BCS Rankings 2011: Describing Every Top 25 Team with Just One Word

With the initial release of the 2011 BCS rankings, the time has come to critique the teams that were good—or lucky—enough to be considered one of the 25 best teams in the nation.

What better critique is there than just blurting out the first word that comes to your mind in association with a certain team? 

These rankings and words are certain to change a few times between now and December. 

No. 1 LSU Tigers: Powerful

LSU's stifling defense may get all the pub, but the Tigers offense is nothing to toy with either. 

Every aspect of LSU's game screams power. The defense is fast and physical and the offense is balanced enough to either dink and dunk through the air or just completely run over the competition on the ground.

No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide: Dominating

As incredible as LSU has been on defense this season, Alabama has been even better. The Crimson Tide defense is allowing just seven points per game and has given up a whopping 267 rushing yards in seven games. 

No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners: Opportunistic

Oklahoma has only played two ranked teams through its first six games, but against those two teams, Florida State and Texas, the Sooners have forced eight turnovers. Of those eight turnovers, seven resulted in 41 points for the Sooners. 

No. 4 Oklahoma State Cowboys: Gifted

The Cowboys are No. 2 in the nation in points per game (49) and passing yards (2,613). They have only played two ranked teams, but they have outscored their four unranked opponents 227-109. 

No. 5 Boise State Broncos: Unfortunate

Boise State can play with any team in the nation, but it appears, yet again, that the Broncos will have to settle for a BCS bowl that doesn't have a beautiful Waterford Crystal football as its trophy. 

No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers: Underrated

An initial BCS ranking of sixth does not do this team justice. Quarterback Russell Wilson has been nothing short of brilliant in Madison this season. In the Badgers' only game versus a ranked opponent, they spanked a top 10 team by 31 points. This team should be among the top four in the country. 

No. 7 Clemson Tigers: Sammy

It's all about Sammy Watkins at this point. The single-most electrifying player in college football has been a big difference-maker on offense and special teams for the Tigers to this point. He single-handedly saved Clemson from pulling a Clemson at Maryland. 

No. 8 Stanford Cardinal: Underexposed

The "Suck for Luck" campaign is in full swing for NFL teams that will most likely take the quarterback with the first pick of the 2011 NFL draft. However, the Cardinal have a few more players than Luck—you just never see them because Oregon gets all the pub in the Pac-12. 

No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks: Resilient

The Razorbacks took a pretty good beating at the hands of Alabama in September. The team has responded by beating consecutive top 15 teams in the two games since. The latest, a 38-14 pounding of defending national champion Auburn. 

No. 10 Oregon Ducks: MASH

Star running back LaMichael James dislocated his elbow two weeks ago and had to sit out against Arizona State last weekend. In that Arizona State game, quarterback Darron Thomas and safety Eddie Pleasant went down with knee injuries. 

Lucky for the Ducks, they won't play a ranked team again until Nov. 5. 

No. 11 Kansas State Wildcats: Front-Loaded

The Wildcats are certainly one of the surprise, feel-good stories of the season so far, but Bill Snyder's kids are one game away from a brutal stretch that will likely send them crashing back to Earth. 

Beginning Oct. 29, Kansas State plays Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas in consecutive weeks. 

No. 12 Virginia Tech Hokies: Forgotten

By virtue of their 20-point home loss to the Clemson Tigers, Virginia Tech has fallen into that also-ran category in the ACC. Sure, there will probably be a rematch with the Tigers in the ACC title game, but this conference can only sustain one legit national title contender at a time. 

At this time, that team is Clemson, not Virginia Tech. Out of sight, out of mind. 

No. 13 Nebraska Cornhuskers: Pretender

Nebraska was exposed at Wisconsin in early October and needed a meltdown from Ohio State in Lincoln to come back and beat the Buckeyes. 

With games against Michigan State and Michigan remaining on the 'Huskers schedule, this top 15 ranking is not safe at all. 

No. 14 South Carolina Gamecocks: Sad

Just days after finally parting ways with troubled senior quarterback Stephen Garcia, the Gamecocks' biggest offensive threat, Marcus Lattimore, was lost for the season with a knee injury. 

