There Are 3 Teams That Are Overrated In First AP Poll

College football season is almost here and the first AP poll finally came out. As expected, Alabama is number 1. Like in the coaches poll, our favorite Big Ten team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, are number 2. The Florida State Seminoles are only 14 points behind Ohio State. 99 points separates the top 2 teams to put that in perspective. Southern California and Clemson round out the top 5.

The only other B1G teams to make the top 25 are Penn State at 6, Wisconsin at 9, and Michigan at 11. While they didn’t make the list, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Michigan State received votes. That’s not a typo, the Spartans received a vote even though they went 3-9 last season. Notre Dame got 65 points as a reward for going 4-8 last season but thank goodness it wasn’t enough to crack the top 25.

Now let’s talk about some ridiculously overrated teams.

Auburn is exactly 1 point behind Michigan at 12, even though they lost 5 games. In fact, Auburn has lost 5 or more games in 5 of the last 6 seasons, and 7 of the last 9. Do you know the name of their starting quarterback? Neither do I, and since it’s not Cam Newton, I think 12 is way too high. Almost every year there is an SEC team ranked in the top 10 that fails miserably on the season. At least Auburn isn’t in the top 10, so maybe the pollsters are finally getting it. Probably not.

A team that did make the top 10 is Oklahoma State. While they were a respectable 10-3 last season, that’s mostly the product of playing in a near defunct Big 12. They lost at home to a Central Michigan team that finished 3-5 in MAC play last season. Had they managed to beat Oklahoma at the end of the season instead of getting embarrassed, their fans would have been crying about that loss because of an extra play. They legitimately would have thought they should be in the playoffs.

3 wins gets you a vote, 4 gets 65 points and apparently 5 wins on the season gets you 173 points, and a place in the top 25. While I understand the optimism of new coach Tom Herman, is his giant brain pan really going to make Texas a top 25 team in one season? They face Maryland in the opener and I believe the Terrapins have a legit chance to win. I am not sold on USC being a top 5 team, but when they host the Longhorns in the third game of the season, I fully expect them to look like one.

While play doesn’t quite start yet, let the arguing begin.