College Football Rankings: 5 Teams Ranked Too Low

Like any college football rankings system, the BCS standings will never please everyone. In fact, it's more likely that they won't please anyone, and just about everyone can find fault with at least some part of them.

At the end of the day, the controversy that the standings brings about has to be viewed as part of the fun.

Still, the fun of examining the rankings to determine which teams were done an injustice in any given week will never lose its luster. Here's a look at five teams whose rankings in this week's BCS standings are simply too low.

No. 12 South Carolina

The 9-2 South Carolina Gamecocks are one of six SEC teams among the top 12 in the BCS standings. Back-to-back losses to LSU and Florida knocked them off track a little bit, but they do have a big win over Georgia to hang their hats on.

While it’s tough to find teams at the top of the rankings that don’t deserve to be there, South Carolina should be placed ahead of both Florida State and Clemson. Those two ACC squads, ranked No. 10 and No. 11 respectively, have each played just one game against a ranked opponent all season. That was when they played each other.

South Carolina will get a chance to prove that it is worthy of a higher ranking when the Gamecocks face Clemson on Saturday.

No. 13 Oklahoma

Despite beating a dangerous West Virginia team and improving to 8-2 on Saturday, the Oklahoma Sooners dropped a spot to No. 13 in this week’s BCS standings.

That’s entirely unfair for a squad that has only lost to Kansas State and Notre Dame, two of the best teams in the country this season. The Sooners are in the Top 10 in passing and scoring and have taken care of quality opponents all season long.

Of course, there isn’t a lot of room ahead of them to move up, but Oklahoma should also be ranked ahead of teams like Florida State and Clemson. The Sooners play in a tougher conference, and their losses came against opponents of significantly higher quality.

No. 17 UCLA

Normally, the Big Ten conference demands a lot more respect than it has gotten this season. With Ohio State ineligible, however, the highest-ranked team in the conference is No. 14 Nebraska.

No. 17 UCLA, with an identical record and a head-to-head win over Nebraska back in the second game of the season, should be ranked ahead of the Cornhuskers. Both teams are on five-game winning streaks, but UCLA has played more ranked opponents during that stretch.

Furthermore, the Pac-12 has actually placed teams higher in the standings than the Big Ten this season. Fresh off of a big win over USC that dropped the Trojans from the rankings, UCLA deserves a better spot.

No. 23 Kent State

At 10-1, the Kent State Golden Flashes are the 2012 edition of a confounding situation that perplexes the BCS nearly every year. Where does one rank a team that is in rare company with just one loss but has hardly played a quality opponent all season?

Things would be a lot more interesting if the Golden Flashes hadn’t lost to lowly Kentucky in their second game of the year. Had they made it to this point undefeated, their status as a BCS buster would be fully intact.

Still, they’re probably ranked a little bit too low at No. 23. Among the teams ahead of them are three-loss squads Oklahoma State and Michigan. They are also outranked by a Rutgers team that Kent State beat earlier this season. Clearly, there are arguments to be made that the Golden Flashes deserve a better rank. 

No. 25 Washington

At 7-4, one would think that the Washington Huskies should be grateful to be ranked in the Top 25 at all. A closer look at their schedule, however, tells otherwise.

Washington’s losses have all been to high-quality teams. The Huskies’ difficult schedule wasn’t even limited to the best that the Pac-12 has to offer—in their second game of the season, they took on LSU.

The Huskies can point to wins over Top 10 teams in Stanford and Oregon State to bolster their resume, and a win over Washington State on Friday will close their regular season with five straight victories. They shouldn’t be placed ahead of Arizona, which has the same record and beat them head-to-head, but both teams should probably be moved up a bit. The Pac-12 provided stiffer competition this season than many seem to realize.