College Football Top 25 Rankings: 5 Who Should Be In, 5 Who Should Not

College football polls are natural attractions to heated debates about accuracy, legitimacy and the works.

Who are contenders? Who are pretenders?

On any given week, there are plenty of teams who deserve that Top 25 recognition. But at the same time, there are those who are given too much benefit of the doubt.

In the AP Top 25, here are five teams that should be in and five that should be out.

Should Be Out: Mississippi State

If rankings ever went how they should go, we would live in a more practical college football world.

Unfortunately, it never works that way.

Mississippi State was inches away from claiming its second win of the season. Instead, the Bulldogs are 1-1 and ranked 25th. But in reality, given the (short) body of work from a handful of teams outside of the top 25, MSU should be given the boot.

Most can attest as to why the AP voted the Bulldogs on the fence, but there are more deserving candidates.

Should Be In: Houston

Case Keenum has returned to Houston with a vengeance, leading the Cougars to a 2-0 start and the top passing offense in the FBS with over 430 yards per game.

Wins over UCLA and North Texas are far from impressive, but wins are wins and the Cougs are piling on the points without remorse.

Keenum and Houston gained respect in 2009 before his injury, thereby losing it in 2010. It is time the press gave it back.

Should Be Out: TCU

Whether it was Robert Griffin III's undeniable athleticism or TCU's exposed defense, the Horned Frogs were throttled by Baylor's electrifying quarterback.

TCU bounced back over the weekend with a 35-19 win against Air Force, but that is hardly the resumé builder to climb back into the polls.

Perhaps down the road, the Frogs will have built up their record to claim what is rightfully theirs, but at the moment, the pollsters have given Gary Patterson a little too much credit.

Should Be In: Tennessee

Tyler Bray and the Volunteers have given the press something to think about.

Two seasons after Lane Kiffin left Knoxville in a rush, Tennessee could be back to its winning ways led by its sophomore quarterback in Bray.

A 2-0 start with convincingly offensive wins over Montana and Cincinnati, where the Vols put up a combined 87 points, has the team on the cusp of the Top 25, but they haven't gotten over that hump.

Should Be Out: Arizona State

It isn't by much, but Arizona State is one missed field goal away from a 1-1 start, and there's nothing too exquisite on their resumé that would credit them otherwise.

Sure, the Sun Devils have shown some promise over the first two games of the season and have a 2-0 record to their name, but it boils down to what should have happened.

Missouri's Grant Ressel should have made the game-winning field goal with 17 seconds to go. But alas, he pulled it wide. We digress.

Should Be In: Missouri

Missouri should have made that last minute field goal that would have lifted the Tigers to a win over Arizona State.

Missouri should be 2-0 entering the third week of the season.

Grant Ressel should be heralded for a 48-yard, game-winning field goal.

Missouri should be in the Top 25.

Should Be Out: Auburn

Mississippi State and Auburn alike are that close to sitting outside of the Top 25.

Obviously, there must be a winner and a loser to every game, but Auburn's once menacing defense has disappeared and ranks 103rd in the FBS in points allowed. How about that for the defending national champions?

Nevertheless, it is what is is. Football is a game of inches, and those inches saved Auburn from a 1-1 start to the 2011 season.

Instead, the Tigers return to their non-conference schedule for a couple of games against Clemson and Florida Atlantic before resuming the rigorous SEC slate.

Should Be In: Michigan

It was the first night game ever at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich., and what an ending it was.

Dubbed an instant classic by some prominent media figures, Michigan and Notre Dame touchdowns late in the fourth quarter before the Wolverines got the last laugh.

How a game like that goes unheralded in the polls is uncanny, but Denard Robinson is a player, and Michigan will have a say in the polls come next weekend.

Should Be Out: Texas

Whatever way you slice it, Texas should have lost to BYU on Saturday night, effectively bringing the Longhorns to a 1-1 mark.

The Horns played well enough to keep the game manageable by halftime and did just enough to secure a victory in the second half. But if this was 2010, chalk it down as a loss for Mack Brown's Longhorns.

Nevertheless, Texas sits 2-0 and still relevant in the polls. On a different day in a different year though, the Horns would go back to the outside looking in.

Should Be In: BYU

In the case that BYU topped Texas, the Cougars would have occupied the Horns' spot in the Top 25, no doubt.

The Cougars' defense has outshone the offense so far this season, maintaining low scores to keep a growing offense within striking distance. It happened in BYU's first match against Ole Miss and the Cougars triumphed. It happened a second time against Texas, but they fell just short.

Look for BYU to claim a spot in the rankings down the road. For now, all they can claim is a "should have a spot" ranking.