BCS Rankings: Labeling Every BCS Top 25 a Contender or Pretender

At this point in the season, we have come to learn a lot about the teams currently in the Top 25. Whether it’s because of certain losses or big wins, each team has developed a certain identity.

We can also tell which teams are contenders and contenders for the national championship and which teams are pretenders possibly for a BCS Bowl.

Here’s a rundown of where the Top 25 currently stands in that regard.

West Virginia – Pretender

Texas – Pretender

Auburn – Pretender

Georgia – Pretender

The Bulldogs have won five straight games but none by more than 14 points. If they beat Florida this weekend they should become the favorites to win the SEC East.  They probably will, however, get demolished in the SEC Championship game.

Arizona State – Pretender

The Sun Devils are a great team but they simply don’t play well on the road and will likely lose to either Stanford or Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship game.

Texas Tech – Pretender

Penn State – Pretender

Michigan – Pretender

Until Denard Robinson learns how to throw the football like a decent quarterback, Michigan is dead in the water.

Houston – Contender

Who is this team going to lose to this season?

Texas A&M – Pretender

Wisconsin – Contender

They may have lost to Michigan State but they are still a great team.  They could have beat the Spartans if the game was played on a neutral field (i.e. the Big Ten Championship).

Nebraska – Pretender

South Carolina – Pretender

Without Marcus Lattimore, forget about this team making any type of waves in the SEC.

Virginia Tech – Contender

If the defense continues to battle through injuries like they have, this team is definitely a contender. Logan Thomas and the offense have scored 30+ points in the last three games and they look nothing like the team that could only put up three on Clemson.

Michigan State – Pretender

This team is just not very good away from home and they have three road games left on their schedule against Nebraska, Iowa and Northwestern all of which could turn into upsets. They lose two of three out of those games.

Arkansas – Contender

If they were in any other conference, this team would be playing in a BCS Bowl at the end of this season.

Oklahoma – Pretender

If slowing down Landry Jones and company is as easy as Texas Tech made it look for most of the game last week, this team could lose two more games by the end of the season.

Kansas State – Pretender

Their best win is against Texas Tech and they have four more ranked teams on the schedule.

Oregon – Pretender

The offense is great but the defensive front seven have serious problems. A team with a good defense and solid rushing attack will beat Oregon.

Stanford – Pretender

Andrew Luck is a great quarterback and their offense can certainly put up big numbers but it’s the defense that makes Stanford a pretender. They gave up over 500 yards to Washington and their other opponents have a combined record of 17-28 with not a single win over a team over .500%.

There’s a reason why the computers don’t like Stanford and until they prove themselves this week on the road at USC, this team is still a pretender.

Clemson – Pretender

The Tigers have been one of the best surprises of the 2011 season but, like Stanford, they don’t have the defense to truly contend against the best competition. Virginia Tech held them to 23 points and they haven’t faced a defense as good as theirs at any point in the season.

Boise State – Contender

Boise is one of the few undefeated teams that can actually play defense which is why they’re a contender. Their offensive line is fantastic as is Kellen Moore who is the 4th most efficient passer in the country. That said, this year’s team is not as good as last year’s.

Oklahoma State – Contender

The Cowboys don’t play great defense but they held their Big 12 opponents to under 30 which is all this team really needs to win. Brandon Weeden, Justin Blackmon and Joseph Randle make one of the best offensive trios in the country and they’ve already won four games on the road.

It appears as though this team is not like the ones of year’s past that would choke in big games.

Alabama – Contender

That defense. There’s nothing really else to say about that unit that hasn’t already been said but the offense has been really spectacular and efficient. They are 14th in the country in points scored and Trent Richardson leads the SEC in rushing and would be first or second in the country in yards if he had a good game to start the season.

LSU – Contender

They beat three teams currently ranked in the Top 25 and two more that were ranked at the time. They also scored 35 or more points in every game but one.

LSU also proved last week that they can win big even without some of their best players like Tyrann Mathieu and Spencer Ware. Either the Tigers or Tide are the best team in the country and there’s almost no doubt about it.