Every Team is Overrated. Including Yours.
The only reasons to call a team overrated are to get people to read an article and to soothe your misgivings.
There was an article posted on the Sports Collision website last week by Mike calling Texas the most overrated team in college football. I not only disagree with this, but I think that every team in college football could be substituted into that article and have it still make sense. Let’s give it a shot (we will stay in the Top 10 in the BCS though and not cover every team for the sake of boredom and article length.)
Florida –
Why does Florida deserve to be number 1? To this point, they have only beaten one ranked team. How can you be the best if you don’t beat the best? Their only “convincing” win was against LSU. LSU couldn’t score points if the opposing defense was drunk. They scored against Auburn and Tulane some will argue. Really, are you going to try and justify Auburn and Tulane? Florida beat Georgia last week. Who cares? Oklahoma State beat Georgia and Texas beat Oklahoma State, what does that say? If it weren’t for Florida winning the title last year, there is no way they would be number 1.
Texas –
Already covered by Mike (Check it Out)
Alabama –
How could anybody reasonably rank Alabama number 3? Is it just me, or are they not on their way to a repeat of last season. Win out in an overrated conference, lose to Florida, and then lose in their bowl game to a non-BCS school. Does a team that is going to fold at the end of the season deserve to be in the top 5? At least Alabama has beaten a few ranked teams to this point (Fla?). However, that win at the beginning of the season against Va Tech looks less impressive each week , and were it not for an inept kicking game by Tennessee, they would already have a loss.
Iowa –
This one is easy. How can Iowa be ranked in the top 5 when they have barely squeezed out the majority of their victories this year? They needed a fourth quarter for the ages to beat Indiana at home; and Michigan State, and Wisconsin, and Michigan, and Penn St, and Northern Iowa. The Hawkeyes are clearly hanging on by a thread and are just one poor fourth quarter performance away from a loss.
Cincinnati –
Are we considering the Big East a real conference yet? Let’s look at some of Cincinnati’s impressive victories this year…Bueller, Bueller, anyone? Oh that’s right, there aren’t any. Call me when Cincinnati plays a real team. The Bearcats are on ABC Saturday night against UCONN. Is anybody going to watch that game? I didn’t think so. That would be as entertaining as say, Florida vs. Vanderbilt.
TCU –
We can propose the same argument for the following two teams. You don’t play in a real conference. I know I said Cincinnati didn’t play in a real conference, but at least it is a BCS conference? If any non-BCS school had to play in a BCS conference week in and week out, there is no way their lack of depth would allow them to make it through the season unfazed. I know these teams can win in a single game situation, but it is a different story week in and week out when you are consistently playing against higher caliber competition.
Boise St. –
See TCU
Oregon –
We are basing their ranking off of USC? USC is not an impressive victory this year. They lost to Washington! USC was Washington’s first victory in over a year! That fact alone makes USC a meaningless victory this year. Some will say USC beat Ohio St. Ohio St. lost to Purdue! If we take USC out of the picture, then we are left with a loss to Boise St. and a victory over Cal. Sorry Duck fans, not much to get excited about here.
LSU –
We have basically covered why LSU is overrated. They have no offense, and their defense is not good enough to pull them though in a close game. Also, their only victory over a ranked team is Georgia. That is not enough to deserve a Top 10 ranking.
Georgia Tech –
This is a case similar to Cincinnati. The only difference is that the Yellow Jackets have a loss. The ACC is another one of those lackluster conferences, and simply winning it doesn’t make you look impressive. Their only victory of note is against Virginia Tech, and that doesn’t look very good now that the Hokies continue moving further and further down the college football elevator each week.
Done, nobody is impressive. Do I really believe this? No. I just wanted to make the point that to single out any one team as the most overrated is a waste of time. We could all do this for any team that we wanted to make look poor. Am I a UT fan? Yes. Did I get upset with Mike for his article? No. Why? I realized that Mike was just feeling down about his Gators.
Here is what I know, winning in college football is impressive and I don’t care who you are. Going undefeated is near impossible, and so I give full credit to Florida, Texas, Alabama, Iowa, Cincinnati, TCU, and Boise St. If you keep winning, you deserve to be ranked at the top. Quit hating because you are jealous, and argue about why your team deserves their ranking, not why others don’t.
Agree? Disagree? We want to hear your thoughts! Comment below!
There will always be controversy. This is sports. This is nature.
Let’s get it out in the open. I am a Texas fan. I have been a Texas fan since I was introduced to football as a little niño. Be that as it may, this is not a response to say why Texas is deserving of the top spot in the polls, or why other teams should be ranked lower than their current seed. I agree with Bryan when he says any team can be considered overrated.
Statistics are statistics, and a lot can be said about a team who can score repeatedly, or hold opponents to less than 15 points a game. The special thing about college football, as much as people will disagree, is that these guys don’t get paid to play. With 120 FBS schools across the country, and 90 players on each team, only about 1% will be good enough to play on Sunday.
Because this is true, on any given Saturday, any team can come up with an upset, regardless of talent. Whether your win comes against USC, Oregon, LSU, Ohio State, or Oklahoma, it’s still a win. You can hypothesize about what might happen if Gideon intercepts the pass, if Bradford doesn’t get injured, if the statue of liberty play doesn’t work against OU, etc, etc. That’s the great thing about any sport; the joys of common debate.
The controversial plays will still continue, the hypothetical ones will still be spoken of, and the small groups (or big) will still complain about our current ranking systems for who deserves to be “No. 1.” As long as there are sports, there will be debate. For now, let’s just sit back, and enjoy our team (Texas) take it all the way. It’s why we watch anyway, right?
November 5th, 2009 at 10:52 pm