Latest BCS Standings

On Sunday, the BCS released their latest poll, ranking the top 25 teams in college football. This is what it looked like after week 11:

1.   LSU
2.   Oklahoma State
3.   Alabama
4.   Oregon
5.   Oklahoma
6.   Arkansas
7.   Clemson
8.   Virginia Tech
9.   Stanford
10. Boise State
11. Houston
12. South Carolina
13. Kansas State
14. Georgia
15. Michigan State
16. Nebraska
17. Wisconsin
18. Michigan
19. TCU
20. Southern Mississippi
21. Penn State
22. Baylor
23. Texas
24. Auburn
25. Florida State

While I agree with most of these rankings, there are a couple of things that bother me. First of all, I do not see any justification whatsoever for ranking Oklahoma ahead of Arkansas. Yes, maybe this is just my bias toward Arkansas talking but think about it. Arkansas is 9-1, 5-1 in SEC games while Oklahoma is 8-1, 5-1 in Big 12 games. Arkansas's lone loss was in Tuscaloosa to #3 Alabama, 38-14. Oklahoma's only loss came in Norman at the hands of a terrible Texas Tech team, the same Texas Tech team that lost at home to Iowa State, 41-7 the very next week. Since taking down the Sooners, the Red Raiders have lost 3 straight games by a combined score of 159-33. Even more to the point, the Red Raiders are 2-5 in Big 12 games, with their only wins being against Kansas (2-8, 0-7 in Big 12) and the "mighty" Oklahoma Sooners. It would not surprise me one bit if the Sooners lose to Baylor in Waco this weekend. Then this entire argument will be irrelevant.

The next thing that stuck out to me was the number of non-BCS conference teams in the poll, 4. Boise State only fell 5 spots to #10 after losing at home to an unranked conference opponent in TCU. That "major upset" shot the Horned Frogs all the way up to #19. Let's be honest. Neither Boise State nor TCU should be ranked at this point. TCU is just not a very good team this year and they simply exposed an average Boise State team for being just that, AVERAGE! Any team in the SEC, Big 12, Big 10, etc. could have sleep-walked through Boise's schedule and be undefeated. Their only semi-impressive win came against Georgia in week 1, at the time that it was questionable as to whether or not Georgia's coach would even have a job at the end of the year. Admittedly, the Bulldogs have turned it around and now have the inside track to winning the SEC's Eastern Division; however, they look completely different than they did in week 1. It's like night and day really. Frankly, I would have Georgia in the #10 spot in this week's poll if I controlled it, but I do not. I am also not sold on Houston. The Cougars are 10-0; however, they squeaked by a couple of mediocre teams early in the year (4 point win over UCLA, 1 point win over Louisiana Tech, 7 point win over UTEP). They have not been challenged in the past few weeks so maybe they are deserving and maybe not. Personally, I don't think so. Last but not least, Southern Miss. Their only loss is to a 2-6 Marshall team. Enough said.