Seven Overrated College Football Teams - Reviewing the Preseason CFB Rankings (2024)

What college football teams were overrated in the initial AP Top 25 rankings? Mike Marteny takes a look at the discrepancies between his poll and the AP Voters Poll.

The AP's preseason polls are out, so college football has officially begun. We are still a couple of weeks away from live action and three weeks away from meaningful action. Week 0 tries to make us feel special, but it's over too quickly. Nice try, Week 0.

Just like the AP, I released my top 25 preseason poll this week. Not much changed from the post-spring polls except for a couple of late transfers. My opinion on the "overrated" teams will be simple: If they are ranked higher in the AP than my poll...OVERRATED! You can check out my poll here.

That doesn't mean that a certain team is undeserving, but if there is a disconnect between myself and the AP, I'm going to consider myself to be right. It's human nature. It's important to discuss credentials. I watch more college football than any human should and have picked every FBS game against the spread for a better part of a decade. That's good enough for an AP poll, right?

Notre Dame (AP: 7, MM: NR)

We'll start off with the most egregious one: Notre Dame. For many reasons, the Irish are often a polarizing team. I guess we'll start off with the albatross in the room. Am I being too critical of the Irish by not ranking them? Perhaps, but let's take a look at why I don't have them ranked.

True, the Irish are coming off a 10-win season and a thumping of Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, marking the end of a prominent program. The Irish also did this with Sam Hartman at quarterback. Say what you will about Hartman, but he was the right quarterback at the right time for this team.

Riley Leonard, while talented, is not Sam Hartman. Audric Estime...you know...the guy who ran for 1,341 yards and 18 touchdowns last season...is also in the NFL. Those are two massive holes to fill before we even discuss the loss of Chris Tyree and Rico Flores Jr., two of the top three receivers in 2023. Kris Mitchell was brought in from FIU to soften the blow, but it's safe to assume that this offense won't be as good as last year.

I didn't look at the schedule to help determine the preseason ranking because I think it's irrelevant in the second week of August. I can only assume the AP pollsters did. Notre Dame might win 10 games again this year, but that's not a massive feat with the schedule they have...and that should have no bearing on their preseason ranking.

Imagine your team has Notre Dame’s 2024 football schedule..

Ya’ll making the CFP?? pic.twitter.com/eSaxLOUXRW

— CFB MZ ? (@CFB_Memezone) August 10, 2024

Florida State (AP: 10, MM: 23)

Was I too tough on Florida State? I am questioning that after seeing the AP Poll. Jordan Travis was a special player and D.J. Uiagalelei has had every chance to prove he is the same and has come up short. This is D.J.'s best backfield by far, but I have questions about the receivers. They need Alabama transfer Malik Benson to be a stud.

My lower ranking of FSU has to do with how strong I perceive the top of the ACC to be. Miami and Virginia Tech are both much higher in my poll. The AP doesn't even rank Virginia Tech. That's a gross injustice to Kyron Drones.

I trust Miami's massive transfer portal haul and Kyron Drones more than D.J. FSU's defense is good enough to win them the ACC, but I need to see something on the field first. The loss of Jared Verse hurts as much as Travis, if not more.

Michigan (AP: 9, MM: 21)

I think Sherrone Moore is a great hire, but he inherited a program that is under close scrutiny from the NCAA. That's never good. On top of that, Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy (along with half of the defense) are in the NFL. Michigan can be lauded for hiring from within, but they are still missing a lot of talent from last year.

Michigan violations:

-52 deleted texts by Sherrone Moore
-58 games scouted
-7 coaches in violation including Harbaugh and Moore
-Several removed hard drives
-Connor Stalions at CMU/MSU game on sidelines in disguise
-And a partridge in a pear tree pic.twitter.com/hV94NX7QXL

— ? Pigskin Petey ? (@pigskinpetey) August 4, 2024

Not only that but this sign-stealing fiasco that resulted in an NCAA rule change is not going away. From Michigan's standpoint, it's getting worse. The current coach is now involved in said scandal. Detractors say this is the biggest college football scandal since SMU paid players in the 80s. Michigan insists it's nothing.

Whatever the case, this is going to hang over the team all season long. A veteran group like last year's team may have been able to block it out. I'm not sure this year's team can.

LSU (AP: 13, MM: 25)

What I'm getting from a lot of LSU people is that they think Jayden Daniels was a system quarterback. I don't think so. If Garrett Nussmeier puts up anywhere close to the numbers that Daniels did, I'll admit my mistake. LSU lost Daniels and Malik Nabers. As much as I like Liberty's C.J. Douglas coming in as a transfer, he's not Nabers...and Nussmeier isn't Daniels.

The LSU defense is the wild card here. They underperformed as a unit last year and are thought to be improved this year. They had better be if the Tigers have a chance to upend the SEC.

The running game was supposed to be a strength of this team last year, but it fell flat with better personnel. LSU looking good in a bowl game under Nussmeier meant more to the AP than it did to me. They played Wisconsin...come on!

Clemson (AP: 14, MM: 26)

If continuity is the new king of college football, then the AP's ranking of Clemson is more accurate than mine. QB Cade Klubnik and RB Phil Mafah return, as does much of the defense. Clemson needed an impact receiver and didn't even make an effort to secure one. To me, that's a problem.

Also, I see Miami and Virginia Tech as at least as good as Clemson offensively and in the ballpark defensively. Apparently, the AP does not.

Iowa (AP: 25, MM: well below 30)

Iowa? For real? The run game will be good with Leshon Williams and Kaleb Johnson. TE Luke Lachey is another in a long line of good ones, but Cade McNamara is still their quarterback. You guys remember McNamara, right? The much-lauded Jim Harbaugh protege who couldn't cut it at Michigan.

This offense was beyond awful last season and did absolutely nothing to improve it aside from firing the coordinator. Iowa isn't even in my top 50!

Mississippi (AP: 6, MM: 9)

This isn't much of a big deal. It's only three spots. Ole Miss still makes the playoff in both of our rankings. I feel the loss of Quinshon Judkins is going to be a bigger deal than the AP does, and that's okay. Maybe the plethora of backfield transfers combined with former SMU back Ulysses Bentley IV will combine to put up Judkins-like numbers.

The Land Shark defense will need to be better than last year if Ole Miss is to live up to this kind of hype. The buzz around Oxford hasn't been this loud since the Rebels took out Alabama in 2015.

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