BCS Rankings Week 3: Who Is Too High, Who Is Too Low?
BCS Rankings Week 3 will bring you exclusive thoughts and analysis on the latest BCS rankings for the next several hours.
For the most part, Roadblock Saturday lived up to the hype. Several Top 25 teams went down on the road, and these latest rankings offer plenty of variation over last week's.
As always, the first order of business is to take a look at the new BCS Top 25 and make knee-jerk judgments on which teams are too high and which teams are too low.
If that sounds like a hot ticket to you, go ahead and take a gander at the following slides.
Too High: No. 21 Baylor
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When the Baylor Bears showed up in the national rankings last week for the first time since 1993, it was something of a novelty that was met with a lot of semi-surprised nods and a sort of disinterested approval.
Now that they're No. 21 - ahead of such teams as Virginia Tech, Nevada, and former No. 16 Florida State - I for one think they are officially overrated.
If you look up and down Baylor's schedule, it's pretty difficult to find a win to point to and say, "That's why they belong!"
Their best win all season was a 55-7 stomping of Kansas, a loss that started a string of four in a row for the Jayhawks. Their recent victory over Texas, the first Baylor win over the Longhorns since 1997, would have been impressive a couple weeks ago. But I think we all know that Texas is just plain dreadful at this point.
In short, I'm just not sold.
Too High: No. 17 Oklahoma State
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I had Oklahoma State too high last week when they were No. 17, so I suppose I have no choice but to say they're too high at No. 17 once again this week.
Losing to Nebraska in Week 8 dropped the previously undefeated Cowboys to the spot they currently sit, and I'm just not convinced that a modest victory over Kansas State merits a computerized belief that the Cowboys deserve to stay put.
Sure, they were playing without Justin Blackmon, who came into this past week's action as the FBS's leading receiver in yards and touchdowns, but their offense should have done better against a Kansas State team that has the second worst defense in the Big 12.
Take away Johnny Thomas' interception for a touchdown, and the Cowboys offense scored only 17 points. This from an offense that came into the game second only to Oregon in scoring in the entire nation.
Too High: No. 15 Arizona
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It seemed like a stretch when the Arizona Wildcats appeared at No. 18 in the initial BCS rankings. Sure, they had a great quarterback and a great defense. But they might be just the fifth best team in the Pac-10 behind Oregon State (who beat them) and USC (who will beat them).
Credit where credit's due: Matt Scott has done a heck of a job filling in for the injured Nick Foles these past two weeks, leading his team to wins over Washington and UCLA. But it's the win over UCLA that has me hatin' on the Wildcats.
The Bruins are terrible, and a Pop Warner football team can probably pass the ball better than they can. The Wildcats and their Pac-10 leading defense managed to get beat for two long touchdowns by UCLA's backup quarterback, and barely held on for a 29-21 win.
That, my friends, is a team that has no business being in front of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Even if they did beat them head to head.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Too High: No 10 LSU
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Is it hard to knock a team whose only loss is to the No. 2 team in the BCS? Absolutely, especially since they hung tough against Cam Newton and their Tiger counterparts.
But is a team with the second-worst offense in the SEC good enough to be ranked ahead of Ohio State, Stanford and the former No. 5 Michigan State Spartans? I think not.
To be sure, Les Miles' boys can sure play defense. Being the best in the SEC, and in the top ten in the country in both opponents' scoring and yards is definitely worth some props. But they can't move the ball worth a damn on offense, and watching the quarterback play of both Jordan Jefferson and Jarret Lee is like watching two idiots trying to decipher the dead sea scrolls with a decoder ring.
All Dennis Miller shtick aside, the point is simple: LSU is too damn high.
Too High: No. 5 Utah
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We could talk all night about the essential coolness about there being three non-AQ teams in the BCS Top 5 for the first time ever, or about how this is the first time in the three BCS rankings that all of the remaining undefeateds are ahead of all the one-loss teams.
And while that would be a pretty good discussion, Utah, like Michigan State last week, just seem to be the obvious head scratcher in the Top 5.
For all intents and purposes, the Utes have basically played two teams worth a damn: then No. 15 Pittsburgh on opening night, and Air Force on Saturday night. They managed to win both of those games by a combined total of eight points.
Compare this with fellow Mountain West mates TCU. The Horned Frogs have played only one really close game all season, and that was when they beat then No. 24 Oregon State 30-21 on opening night.
Utah simply hasn't dominated like their cronies in the Top 5, and they're definitely not better than Alabama.
But we shall see on Saturday when they host TCU. If they win... well, I guess I'll be wrong.
Too Low: No. 22 Virginia Tech
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I thought the Hokies were too low when they were No. 23 last week. And since they've moved up only the one spot, it seems like a fine time to revisit their case.
Once again, the Hokies have played like a team possessed after dropping their first two games. They've won six in a row since they're soul-crushing loss to James Madison, and have failed to score more than 40 points only once in that stretch (a game in which they shutout Boston College 19-0).
I said last week that they were probably the best team in the ACC. Now that they're the only team in the conference with an unblemished conference mark, I think it's pretty obvious that they are just that.
Too Low: No. 18 Arkansas
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At this point, the question is pretty simple: is there a better two-loss team than Arkansas?
No doubt you're realizing that it's a pretty hard question to answer. Unless, of course, the answer is a resounding "no."
Indeed, Arkansas' only two losses were to Alabama and Auburn, who currently sit at No. 6 and No. 2 in the BCS, respectively. And they were pretty competitive in both those games. Hats off.
Cam Newton gets all the love as far as SEC quarterbacks are concerned. But how about some love for Ryan Mallett, who leads the SEC in passing yards and touchdowns? Yup, he's good. And so are the Razorbacks.
Too Low: No. 16 Iowa
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Here's another two-loss team that was given the shaft treatment by the computers. The writers rightfully recognized (say that five times really fast) that the Hawkeyes deserved to be ranked ahead of the team that they absolutely destroyed on Saturday, placing them ahead of the Spartans at No. 15.
So why oh why did the computers find it fit to put Iowa two spots behind Michigan State?
I mean, I know the answer. Because Michigan State has only one loss and the coaches have them ahead of Iowa at No. 15.
I just don't like it.
Too Low: No. 13 Stanford
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As a proud Berkeley alum and a person who hates all things Stanford with every fiber of his being, saying that Stanford deserves better makes me feel like a real, scumsucking Judas.
That being said, they deserve better.
One of the ESPN tools (I forget who) made the point that Stanford has the best loss out of all the one-loss teams. This is true. Their only loss is to the new No. 1 Oregon Ducks, and Stanford actually had a 21-3 lead in that game.
And it was on the freakin' road.
Is Stanford the best one-loss team? No. Alabama is better. But I'll wager that the Cardinal is better than Missouri, Ohio State, LSU, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.
Man, do I hate myself right now.
Too Low: No. 6 Alabama
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You didn't think I was going to make the case that Utah shouldn't be higher than Alabama and then go on to never mention the Crimson Tide again, did you?
I thought not.
In all honesty, I can't be the only one who thinks that 'Bama is by far the best one-loss team in the nation, and that the defending champs are certainly a better team than not only Utah, but maybe even Boise State and TCU as well.
And I'm not. Both the writers and the coaches think they are too.
They definitely have their work cut out for them on the road against LSU, but you have to suspect that the Crimson Tide can definitely prevail in that game.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
