BCS Rankings Week 15: Teams That Prove BCS Makes No Sense

Essentially, the BCS rankings are a big tease. With one or two exceptions, the only reason the BCS rankings exist in the first place is to determine the top two teams in the country.

As such, there's really no reason to start nitpicking where the other 23 teams are placed in the rankings. In the grand scheme of things, if you're not No. 1 or No. 2 it doesn't really matter where you're ranked.

That being said, taking a closer look at the rankings now, when all the bowls are set in stone, is a good way to get a good idea of just how silly the whole system is.

To illustrate the point, I want to talk about these five teams.

Southern Miss Eagles (No. 21)

In case you missed it, the Eagles of Southern Miss pulled off a huge upset in the Conference USA Championship Game, beating the then-No. 6 Houston Cougars 49-28.

As a reward for their efforts, it was conceivable that Southern Miss would get a nice boost in the rankings. Instead, they only got bumped up three spots from No. 24 to No. 21.

As for Houston, it fell all the way from No. 6 to No. 19.

The indication there is that the Eagles didn't win because they're any good. They won because Houston is that bad.

To add insult to, well, insult, the Eagles are still looking up at the team they just manhandled.

Both teams should be miffed, but the Eagles can be excused if they feel slightly more miffed.

TCU Horned Frogs (No. 18)

On Saturday, TCU put a bow on its 2011 season by grinding UNLV into dust. As the Mountain West champs, the Horned Frogs needed to move up from No. 18 to No. 16 to secure an automatic BCS bid.

Instead, TCU stayed put at No. 18. That meant no BCS bowl game for the Horned Frogs, which opened the door for Virginia Tech to accept a Sugar Bowl bid.

TCU's non-movement also allowed Michigan to sneak into the top 14, which meant the Wolverines were also free to accept a Sugar Bowl bid.

As a result, the Horned Frogs will have to pack up their conference championship and take it to the Poinsettia Bowl with them.

Georgia Bulldogs (No. 16)

None of us expected the Bulldogs to actually beat LSU in the SEC Championship Game, but losing to LSU isn't much of a tragedy. In fact, Georgia should be proud that it was able to open up an early 10-0 lead before things got out of hand.

The issue with Georgia is that it's a little too low following its loss in the conference championship game. Because the BCS computers have the Bulldogs at No. 12, their No. 16 ranking is on the voters. Georgia is No. 18 in both human polls.

Now, anyone who thinks Georgia is the No. 18 team in the country clearly didn't start paying attention to the Bulldogs until the SEC Championship Game. Georgia was one of the best teams in the country after the first two weeks of the season, and its big loss should not serve to overshadow the things it was able to do in the regular season.

Yet that's exactly what the voters did. As a result, the computers look like the more knowledgeable football analysts. That shouldn't happen.

Virginia Tech Hokies (No. 11)

Virginia Tech came into the ACC Championship Game ranked as the No. 5 team in the country, but most would have told you that the Hokies had no business being that high.

The Clemson Tigers proved why, as they destroyed the Hokies 38-10 to win the ACC title.

Yet, you have to go down to No. 15 to find the Tigers. It wouldn't be such a tragedy if Clemson was ranked one or two spots below Virginia Tech, but four spots is a bit much. That indicates to the uninitiated that Virginia Tech is a much better team than Clemson, and we know for a fact that this is not the case. 

Oh by the way, it's worth noting that Va Tech lost to Clemson twice this season.

Stanford Cardinal (No. 4)

I may be a Cal alum, but I have nothing against the Stanford Cardinal. They're a great team, and totally deserving of all the credit they get.

Well, maybe not all. Namely, I have an issue with Stanford being ranked ahead of Oregon. The Ducks are the Pac-12 champs, and they destroyed Stanford in its own backyard when the two teams played in November.

This one's on the voters and the computers, who both have Stanford ranked ahead of Oregon. The key difference must be Oregon's three-point loss to USC, which is apparently worth more than Oregon's blowout win over the Cardinal.

If so, that doesn't make any sense. 

Week 15 BCS Rankings

Rank	Team	BCS Average
1	LSU	1.000
2	Alabama	.9419
3	Oklahoma State	.9333
4	Stanford	.8476
5	Oregon	.7901
6	Arkansas	.7687
7	Boise State	.7408
8	Kansas State	.6827
9	South Carolina	.6553
10	Wisconsin	.6374
11	Virginia Tech	.5190
12	Baylor	.4977
13	Michigan	.4794
14	Oklahoma	.5603
15	Clemson	.4218
16	Georgia	.4119
17	Michigan State	.3883
18	TCU	.3869
19	Houston	.3504
20	Nebraska	.2606
21	Southern Miss	.1918
22	Penn State	.1305
23	West Virginia	.1233
24	Texas	.0876
25	Auburn	.0584