College Football Rankings: Problems at the Bottom of the USA Today Coaches Poll

With the opening weekend of college football games in the books, coaches cast their ballets for who they believe are the top 25 college football teams in the nation.

After analyzing the USA Today Top 25 poll that came out on Tuesday afternoon, I am convinced that the coaches voting in this poll are far to distracted and busy to be relied upon to create a meaningful ranking.

They clearly are not able to watch many games, if any at all, outside of their own and only research those teams that they may be playing or recruiting against.

We could debate the placement of some of the teams in the top 15 or 20, but the biggest mistakes in the poll are numbers 20 through 25.

Their mistakes of which teams to include and exclude from their Week 1 poll are plentiful and glaring.

Click through the following slideshow to see four teams that should be included in the poll and aren't and four teams that are included but shouldn't be...

Should Be In: Baylor Bears

TCU had a record of 36-3 over the past three seasons and went undefeated last year. The Horned Frogs did lose significant talent on both sides of the ball; however, they were still respected enough to be given a top 15 ranking this preseason.

The team getting disrespected in this situation is Baylor. The Bears racked up 564 yards of offense in the win over TCU on Saturday and made big plays on both sides of the ball. However, somehow the coaches left them out of the new top 25.

Robert Griffin is budding into a national star at quarterback and could be a Heisman candidate (359 passing yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions) and talented wide receiver Kendall Wright (12 catches, 189 yards receiving, two touchdowns and a passing touchdown) may be one of the top five receivers in college football. The talent is there for Baylor to compete with anyone they play.

Look for Baylor to roll to a 5-0 start to the season before playing a big game at Texas A&M in mid-October. The schedule gets tougher after that, but this is a fast and athletic team and should absolutely be included in the top 25.

Should Be In: South Florida Bulls

How can a team that was receiving votes in the preseason coaches poll, beat the No. 16 team in that poll, and move to 1-0 on the season, not be included by the coaches in the next week's top 25?

South Florida beat a good Notre Dame team on Saturday, on the road, and should be considered to be one of the top 25 teams in the country.

The Bulls have won at least eight games for four straight seasons and may have their best team yet under successful head Coach Skip Holtz.

The Bulls will start 4-0 in 2011 and have a good shot at a Big East Championship. Wake up coaches, add the Bulls to your top 25.

Should Be In: Houston Cougars

Houston beat a Pac 12 team on Saturday (UCLA) and have one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the history of college football.

Case Keenum threw for 12,950 yards in his first three seasons with Houston and added 310 yards on Saturday versus UCLA. He has a shot at passing for the most yards in college history (Timmy Chang of Hawaii with 17,072 passing yards).

The Cougars returned six starters to both sides of the ball and are the odds-on favorites to win the Conference USA championship.

This team, with a very manageable schedule, will finish the season in the top 25. Count on it. Get on board now, coaches.

Should Be In: Brigham Young

It is never easy for any team to travel to an SEC stadium and leave a winner. BYU did just that on Saturday, edging Ole Miss 14-13.

The Cougars returned 10 starters on offense, including talented quarterback Jake Heaps. The defense has plenty of talent and held Ole Miss to just 64 yards rushing and 205 total offensive yards.

This is a quality team with a strong head coach in Bronco Mendenhall and has won 11 or more games in four of the last five seasons. 

The schedule has its challenges. However, after winning a tough road opener, look for as many as 10 wins from the Cougars.

This has the making of a top 25 team and should be there already.

Should Be Out: Auburn Tigers

The defending national champions had a rough start to the season, barely edging Utah State on Saturday. They have a lot to prove before they can be considered true top 25 material.

The defense looked porous on Saturday as the Aggies, a WAC team, racked up 448 offensive yards on the Tigers.

This is a young team, missing several key starters, like QB Cam Newton and DT Nick Fairley from last season's championship squad.

The youngsters may get better as the season progresses, but this does not look like a top 25 team after Week 1.

Should Be Out: Texas Longhorns

The Longhorns beat Rice 34-9 on Saturday.

Therefore, coaches are saying that an unranked team (Texas) that beats a below-average Conference USA team (Rice) at home, belongs in the top 25 over an unranked team (USF) that beat a ranked team (Notre Dame) on the road.

This is a vote on brand name for the most part. No other way to understand it.

It is not to say that Texas is a bad team. They could surprise in 2011. However, what has shown that they are top 25 material? The Longhorns finished last season 5-7 and haven't played anyone of note yet in 2011.

Texas should not be ranked in the top 25 at this point.

Should Be Out: TCU Horned Frogs

The coaches must have missed this game?

This is the biggest miss by the coaches and really makes the USA Today Coaches poll lose relevance.

Baylor beat TCU 50-48 on Saturday. Yet, somehow coaches ranked TCU 25th and left Baylor unranked.

TCU may very well end up back in the top 25 later in the season, but they should not be in with a 0-1 record and a loss to a team that is listed as 26th.

Should Be Out: Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State won their opener, but it was against an FCS team (Indiana State).

The Lions were just 7-6 last season and have a schedule, including a brutal game against Alabama next Saturday, that will more than likely keep them in the seven win range.

Even though Penn State has a legendary coach and has the potential to be a good team in 2011, I am not sure how that puts them in position to be ranked in the top 25 after Week 1.

After next weekend, PSU will be gone from the poll, but really they should already have been left out.