NCAA Football Rankings 2012: Top 10 Teams Sure to Stumble Soon

For college football teams, there's surely nothing like winning a huge game and finding yourself in the top 10 of the AP college football rankings.

And then I have to come along and rain on the parade. 

But hey, that's the beast that is college football. Anything can happen on any given Saturday, and one week's darlings can be the next week's goats.

That's where I come in. I've identified three teams that I think are in danger of dropping out of the top 10 very soon. Whether it be a brutal schedule or simply a dangerous trap game to come, these three teams will find themselves sliding down the rankings sooner rather than later.

 

Stanford

It came down to the Cardinal and Notre Dame for me in this slot, as the two teams meet in three weeks. There are two reasons they find themselves on this list rather than the Irish.

One, when the two teams meet it will be in South Bend. That's always a huge advantage, especially when it saves you a cross-country trip.

But Stanford also has a trap game before they head east. No, I'm not talking about the team's Thursday night game against Washington this week. I'm referring to the tilt against Rich Rodriguez and the athletic Arizona Wildcats in two weekends.

Yes, I know the Wildcats were just humbled in a 49-0 loss to Oregon. But if they can recover and beat No. 19 Oregon State, they'll head into Stanford with some confidence. Stanford may be able to out-physical teams like USC, but they have had problems with teams who can spread the field and beat them with speed. 

Arizona could be a trap game. Notre Dame is a tough contest, period. I expect we'll see a Stanford loss in the next three weeks.

 

South Carolina

The Gamecocks may be sitting at No. 6 in the AP Top 25, but it will take an impressive stretch of play to maintain that mark.

After a trip to Kentucky next week, things heat up in October, with dates against No. 5 Georgia, No. 3 LSU, No. 11 Florida and a pretty good Tennessee team. 

Marcus Lattimore may be running strong, the defense may be playing stout, and Connor Shaw is certainly showing courage (he's playing through a hairline fracture in his throwing shoulder), but the Gamecocks aren't going to escape that stretch of games unscathed.

 

West Virginia

Geno Smith and the Mountaineers are about to run the gauntlet in the Big 12, and it's hard to imagine them doing so without picking up a loss along the way.

West Virginia's next seven games are against No. 25 Baylor, No. 12 Texas, Texas Tech, No. 7 Kansas State, No. 15 TCU, Oklahoma State and No. 16 Oklahoma. 

Yikes.

There is one caveat, however. Of all of the ranked teams they face, the only road contest comes against Texas. That's no easy road test, however, and I think hosting a physical Kansas State team will be too tough a test for the Mountaineers. 

If nothing else, Big 12 fans are in for a fun season with all of these ranked teams.

 

Hit me up on Twitter—my Tweets get down like Andre Brown.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1344879-ncaa-football-rankings-2012-top-10-teams-sure-to-stumble-soon

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