BCS Rankings Week 3: 25 Things We Learned From Third BCS Rankings Poll
BCS Rankings Week 3 will now turn and take a gander at the entire Top 25 from a more reasonable, level-headed perspective.
By now, we all have our own opinions about who is too high, too low and who was just plain screwed by the latest rankings. But the latest poll also has a message about each team—overrated or not.
So let's take a look at each of the 25 teams in the third BCS rankings, and see if we can't learn a thing or two about each and every one of them.
No. 25 North Carolina State
1 of 25
What We Learned: Sometimes the only difference between being a nobody and being a Top 25 team in the BCS is a simple matter of good fortune.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of Florida State. I'm not here to defend them.
That being said, the Wolfpack probably should have lost their tilt against the Seminoles. The Florida State offense was having absolutely no trouble carving up the NC State defense on its final drive. That was until Christian Ponder fumbled the ball away inside the Wolfpack five-yard line.
In 99 out of 100 parallel universes, NC State loses that game. But, oh well.
No. 24 Florida State
2 of 25
What We Learned: Fumbling the ball is bad for business.
Christian Ponder's fumble at the end of the game against NC State may represent good luck for the Wolfpack. But it represents a major choke job for Ponder and the Seminoles.
As the No. 16 team in the BCS and the clear top dog in the ACC, the Seminoles had no business losing that game. Now that they have, however, their hopes for an ACC title are definitely not as high as they previously were.
No. 23 Nevada
3 of 25
What We Learned: A victory over a two-win conference opponent is not all that impressive.
After cracking the BCS rankings at No. 24 last week, the Wolf Pack moved up just one spot to No. 23 in these latest rankings.
Does Nevada deserve better? That's debatable. But it certainly does not seem fair that they can move up only one spot with a win while the Baylor Bears can move up four spots, to No. 21, with a win over the hapless Texas Longhorns.
In other words, the program that invented the pistol offense can't get any respect.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
No. 22 Virginia Tech
4 of 25
What We Learned: Being the only team in the ACC with an unblemished conference record is only good enough for a one-spot boost.
Well, that may be true. But the fact of the matter is that we don't know anything more about the Hokies than we knew last week when they were ranked No. 23. That's what happens when you enjoy an idle weekend.
Nonetheless, Virginia Tech is clearly the favorite in the ACC's Coastal division to end up in the ACC championship game. The biggest roadblock from here on out will be the game at Miami in a couple weeks—but only if Jacory Harris is healthy enough to play.
No. 21 Baylor
5 of 25
What We Learned: A win over Texas is still impressive, no matter how terrible the Longhorns may be.
The Baylor Bears ended a 12-game losing streak to the Longhorns with their win in Austin on Saturday. In doing so, they kill Texas' already fading hopes of a 10th consecutive season with at least 10 wins.
Nevertheless, the fact that the Bears could move up four spots because of a win over the Longhorns does seem a little puzzling.
Oh well. Baylor still has to face Oklahoma State and Oklahoma, so its place atop the Big 12 South is probably doomed.
No. 20 Mississippi State
6 of 25
What We Learned: Doing what South Carolina could not is good enough for a slight boost.
Along with Baylor, Mississippi State is the other feel-good story at the bottom of the BCS rankings that just won't go away.
Nationally ranked for the first year since 2001, and bowl eligible for the first time since 2007, the Bulldogs are indeed a pretty good story. They managed to dispatch a Kentucky team that knocked off a South Carolina squad that knocked off Alabama.
So by extension, Mississippi State is better than Alabama. You heard it here first.
No. 19 South Carolina
7 of 25
What We Learned: The Gamecocks really, really, really did not want to be the team that handed Tennessee its first conference victory of the season.
Steve Spurrier's club stayed on pace to snatch a spot in the SEC championship game by turning on the jets when it counted against the Vols on Saturday. The Gamecocks got two late touchdowns after Tennessee had battled back to tie the score in the fourth quarter.
They also only jumped one spot in the BCS standings. But they control their own destiny as long as they hold on to the lead in the SEC East.
No. 18 Arkansas
8 of 25
What We Learned: Nobody cares if you beat Vanderbilt. Seriously. Nobody.
The Razorbacks enjoyed what was basically a free win on Saturday, so they shouldn't be awarded too richly for grabbing it. The voters and computers apparently don't think so either, as the Razorbacks moved up just the one spot after handling the SEC's worst offensive team.
No. 17 Oklahoma State
9 of 25
What We Learned: Oklahoma State's offense really isn't all that great without Justin Blackmon.
Playing without the FBS' former leader in receiving yards and touchdowns, the Cowboys offense put only 17 points on the board (the other seven were thanks to a pick-six) against a mediocre Kansas State defense. That was despite the fact that it racked up 511 yards of offense.
The Cowboys came into the game as the nation's second-best scoring offense.
I suppose it's a good thing that Blackmon is only supposed to miss the one game.
No. 16 Iowa
10 of 25
What We Learned: Iowa may be better than Michigan State, but it is also not better than Michigan State.
This is why the BCS sucks. It was obvious at halftime of Iowa's stomping of the Spartans that the Hawkeyes were the better team. Nonetheless, they sit two spots below Michigan State in these most recent rankings.
Given Michigan State's one loss, it makes sense. But it still sucks.
No. 15 Arizona
11 of 25
What We Learned: You can't survive a scare against the lowly UCLA Bruins and expect to advance in the standings.
Indeed, there were only so many available spots ahead of Arizona's No. 15 spot (which they've held for two weeks now). And a close shave against UCLA was definitely not going to be much of an argument for its case.
Especially not when you give up two long touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to one of the nation's worst passing offenses.
