College Football Rankings 2011 Week 3: 5 Teams Who Got Screwed

The third AP Top 25 poll for the 2011 college football season is nearly flawless. For the most part, all 25 teams are exactly where they belong.

However, the new Top 25 is not perfect. These things never are, in fact. For whatever reason, the voters always tend to get a few things wrong every time they put their heads together to form a new set of rankings.

When the voters do get things wrong, there are a handful of teams that can cry foul more than all the others. These are the teams that just plain got screwed out of their rightful places.

For the new rankings, there are five teams that I think fit the bill pretty well. Those teams are listed ahead, ranked in order of just how badly they got screwed.

5. Texas A&M Aggies (No. 9)

The Aggies began the season at No. 8 in the AP Top 25, and were subsequently bumped up to No. 7 after a 46-14 win over SMU. Clearly, Mike Sherman's club was on its way up.

But alas, the Aggies were idle this past weekend. While they rested, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin both went out and won. Those two teams are now ahead of the Aggies at No. 8 and No. 7, respectively, forcing the Aggies two spots down to No. 9.

Are either the Cowboys or the Badgers better than the Aggies? Hard to tell for sure. We only know that their 2-0 records look better than Texas A&M's 1-0 record.

That's the only reason Texas A&M got pushed down. Kinda lame if you ask me.

4. Michigan Wolverines (Unranked)

Don't worry, I'm well aware that I may be going out on a limb with this one. The Wolverines may be 2-0 after their thrilling win over Notre Dame on Saturday night, but many will argue that the voters were right to leave them out of the Top 25.

I happen to disagree. Michigan missed out on the Top 25 by just a handful of votes, and I think the Wolverines have a strong case to be No. 25 instead of Mississippi State.

Yes, the Bulldogs could have beaten new No. 21 Auburn this weekend, but the game they played may be more indicative of their overall quality than their season-opening 59-14 rout over Memphis. If so, they probably shouldn't be a Top 25 team. Not now, anyway.

With Michigan, on the other hand, we know what we're getting. This is a team that still has issues on defense, but Denard Robinson and Co. can hang with any team on offense. Besides, you have to give them at least a little credit for topping a team that started the season at No. 14.

Oh well. The Wolverines will get in next week after they beat Eastern Michigan. Mississippi State, meanwhile, will lose to LSU. Count on it.

3. Texas Longhorns (No. 24)

I'm typically not one to defend Texas, but I think the Longhorns got legitimately screwed by the voters in the new rankings.

Last week, Texas cracked the rankings at No. 24 thanks to its victory over Rice. After their comeback win over BYU on Saturday, the Longhorns didn't budge from No. 24.

I would be fine with this, but not with TCU moving up from No. 25 to No. 23 after a victory over Air Force. That's a bump that should have been given the Texas. The Longhorns may have barely beaten the Cougars, but I think that should have counted for something seeing as how BYU is a better team than Air Force.

Besides, TCU is not a better team than Texas right now. Fact.

2. Virginia Tech Hokies (No. 13)

The Hokies managed to pull out a close win on Saturday, as they beat East Carolina 17-10.

Virginia Tech's mistake, though, was that it had to pull out a close one. It was the kind of win that just didn't look good, hence their fall from No. 11 in the rankings to No. 13.

But hey, I think you have to give East Carolina a little credit. The Pirates played the Hokies tough, and they played South Carolina tough last weekend. The Gamecocks won, but they didn't get a boost from No. 12 for their efforts.

Because of that, I'm wondering if Virginia Tech really deserved a two-spot drop in the rankings. Dropping them to move Oregon and South Carolina up makes it look like the Hokies were a mere placeholder.

If so, that's two ways Va Tech has been disrespected.

1. LSU Tigers (No. 3)

The Tigers' reign at No. 2 was brief, as they were knocked down to No. 3 so Alabama could once again reclaim the No. 2 ranking.

Because I think they're a very good team, I really don't want to disrespect the Tide. However, I don't think Alabama has as good of a case to be No. 2 as LSU does.

To see it, all you have to do is disregard LSU's 49-3 win over Northwestern State and Alabama's 48-7 win over Kent State. If you do that, you're left with LSU's 40-27 win over Oregon and Alabama's 27-11 win over Penn State.

Between the two wins, LSU's win over the Ducks is far more impressive. Because of that and that alone, the Tigers should be No. 2.

At least until Alabama has a chance to argue otherwise on November 5.