College football 2023: Most overrated, underrated teams by Power 5 conference
By John Scimeca
As college football fans, we’ve been through another splashy offseason of star transfers, perplexing coaching changes, and other controversies. New NIL deals continue to pop up everywhere and the ubiquitous transfer portal has helped players come and go with a newfound ease to wherever the grass happens to be greener.
Consider that in the preseason AP Top 10 last year, five teams did not finish the season in the same grouping. That would include preseason highly ranked teams like Clemson (No. 4 to No. 13 after a bowl loss to Tennessee), Notre Dame (No. 5 to No. 18 after disappointing losses to Marshall and USC, among others), Texas A&M (No. 6 to unranked after a 5-7 season), Oklahoma (No. 9 to an unranked 6-7 finish under first-year head coach Brent Venables), and Baylor (No. 10 to an unranked 6-7 finish after winning the 2021 Big 12 title).
If you had checked this warning during the 2022 preseason, you would have been well aware that teams like Michigan State, Oklahoma State, and Arkansas were vastly overrated. Take the Cowboys, for example, who were slotted at the No. 12 AP preseason spot before finishing the year with a 6-7 record.
Look at teams like TCU and Tennessee in 2022 — both started the season unranked before the Horned Frogs went 12-0 in the regular season before defeating Big Ten champion Michigan to reach the national title game. The Volunteers would start the season with eight consecutive wins (including a cigar-smoking 52-49 defeat of Alabama) before an Orange Bowl win against Clemson to cap an 11-2 season. Tulane, picked to finish seventh in the American Athletic Conference behind Memphis and East Carolina, went on to win the league and defeat USC in the Cotton Bowl.
The lesson from recent seasons is clear for 2023: believe the preseason predictions at your own risk. Which teams are the most overrated and underrated from each of the five power conferences?