texas by three despite scoring 48 points. This is a defense giving up 37.3 points per game, 112th in the nation.

Smith basically has to be perfect for the rest of the season to keep West Virginia in contention for a BCS bowl.