10 Most Overrated Teams in College Football Right Now
TJ Inman
Host · Writer
We have reached November, and teams have played at least 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. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have six straight wins after dropping their opening two games. One of those defeats was at home to now No. 3 Texas A&M, but the other was to Miami. The Hurricanes now have two losses, which is becoming a significant problem for the Fighting Irish’s playoff chances. What has Notre Dame done to rocket up the rankings? They have wins over mediocre to poor teams in Purdue, Arkansas, and Boise State, plus a bad showing against Boston College before winning 25-10. The victories over North Carolina State and USC are nice, but this is not the resume of a top ten team. The Irish now get Navy (who has a very suspect defense) before playing at a very dangerous Pittsburgh team.
Week 11: Navy at Notre Dame (-25.5)
2. No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners
The Oklahoma Sooners got a massive victory at Tennessee (more on them later) and improved to 7-2 on the season. Did anything about the performance of John Mateer on Saturday suggest the offense was fixed? Tennessee outgained Oklahoma by 105 yards, and Mateer was only 19-29 for 159 yards with one interception. OU’s vaunted defense allowed Joey Aguilar to go haywire for 393 yards through the air, and Tennessee had 456 yards total. OU will get a chance to prove they deserve this ranking with games remaining against Alabama, Missouri, and LSU.
3. No. 12 Virginia Cavaliers
The Virginia Cavaliers are 8-1, and they deserve a ton of credit for orchestrating a storybook season (at least through nine games). They won another close game with a victory at Cal, but they have not beaten a team by more than ten points since the week four triumph at Stanford. The resume includes a win over Florida State and a great victory at Louisville, but no advanced statistics suggest Virginia is a top-15 team. UVA closes with Wake Forest, Duke, and Virginia Tech, and there’s a very real chance they earn a chance to play for the ACC Championship.
Week 11: Wake Forest at Virginia (-6.5)
4. No. 15 Vanderbilt Commodores
Vanderbilt made a valiant comeback but fell to the Texas Longhorns 34-31 and dropped to 7-2 on the season. The Commodores are still an excellent team, but look at the actual quality of the resume, and you’re left with a victory over a basement SEC squad (South Carolina), and home wins over LSU (who then fired their head coach) and Missouri (without their starting quarterback). The Tigers came up one yard short of tying that game up at the end of regulation. The losses are quality, but Vanderbilt needs to run the table against Auburn, Kentucky, and Tennessee to have a shot at an at-large bid.
Week 11: Auburn at Vanderbilt (-7.5)
5. No. 18 Miami Hurricanes
Let’s all say this together: “Miami is so talented!" That’s true, but the Hurricanes continue to find ways to lose, and their College Football Playoff hopes are now on life support after dropping in overtime at SMU. The Hurricanes should not be losing to Louisville or SMU, but Mario Cristobal’s acumen as a head coach is now really being called into question. Cristobal is a heck of a recruiter, but Miami fans should be apprehensive about what happens when opponents have a chance to watch his teams play early in the season and then make adjustments that Cristobal does not see coming and fails to adjust to. Over the past two seasons, the Miami Hurricanes have been 14-1 before Halloween and a miserable 1-4 in November and December games. Miami will not be playing in the ACC Championship Game, and they’ll need some help to sniff the playoff. The win over Notre Dame is really the only thing propping up their resume. As a knock-on effect of this Miami loss, Notre Dame’s early-season loss to the Hurricanes could make it difficult for the Irish to squeak into the field as well.
Week 11: Syracuse at Miami (-28.5)
6. No. 19 Missouri Tigers
I respect the job Eli Drinkwitz has done with the Missouri Tigers, and it certainly makes sense that he’s a candidate for the Florida and perhaps Penn State jobs. That said, what has this year’s Missouri Tigers squad, a team now without starting quarterback Beau Pribula, done to deserve being ranked in the top 20? Or really, into the poll at all. Missouri’s wins have come against Central Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, South Carolina, UMass, and by six points at Auburn. That’s one road victory and zero wins against teams with a winning record. With games remaining against Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and a resilient Mississippi State squad, the bottom could fall out for Mizzou.
Week 11: Texas A&M (-7.5) at Missouri
7. No. 23 Tennessee Volunteers
The Tennessee Volunteers entered Saturday night’s contest against the Oklahoma Sooners as the 14th-ranked team in the country and knowing a win over Oklahoma would put them right into the thick of the College Football Playoff chase. They exited the weekend with three losses, no hope at the College Football Playoff, and, if we are being honest, a complete lack of quality on their resume. Joey Aguilar threw for 393 yards, and Tennessee outgained Oklahoma 456 yards to 351. Still, they only ran for 1.8 yards per rush and allowed Oklahoma’s Xavier Robinson to rip off 115 yards on the ground while the Sooners ran for 5.5 yards per carry. The Vols can still win nine games this season, but they have to play at Florida, a place they have not won since 2003, followed by a home game against rival Vanderbilt.
8. No. 25 Cincinnati Bearcats
The Cincinnati Bearcats had an impressive seven-game winning streak and rose into the top 25. They still find themselves ranked despite getting stomped at Utah on Saturday night. The Bearcats turned the ball over three times and Utah had more than 40 minutes of possession in the 45-14 blowout as the Bearcats fell to 7-2. During that winning streak, Cincinnati beat Bowling Green, Northwestern State, Kansas by three points, Iowa State by eight points, UCF by nine points, Oklahoma State and Baylor. Five of those games were at home and none of those opponents are ranked.
9. Receiving Votes – Houston Cougars
Willie Fritz’s Houston Cougars have had an excellent second season under his leadership, improving to 7-2 and 4-2 in the Big 12 but the resume just is not there to even be receiving votes. They have played one ranked team and lost that game to Texas Tech by 24 points. There’s no big crime in that but the second loss of the season came on Saturday as they gave up 45 points at home to West Virginia and lost to the Mountaineers. That was WVU’s first Big 12 victory. The only remotely quality win they have is over Arizona State by eight points and the Sun Devils are now just 5-3.
Week 11: Houston at UCF (-1.5)
10. Receiving Votes – LSU Tigers
Anyone still voting for the LSU Tigers to be in the top 25 is just not paying any attention and working solely off of brand name. The Tigers are 2-3 in the SEC with the wins coming over South Carolina and Florida by ten points each. The once-impressive win at Clemson in the season-opener is a very distant memory for both teams and LSU has fired head coach Brian Kelly. There is talent on the roster but the offense has looked lost all season as the offensive line struggles to protect and the Tigers refuse to commit to running the ball consistently. They will very likely fall to 5-4 on Saturday as they play at Alabama.
Week 11: LSU at Alabama (-10.5)
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