10 Most Overrated Teams in College Football Right Now
TJ Inman
Host · Writer
We are nearly in November, and teams have played two-thirds of their regular-season schedule. There is still much to unfold, but we can already make several observations about which teams are overhyped and overrated.
1. No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia’s offense, particularly quarterback Gunner Stockton, deserves a lot of praise. After a horrific first half against Auburn two weeks ago, the Bulldogs never punted, scoring 43 points in an entertaining 43-35 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels. That said, Georgia is not the fifth-best team in the country because its defense is proving unlikely to slow down capable offenses. The Bulldogs are now surrendering 21.8 points per game, and their pass rush remains a significant weakness. Georgia is 128th in the country in sack percentage at 2.39%. Shockingly, that is the lowest sack percentage of any power conference team in the nation. You cannot be an elite team with no ability to rush the opposing quarterback.
Week 10: Georgia (-7.5) vs. Florida
2. No. 10 Miami Hurricanes
The Miami Hurricanes woke up from a very sluggish first half and blew out the Stanford Cardinal 42-7 to move to 6-1 on the season. It was a rebound victory after losing to Louisville at home 24-21. If we dive into the resume, there’s not a whole lot of meat on the bone for the Hurricanes to justify being in the top ten. Miami’s Week 1 victory over Notre Dame is still impressive, but the Fighting Irish have improved quite a bit since that game, and Miami doesn’t appear to be in the same boat. The victory over South Florida took a hit as the Bulls fell to Memphis, and the other wins are against Florida (fired coach), Florida State (might be a fired coach very soon), and Stanford (interim coach). That’s just not the least bit impressive.
Week 10: Miami (-10.5) at SMU
3. No. 13 Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech handled the walking zombie that is Oklahoma State and improved to 7-1, but the Texas Tech Red Raiders have injuries at quarterback and lack anything resembling a signature victory. In fact, Texas Tech has the wins over Utah and Houston, but no one else has a winning record, and the loss to Arizona State now looks more suspect after the Sun Devils lost their second game. Behren Morton is not ready to play yet, and Will Hammond is now out with a torn ACL.
Week 10: Texas Tech (-7.5) at Kansas State
4. No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers
Tennessee has played two teams that anyone would call “quality" this season. The Volunteers lost to Georgia 44-41 and then fell at Alabama 37-20. There were chances for the Vols to beat the Bulldogs and to really threaten the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. Still, they did not, and the actual wins have come against Syracuse, East Tennessee State, UAB, Mississippi State, Arkansas, and Kentucky. None of those teams has a winning record, and the games against Mississippi State and Arkansas really could have gone either way. The good news for the Volunteers is that they now host Oklahoma and New Mexico State, have a road game to Florida, and then host Vanderbilt. If they win out, they’ll be in the College Football Playoff no matter what I think about them.
Week 10: Oklahoma at Tennessee (-3.5)
5. No. 15 Virginia Cavaliers
The Virginia Cavaliers are a very nice surprise at 7-1, and they absolutely deserve credit for that, but this is not the 15th-best team in the country. There’s just no way. The Cavaliers have a 46-38 win over Florida State in overtime, a 30-27 win over Louisville in overtime, a 22-20 victory over Washington State, and then a 17-16 escape over North Carolina in overtime. That’s three overtime wins and a two-point win, and only one of those games was against a team with a pulse. Going to overtime with North Carolina might disqualify them from being ranked.
Week 10: Virginia (-3.5) at California
6. No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners
The Oklahoma Sooners have not been the same since John Mateer’s injury and subsequent surgery. They were shellacked by Texas 23-6 (a game that looks even worse the more you watch Texas), beat South Carolina, but struggled on offense, and then lost on Saturday to Ole Miss. The most concerning thing about the most recent defeat is that Ole Miss scored 34 points, and the vaunted OU defense looked very human. If that defense isn’t great, it doesn’t appear Oklahoma’s offense is capable of carrying the team. They still play Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, and LSU, and now have zero margin for error.
Week 10: Oklahoma at Tennessee (-3.5)
7. No. 19 Missouri Tigers
The Missouri Tigers lost 17-10 at Vanderbilt, and there is certainly no shame in dropping a game to the Commodores. However, Missouri is now 5-2 and just 86-81 in the aggregate in conference play, and starting quarterback Beau Pribula is on the shelf “for a while" after being carted off the field with an injury. Missouri’s defense is stellar, but the passing game cannot be trusted at all, with or without Pribula. Their best win is probably a six-point triumph over the Auburn Tigers, and that’s not really saying much.
8. No. 20 Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns are 6-2 and 3-1 in the SEC, but you’d be remiss if you thought their record was closer to 4-4. For all of their talent, Texas has just not looked good at all. In back-to-back weeks, the Longhorns have survived overtime games against Kentucky and Mississippi State (otherwise known as the SEC basement). We were supposed to be able to trust that, no matter what happened, the Texas defense would be excellent each week, but they just surrendered 38 points to the Bulldogs in Starkville. Texas finally scored some points, but Mississippi State’s allergy to winning helped them. The Longhorns now square off with the Vanderbilt Commodores in a massive game with College Football Playoff implications.
Week 10: Vanderbilt at Texas (-2.5)
9. No. 21 Michigan Wolverines
Michigan is 6-2 and 4-1 in the Big Ten. USC is 5-2 and 3-1 in the Big Ten. Does anyone remember what happened when the two teams played a few weeks ago? If not, here’s a refresher: USC ran for 224 yards and outgained Michigan 489 to 316 as they won 31-13 in what many have described as the best game of Lincoln Riley’s USC tenure. Given the relative similarity in these two teams’ resumes and the definitive head-to-head matchup that we have as evidence, why is Michigan ahead of USC in the poll? USC should be ahead of Michigan, and that makes the Wolverines, who still do not trust their passing game at all, overrated.
Week 10: Purdue at Michigan (-21.5)
10. Receiving Votes – South Florida Bulls
This pains me because I’ve projected South Florida as the Group of Five College Football Playoff representative since before the season began, but South Florida should not be receiving votes. The Bulls have wins over Boise State and Florida, but the Gators fired their head coach, and Boise State is nowhere near the quality they typically are. The other wins were against overmatched teams, and they got drilled by Miami before letting a 14-point fourth-quarter lead evaporate in the loss at Memphis. South Florida will have one more chance against a good team as they travel to Navy on November 15.
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