College Football Rankings: Which Top 10 Teams Are Merely BCS Pretenders?

As the 2011 college football season rolls on, we start to realize which teams are the real deal and which ones are fooling everyone. 

Separating the contenders from the pretenders takes a few weeks, but as Week 5 approaches there is a good indication as to which teams you shouldn't buy into.

Make no mistake about it, these teams are good and can hang with just about anyone in the country. However, in terms of making it to a BCS bowl, the three teams listed below won't make the cut. 

Virginia Tech 

The Hokies are No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, which is a bit high if you ask me. They're a definite pretender in college football that will finally have a challenge this Saturday when they host the Clemson Tigers.

I have the Hokies winning the game because it's in Blacksburg, which is no easy place to play at. However, this doesn't mean they're going to go BCS crashing again this season. 

Virginia Tech is slowly improving after losing a ton of offensive talent, and they are very likely to win the ACC Coastal considering the one team they should be worried about is Georgia Tech.

However, Frank Beamer's squads have also been known to choke, and this team doesn't have the experience to make it the distance and reach the BCS. They'll fall in the ACC Championship game, that is, if they even make it there.

South Carolina 

The No. 10 team in the AP Poll and No. 9 in the Coaches' Poll, the Gamecocks are fooling everyone right now. This team is very inconsistent, and relying on the legs of Marcus Lattimore will only take them so far. 

Sure, they may win the SEC East, which isn't saying much these days because of how good the West has become, but there's no way they can compete with Alabama or LSU in the SEC Championship Game. 

Early struggles against Georgia, Navy and even Vanderbilt prove the Gamecocks are not elite enough to make a BCS type run. 

South Carolina has to win the SEC Championship game to reach a BCS bowl, and because of sloppy play from quarterback Stephen Garcia, there's no guarantee they make it that far.

Nebraska 

The No. 8 ranked Cornhuskers will finally be exposed this weekend when they travel to Madison, Wisconsin to take on the No. 7 ranked Badgers. Nebraska has yet to face a quality opponent, which is sad because they've struggled to find success in the early portion of games.

The true elite teams should have no problem dominating their cupcake opponents for all four quarters, but that hasn't been the case with Nebraska this year, as they've needed stellar second half performances over the last three weeks. 

Starting off slow won't fly against the Badgers because they're a team capable of scoring at a moments notice. 

Nebraska has potential to be a top team in the Big Ten for many years, but their first year won't start off so well. They may be in the top 10 right now, but they'll soon drop out and have a very hard time finding their way back.