BCS Rankings: Are the Computers Right About Kansas State?

The BCS rankings have only been coming out for two weeks, but I think I have a pretty good grasp of the computers' likes and dislikes when it comes to the six major conferences in college football.

From what I can tell, the BCS computers hate the Big Ten, are lukewarm on the Pac-12 and ACC, and think that the Big East may as well be launched into outer space. On the other hand, the computers really like the SEC and they love, love, love the Big 12.

Which is kind of ironic, of course, as the Big 12 has a kind of laughingstock reputation among those of us who use brains to think.

Oh well. The computers love the Big 12 so much that they have Oklahoma State as the No. 1 team in the country. Additionally, they still think the one-loss Oklahoma Sooners are the No. 7 team in the land, and they think the Kansas State Wildcats are No. 5.

Their thinking on Kansas State in particular pretty much runs contrary to what the human voters think, as Kansas State is No. 10 in the Harris Poll and No. 12 in the USA Today poll. It's because of these polls that the Wildcats actually have a relatively low ranking at No. 8 overall.

In situations such as these, I generally find myself asking whom I can trust: the humans or the computers?

Take a wild guess with whom I side.

That's right—my fellow humans.

I can certainly see why the computers love Kansas State so much, mind you, as the Wildcats have a couple of nifty road wins to boast about. One of these was a conquest of Texas Tech, the very team that beat Oklahoma on Saturday night.

The only thing the computers love more than road wins is strength of schedule, and Kansas State makes the grade with a tough conference schedule and a road victory over a semi-decent Miami team. These things stand out to the computers, and they like what they see.

However, this isn't what I see when I look at Kansas State, and the stance of the voters is a pretty good indication that few humans can see what the computers see.

No, sir, what we see when we look at Kansas State is a team that seems to be overachieving on a schedule that is not as strong as the computers think it is. To the naked eye, the only win that truly stands out is Kansas State's one-point victory over Baylor on the first of the month. The Wildcats barely edged the Bears, and they edged them at home. Because the computers don't care about margin of victory, and because they have no notion of how good Robert Griffin III is, they can't tell Kansas State was probably lucky to escape with its life.

If Kansas State doesn't escape with its life, we're not having this conversation right now. As it is, what skeptics like myself need to see from Kansas State is a win over a bona fide team.

Oklahoma is a bona fide team, and it just so happens the Sooners are paying a visit to Manhattan this Saturday.

If Kansas State wins that game, then we can start talking about the Wildcats as legit national title contenders.

At least until Oklahoma State takes care of them on Nov. 5.

Week 9 BCS Rankings

Rank	Team	BCS Average
1	LSU	.9702
2	Alabama	.9627
3	Oklahoma State	.9240
4	Boise State	.8302
5	Clemson	.8240
6	Stanford	.8124
7	Oregon	.6877
8	Kansas State	.6681
9	Oklahoma	.6642
10	Arkansas	.6581
11	Michigan State	.538
12	Virginia Tech	.534
13	South Carolina	.501
14	Nebraska	.439
15	Wisconsin	.433
16	Texas A&M	.428
17	Houston	.368
18	Michigan	.342
19	Penn State	.307
20	Texas Tech	.201
21	Arizona State	.163
22	Georgia	.159
23	Auburn	.131
24	Texas	.119
25	West Virginia	.073