If Steve Spurrier is to win consecutive SEC East titles for the first time since 1999-2000 (Florida), the head coach will have to depend on a sophomore quarterback with all of three starts under his belt. 

No. 15 West Virginia Mountaineers: Champion

As in, Big East Conference champion.

The Mountaineers are clearly the best team in the worst BCS conference. On the bright side, this team appears to be much better than the last team that won this awful conference and represented it by getting trounced in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma. 

No. 16 Michigan State Spartans: Interesting

These Spartans are an interesting bunch. After playing the role of Notre Dame slumpbuster in September, Michigan State beat Ohio State in Columbus in agonizingly boring fashion and handed the Wolverines their first defeat at home last weekend. 

The next two weeks (versus Wisconsin and at Nebraska) will determine whether or not the Spartans will have a chance to play in the Big Ten's first championship game in December. 

No. 17 Texas A&M Aggies: Bullseye

Even after losing two consecutive games in which the Aggies had leads of at least 17 points, Texas A&M still has a shot at grabbing one of the Big 12's BCS slots in its final year as a member of the conference.

Problem is, the Aggies still have to play Oklahoma and Texas this season. As if those games weren't going to be hard enough already, Texas A&M has a target the size of SEC Country on its back heading into games against the programs that saved the Big 12 from extinction.

No. 18 Michigan Wolverines: Incognito

After riding wins over San Diego State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame and a couple directional Michigan schools (Eastern and Western) to a No. 11 ranking, the Wolverines got a little dose of reality against in-state rival Michigan State.

Games at Iowa and Illinois prior to Nebraska and Ohio State at home should let you in on the Wolverines' secret. Using a weak schedule to masquerade your many faults will usually catch up with you at some point. 

No. 19 Houston Cougars: Prolific

The Cougars are putting up gigantic numbers on Conference USA foes. Houston is averaging 47 points per game and 603 yards per game. Quarterback Case Keenum has connected on 71 percent of his passes for 2,309 yards in the air. That's tops in the nation. 

Head coach Kevin Sumlin will likely land a gig at a BCS conference program this offseason. 

No. 20 Auburn Tigers: Futuristic

Auburn may be young, but this Tigers team is as talented as they come. The preseason doom and gloomers had the Tigers enduring a rough season in 2011, but five wins and two losses later, Auburn has a real shot at a post-Jan. 1 bowl game.

The future is bright on the Plains. 

No. 21 Penn State Nittany Lions: Yawn

Has anyone made it through an entire Penn State game this year? Its offense is atrocious but the defense has been nothing short of stout. 

The moment a Penn State opponent can figure out a way to score more than 20, however, the Nittany Lions might be in real trouble. 

No. 22 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Clemson

No, that doesn't mean I'm looking forward to Georgia Tech hosting Clemson in Atlanta in two weeks. It simply means this Georgia Tech team reminds me of those Clemson teams that start strong before losing a couple of head-scratchers and proceed to get whipped against better teams.

It was a nice 6-0 start, but I can definitely see this Yellow Jackets team ending up 7-5 with a game at Miami, followed by home games versus Clemson, Virginia Tech and Georgia remaining on the schedule. 

No. 23 Illinois Fighting Illini: Exposed

Illinois got gashed on the ground in the upset loss to Ohio State. The Buckeyes threw the ball only a handful of times but ran for more than 200 yards against an Illini defense that had only given up 478 yards total on the ground coming into the game. 

Now that Ohio State provided the blueprint—run, run, run and force turnovers on defense—the remaining big three on Illinois' schedule, Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin, should have little trouble with the Fighting Illini. 

No. 24 Texas Longhorns: Reload

Last year's 5-7 mark was not the sign of a program in rebuilding mode. It was merely reloading mode for Mack Brown and the Longhorns. 

Unfortunately for Texas, the reloading process has taken a little long than it hoped. Consecutive losses to Oklahoma schools can't sit well with the Longhorns faithful, but the good news is the rest of their games are winnable. 

No. 25 Washington Huskies: Invisible

This has to be the quietest 5-1 record for a BCS conference school in the history of the system. After this weekend's prime-time matchup with similarly under-covered, yet incredibly talented Stanford, the Huskies could be thrust into the national spotlight.