The second edition of the College Football Playoff Rankings was released on Tuesday night with very little surprises. Georgia and Alabama stayed at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Oregon and Ohio State round out the top four with each moving up one spot since then-No. 3 Michigan State was stunned by Purdue last weekend.
Cincinnati, Michigan, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Oklahoma State fleshed out the top 10. UTSA, one of four undefeated teams in college football, chimed in at No. 23 — the first time in its history that it has been highlighted in the CFP Rankings.
There is plenty to unpack after this week’s release, so here is a look at the overrated and underrated teams in this week’s rankings.
Overrated — Michigan
No. 7 Michigan State beat No. 6 Michigan 37-31 on Halloween weekend, which was just two weeks ago. Yet the Wolverines find themselves one spot ahead of their intra-state rivals. Why? CFP selection committee chair Gary Barta told ESPN during the broadcast that the discussion between the two was long, and that the Spartans’ loss to Purdue on Saturday was too much to ignore. Excuse me? A road loss to Purdue — a team which the committee ranked No. 19 this week despite not being in last week’s rankings — was what set the Spartans back? This is all brand awareness. There’s no other way that a top-20 loss one weekend negates a head-to-head outcome the week prior.
Underrated — Michigan State
Well, since Michigan is overrated, it’s pretty clear that Michigan State has to be underrated for the reasons listed above. What is really surprising about this whole thing is that, in Michigan State’s win over Michigan, the Spartans came back from down 16 points to upend their intra-state rivals. Apparently that doesn’t matter either….
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