5 College Football Teams That Will Finish 2011 Ranked Lower Than They Started

Preseason college football rankings are more about speculation than about assessment, and the final rankings almost never resemble those that were compiled before the season.

Only one team in the past 11 years has started and finished the season ranked No. 1 (USC in 2004), and most teams never finish a season ranked at or higher than they started.

Here are five teams that will finish lower than they started this season.

NOTE: This list is based on AP Top 25.

Oklahoma: Current No. 1

Barring something disastrous, the Oklahoma Sooners should finish the season playing in a BCS Bowl game. But their place atop the preseason rankings could be the kiss of death for their national title aspirations.

Since 1951, only two teams have been wire-to-wire champions in college football (1999 Florida State Seminoles and the 2004 USC Trojans). 

Oklahoma has a winnable schedule but could find trouble against Florida State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and a host of other trap games. Do not expect history to be made by the Sooners in 2011.

LSU: Current No. 4

LSU's national title hopes are in serious jeopardy after the arrest of quarterback Jordan Jefferson for his role in a Baton Rouge bar fight. The shrapnel from this bombshell will likely be felt immediately when the team plays Oregon in the first game of the season.

The schedule does not get much easier with contests against No. 20-ranked Mississippi State and No. 24 West Virginia.

The Tigers will be devoured by the rest of their conference opponents if Jefferson does not return from his indefinite suspension. Finishing at or higher than No. 4 looks very unlikely now.

Florida State: Current No. 6

The Florida State Seminoles had a reputation for being high in the recruiting rankings and preseason polls during the last decade of the Bobby Bowden era. But they never finished very high in the polls during those years.

The Seminoles start the year ranked sixth and are promising that things will be different than in years past. But a matchup against top-ranked Oklahoma and road games against Clemson and Florida could keep them from matching these expectations.

Texas A&M: Current No. 8

A second-half turnaround in 2010 has launched the Texas A&M Aggies into the eighth spot in the preseason rankings, and for good reason.

Coach Mike Sherman has found an excellent quarterback in Ryan Tannehill and has four returning starters on the offensive line.

But the Aggies' schedule is loaded with big games that could derail their hopes of a Big 12 championship. They face ninth-ranked Oklahoma State in Week 3, followed by Arkansas, as well as Oklahoma and Texas.

It will be interesting to see if Tannehill can match the success he found when he went 5-1 as a starter in 2010, but it will be tough for the Aggies to finish in the Top 10.

Nebraska: Current No. 10

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have been seeking a true return to glory since the end of the 2001 season, and they think joining the Big Ten will help them recapture that prestige.

Although it is not a stretch to predict that the Cornhuskers will finish in the Top 10, they will have a difficult time doing so with a schedule that includes back-to-back games against Wisconsin and Ohio State, a trap game against Penn State and contests against Michigan State and Iowa.

If they do survive that difficult schedule, they will have to win again in the Big Ten's first conference championship game, likely against Wisconsin or OSU.