BCS Rankings 2011: Illinois and the Teams Who Never Belonged

When the initial BCS rankings were announced in early October, there were a number of head-scratchers among the top 25 teams. Sure, there had to be 25 teams to fill out the rankings, but a handful of those teams were merely placeholders. 

There are at least 10 teams among that initial 25 who will be nowhere near the BCS rankings when the bowl pairings are announced in early December. 

Beginning with Ron Zook's Illinois team of annual underachievement, here are the 10 teams who never belonged in the BCS rankings. 

Illinois Fighting Illini

The Fighting Illini's loss to Ohio State last week should have been enough to keep Zook's boys out of the top 25.

It doesn't matter if Ohio State added a couple of previously suspended players to the mix for that game. The Buckeyes had beaten one team with a winning record (Toledo) prior to knocking Illinois from the ranks of the unbeaten. 

Following that debacle up with a loss to Purdue on Saturday should knock Illinois out of the picture for the foreseeable future. 

Kansas State Wildcats

Kansas State was a nice surprise early this season, but an initial ranking of 11th in the BCS standings is a tad much for a team whose toughest competition to this point was Baylor.

It really doesn't matter where the Wildcats debuted in the BCS rankings. After facing Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas in the next four weeks, Bill Snyder's crew will disappear from the rankings. 

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska faced one really good team in the first half of the season and proceeded to get their doors blown off. Throw in a 17-14 halftime deficit against hapless Fresno State and a 14-7 halftime lead against Wyoming and you see why the 'Huksers are not worthy of having "ranked BCS team" on their resume in 2011.

Games against Michigan State, Penn State, and Michigan should end this little fairy tale for Nebraska. 

South Carolina Gamecocks

Sure, South Carolina has only one loss to this point and are in the SEC. But as soon as it was confirmed that Marcus Lattimore was done for the season, South Carolina's SEC East and BCS bowl hopes were completely dashed. 

It's not out of the question that the struggling Vols knock off the Gamecocks in Knoxville next week. And South Carolina still has a road game at Arkansas and home games against Florida and Clemson remaining on their schedule. 

West Virginia Mountaineers

Debuting at No. 15 was a little much for a team who had to come from behind to beat Maryland and got drilled by 26 points at home against the only good team it faced this season. 

Friday night's 26-point loss to Syracuse likely did the Mountaineers in on BCS talk this season. They could still win the weak Big East title and get the automatic bid, but they might do so unranked. 

Michigan State Spartans

Congrats, Spartans. You exposed a Michigan team who racked up easy home wins over out-manned opponents before having to leave the friendly confines of Ann Arbor for the second straight week. 

Not exactly confidence inspiring. Equally not encouraging for Michigan State is games against No. 6 Wisconsin, at Nebraska and at Iowa. This top 25 ranking will be a thing of the past by December. 

Texas A&M Aggies

There's frustrating, then there's losing two consecutive games in which you led by double digits in the first half. That's called Texas A&M football. 

With final Big 12 games against Oklahoma and Texas remaining on their schedule, it's likely that Mike Sherman's squad will leave the top 25 prior to leaving their conference at season's end. 

Penn State Nittany Lions

Seriously, have you seen Penn State play? 

How in the world this team has lost only one game is a bigger mystery than how they are actually ranked. Road games at Ohio State and Wisconsin will likely have a say in whether Joe Paterno can add another top 25 final ranking to his resume. 

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech is at the very beginning of their annual swoon. A road loss to Virginia got it started, and games against Clemson and Virginia Tech will likely be the end of it. 

The Yellow Jackets have been really good on offense this season, but a No. 22 ranking after a loss to the Cavaliers—whether they're improving or not—was about four spots too high for Georgia Tech. 

Washington Huskies

The only blemish on the Huskies record was a loss in their only game against a ranked opponent. You're telling me that's a worthy distinction for inclusion in the initial BCS top 25?

Stanford, Oregon and USC will make sure this is the last we see of Washington in the BCS rankings.