BCS Rankings Week 11: Who Is Too High, Who Is Too Low?
BCS Rankings Week 4 will bring you exclusive thoughts and analysis on the latest BCS standings for the next several hours.
For good or bad, last week's rankings were utterly destroyed by upsets and surprises up and down the board. Nine of the top 25 teams went down. The upshot is a fresh set of rankings that make all of last week's notions look decidedly foolish.
As always, the first thing on our minds is likely the same thing that's on yours: who is too high, and who is too low?
Start the slideshow to find out.
Too High: No. 24 Kansas State
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Kansas State becomes the latest team to reap the benefits of a win over Mack Brown's now irrelevant Texas teams.
And as with Baylor, I'm just not sold.
Sure, the Wildcats pulled out to a surprising 39-0 lead on a team that was No. 5 in the preseason AP poll, and they did a pretty good job against a Justin Blackmon-less Oklahoma State last week. But it's hard to see why they deserve to jump into the rankings ahead of the new No. 25 team (Texas A&M) that just knocked off Oklahoma.
Outside of Daniel Thomas, who is fifth in the FBS in rushing, it's just hard to get excited about any one aspect of Kansas State. Surely there's a team more befitting a No. 24 spot than them.
Too High: No. 22 Florida
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Exactly how Florida landed at No. 4 in the preseason AP poll was beyond me then. And I was kind of hoping that they would be gone from the rankings for good when the Gators lost their third in a row three weeks ago against Mississippi State.
But shoot, who am I kidding? How can we keep a team that just dismantled the great Vanderbilt Commodores out of the rankings? That would be a travesty!
So they're on top of the SEC East now. Big deal. The SEC East sucks this year.
Too High: No. 18 Arizona
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I was skeptical of the Wildcats last week when they climbed to No. 15 after an ugly win over UCLA. This week, I'm just not sure a three-spot drop in the rankings is proper punishment for their disgusting showing in Palo Alto.
Like many, I have nothing but respect for Mike Stoops, and I think the defense is underrated. I thought it was pretty cool that they were off to their best season in over a decade.
But we also need to look at Arizona and realize that we're looking a team that is probably going to be out of the rankings after its next two games, in which they host USC and then play Oregon in Autzen Stadium.
Regardless, Nick Foles needs to shake off the rust better than he did against Stanford. The quarterback looked awful. And the word I'm hearing out of Tucson is that most of the Wildcat faithful were already clambering for Matt Scott to get the start against the Cardinal.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Too High: No. 10 Oklahoma State
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Oklahoma State had a day for the books against Baylor on Saturday afternoon. Brandon Weeden threw for a school-record 435 yards, Justin Blackmon returned to action with 173 yards receiving and a 69-yard touchdown run, and the Cowboys gained a school-record 725 yards, which was the second time the 2010 squad has rewritten that record this season.
But their win over Baylor is their only win over a ranked team this year. I suppose you could point to wins over newly-ranked Kansas State and Texas A&M to make a case for the Big 12 South leaders. And you could also point to their third-ranked scoring offense.
But I'm with the writers and coaches, who both have the Cowboys hovering safely outside the top 10.
Too High: No. 5 LSU
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That's right, I said it: The new No. 5 team is overrated.
Sure, I was impressed by the Tigers win over the defending champs. Very impressed. I didn't think there was a shred of offensive danger in the LSU huddle, but I was dead wrong. Rest assured, I tipped my cap.
But LSU should have two losses, and they just haven't routinely dominated opponents like the other teams in the top 10, much less the top five.
A 24-point win over Vanderbilt? Shrug. A 22-point win over No. 19 Mississippi State. Double shrug.
And before all of you sympathizers light up the comment section writing about how LSU has the best loss out of any one-loss team, think again. Stanford lost to Oregon in Autzen Stadium and it actually had a lead at halftime.
Too Low: No. 21 Nevada
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Call me crazy, but I think a team that posts the biggest offensive day for any FBS team in six years deserves better than a two-spot boost in the rankings.
But where to move Nevada? Whose spot can they occupy?
Well, I think you could make the case that Nevada is at least better than Virginia Tech. The Hokies may be winners of seven in a row and they may have an undefeated ACC record.
But I don't think there is any way they win their game against Georgia Tech if Joshua Nesbitt doesn't go down with a broken arm. And it still took a 21-point fourth quarter and a timely kick-return touchdown to get the job done.
Too Low: No. 15 Arkansas
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The reward for a 41-20 pummeling of the SEC East leaders and No. 19 team in the BCS? A mere three-spot boost in the rankings.
Last week, I was of the opinion that they were a better two-loss team than Iowa.
Now that Alabama, which beat the Razorbacks head-to-head earlier this season, is part of the club, I'm not going to dare to make that statement again.
That being said, I'm once again going to side with the writers and coaches. Both have the Razorbacks at No. 14.
Too Low: No. 14 Utah
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Now that I've hinted that Arkansas should be ahead of Utah, I shall now turn around and defend the Utes.
Like everyone else, I thought that the then-undefeated Utes were too high when they made it all the way up to No. 5, finally leapfrogging the one-loss Crimson Tide in the process.
To be sure, they certainly deserve just comeuppance for getting stomped at home by No. 3 TCU. And sure, both the human polls have them behind two-loss teams Alabama, Iowa and Arkansas. And sure, Utah was probably lucky to be undefeated that late in the season.
But I'm going to play devil's advocate here.
Instead of using its bad loss to TCU as an excuse to say Utah is that bad, can't we instead deduce that the Frogs are that good? Food for thought.
Too Low: No. 9 Ohio State
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Courtesy of an idle weekend, the Buckeyes were spared from the poltergeist that crept up on all the top 10 teams this past weekend. As such, they should probably be thankful that they got a two-spot boost in the rankings.
But as far as one-loss teams are concerned, I'll wager that they at least deserve to switch spots with Nebraska. While the Cornhuskers deserve credit for laying waste to teams like Oklahoma State and Missouri, their one and only loss is far worse than Ohio State's.
True, I wasn't wary enough of Nebraska to put them among the too-high teams. But they could very well have two losses had it not been for Iowa State's botched fake field goal in overtime Saturday. Besides, how the hell do you not beat Texas on your own field?
As for Ohio State, we're looking at a team that has one good loss—on the road against No. 7 Wisconsin—and a handful of blowout wins. They also play in a stacked Big Ten that makes the Big 12 look like a playpen.
Too Low: No. 6 Stanford
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Stanford is the best one-loss team in the country. Fact.
Sure, they should be thankful for reaching the highest BCS ranking in the program's history. But it should be higher.
I say again, this is the only team in the nation that has given Oregon a legit scare. And they did it in Autzen Stadium, no less. Aside from a close game against USC, the Cardinal has spectacularly romped over every single one of their opponents, including a convincing win over Arizona Saturday night on national television.
And if ever there was a balanced one-loss team, you're looking at it. The Cardinal are fifth in the country in scoring offense, and that defense can hang with anybody in the Pac-10.
Oh, Stanford also has the nation's best quarterback.
In short, they're better than LSU.
And for the record, I went to Cal. Saying this stuff in print pains me to my very soul.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
