BCS Rankings: Overrated Teams Ready to Be Exposed

Boise State’s BCS bubble has burst, but the Broncos were far from the only ranked team perched higher than its performance warranted. This trio will see their rankings tumble by season’s end:

Michigan State Spartans

The No. 15 Spartans’ road date with Iowa was over at halftime, and Penn State’s home loss to Nebraska leaves Michigan State as the apparent Big Ten favorites. Even so, Michigan State’s offense hasn’t shown a consistency to fit its 8-2 record.

Next week’s meeting with Indiana won’t be much of a contest, but the regular-season finale on the road against Northwestern will be dangerous. Even if they survive that matchup, the inaugural conference title game (likely a rematch with Nebraska) is a good bet to hand the Spartans their third loss.

Michigan Wolverines

Denard Robinson’s squad has been one of the nation’s most entertaining, but like last year, that hasn’t translated into consistency. Even a much-improved Wolverine defense hasn’t helped when the offense stalled in upset losses to Michigan State and Iowa.

No. 18 Michigan has the benefit of finishing with a pair of home games, but both will be tough. The rivalry game with Ohio State is always dangerous for the favorite (which the Wolverines will be), but even more daunting is next week’s meeting with punishing Nebraska.

Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles

The regular season doesn’t hold any obvious pitfalls for No. 20 Southern Miss, which faces UAB and Memphis (combined record: 4-16) in its last two games. Then again, few would have predicted the Golden Eagles’ only loss of the season, at 4-6 Marshall.

The bigger problem for Brett Favre’s alma mater is that Conference USA has a championship game, in which the East-leading Golden Eagles will have to face off with unbeaten No. 11 Memphis. The nation’s 26th-best scoring defense, allowing 20.5 points a game, will be doing well if Case Keenum doesn’t top that total before halftime.