No. 14 Michigan State
12 of 25
What We Learned: The Spartans never were that good, were they?
As soon as Michigan State was elevated to No. 5 in the BCS standings last week, I for one had the notion that its Cinderella story had finally gone too far.
As it turned out, Michigan State also taught us that you really can't continue to pull out miraculous wins for long before you run into a scenario that even a miracle can't cure.
Kind of a bummer—but true nonetheless.
No. 13 Stanford
13 of 25
What We Learned: All you need is...luck.
The Cardinal enjoyed its most dominant win of the season in a 41-0 trouncing of the Washington Huskies in Husky Stadium on Saturday. The scary part was that Andrew Luck didn't even have that good of a game. I just put that first bit there because I thought it was clever.
And that's why the Cardinal should scare you more than it probably does at the moment. This is a team whose only loss was to the No. 1 team in the BCS. It would be just fine in any division in any conference.
No. 12 Missouri
14 of 25
What We Learned: Missouri can't contain the big play.
How amazing was Nebraska in that first quarter, in which they jumped out to a 24-0 lead on the strength of three touchdown plays of more than 40 yards?
It was amazing enough to give the Tigers the notion to do their level best to knock Taylor Martinez from the game, which they did.
The only problem is that they should have whacked Roy Helu Jr. too, who racked up a Nebraska record 307 yards on the ground. His 54-yarder in the third quarter effectively put the game on ice.
No. 11 Ohio State
15 of 25
What We Learned: An angry Buckeyes team is pretty scary.
We all wrote them off after they fumbled their No. 1 ranking with a loss at Wisconsin. But it's starting to look like the Buckeyes might be the best team in the Big Ten anyway.
Indeed, they've won their last two games by a combined score of 101-10. If they can win at Iowa three weeks from now, then we probably are looking at the Big Ten's best.
No. 10 LSU
16 of 25
What We Learned: Take a week off, move up two spots.
LSU didn't teach us any new tricks this past weekend, as they enjoyed an idle weekend. But until they show us otherwise, we still know that they can't play offense and that they're going to continue to get the benefit of the doubt as long as they play in SEC.
No. 9 Wisconsin
17 of 25
What We Learned: Similar to what we learned about LSU, except the Badgers only moved up one spot.
Not much to report here. We still know all about Wisconsin's power running game, but it didn't get to put it on display this weekend, as it too was idle. The Badgers should be able to win out and will definitely be in the Big Ten picture to the end.
No. 8 Oklahoma
18 of 25
What We Learned: Landry Jones to Ryan Broyles is a pretty good connection.
An Oklahoma win over Colorado was a foregone conclusion, but the Sooners did it in style anyway. Landry Jones passed for a career-high 453 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. The biggest beneficiary of his big day was Ryan Broyles, who set an Oklahoma record with 208 receiving yards.
The Sooners may not be No. 1 material, but they're definitely good.
No. 7 Nebraska
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What We Learned: There's more to Nebraska's offense than Taylor Martinez.
Raise your hand if you had Roy Helu Jr. breaking the Nebraska rushing record against Missouri.
I didn't think so.
The great Roy Helu Jr. rushed for 307 yards and had three touchdown runs of more than 50 yards. He had only 500 yards on the ground coming into the game.
Stud.
No. 6 Alabama
20 of 25
What We Learned: If you want to stay above an undefeated Utah team, you gotta play.
Alabama moved up a spot to No. 6 during its idle weekend, but the undefeated Utah Utes finally worked their way ahead of them thanks to their win over Air Force.
With Utah and TCU squaring off this Saturday, there will be a spot for 'Bama if they can win a big game at LSU this week.
No. 5 Utah
21 of 25
What We Learned: The BCS computers apparently don't care that the Utes could have lost their game against Air Force.
You have to wonder if this is as high as the Utes will get. They haven't done themselves any favors by not blowing out their only two legit opponents in Pittsburgh and Air Force.
As such, the Utes will be able to prove quite a bit with a win over the visiting Horned Frogs on Saturday. TCU beat them 55-28 last year.
No. 4 Boise State
22 of 25
What We Learned: You need to do better than that against Louisiana Tech, especially after a 10-day layoff.
The Broncos definitely looked rusty against Louisiana Tech, and their drop in the standings certainly reflects that.
Nevertheless, miscues and a poor kicking game is probably not going to keep the Broncos from winning out. But they're definitely going to need some help if they're going to end up in the BCS championship game.
No. 3 TCU
23 of 25
What We Learned: If we didn't already know it, TCU's defense is very, very good.
In their last five games, the Horned Frogs have allowed a grand total of 16 points. That's a little more than three points a game. And that's ridiculous, no matter who you're playing.
Of the three non-AQ's in the Top 5, TCU definitely deserves to be the best of the bunch. Beating Utah on the road will be huge if either Oregon or Auburn happens to drop one.
No. 2 Auburn
24 of 25
What We Learned: Apparently a 51-31 win over Ole Miss isn't good enough.
Auburn can definitely score, but its defense is apparently leaky enough to knock them from the top spot. There's no other explanation for it. The Tigers needed to beat Ole Miss by more than 20 points, and they didn't.
That being said, being dropped from the No. 1 spot after a win is pretty damn cold.
No. 1 Oregon
25 of 25
What We Learned: Beating USC on the road is just that good.
For a while there, it looked like the Trojans were actually going to be able to keep pace with the incomparable Ducks offense. But then Oregon pulled away and won the game by three touchdowns.
Apparently, pulling out a win like that is good enough to make the computers second guess themselves and elevate the Ducks to the top spot.
Well, it sucks for Auburn, but I'm sure Chip Kelly and his team will take it.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
