Through five weeks of the college football season, there still may not be an established status quo that we can look at confidently. The top conferences in the nation have proven to be much more competitive than we think. As a result, movement in the polls has been all over the place as we start to see a team’s true colors. For example, in the SEC, both Florida and Mississippi State returned to normal, and in the Big Ten, so did the Iowa Hawkeyes in their first attempt to upend the college football world. Still, as they fell back down to earth, other teams have been on the rise. Here are the most overrated and underrated teams in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll.
This is more of what we expected the Gators to look like before the season’s start. After Jadan Baugh’s electric start to the season, he was held to just 13 rushing yards on a day where QB Aaron Philo finally got tested. While this loss may have come down to the mental hangover they may have experienced after the Ole Miss win, it revealed a lot of problems that this Gators team could face down the road. Coming up next for the Gators? A tough stretch that will include the No 1 and 2 teams in the country. Now is the time to potentially start to fade a team who may have set the bar too high for themselves.
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On the flip side of things, it may be time to start talking about Mizzou as a real contender. Sure, their loss to Mississippi State did not age well, but their response against the Gators at home was resounding. It was not just about the win either. The whole team has been playing well too. Austin Simmons, a year after losing his job at Ole Miss to Trinidad Chambliss, looks like the nation’s most underrated QB. He has 1,287 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions. However, the biggest surprise may be Jamal Roberts. He has the sixth most rushing yards in the nation, all in the absence of Ahmad Hardy. Imagine what this team could be with those three together in the backfield.
Texas Tech have appeared far too much on this list for a preseason Big 12 favorite. In a conference that might just be able to put multiple teams in the CFP, there is little margin for error for the Red Raiders, and they are close to crossing that line. In their victory over Colorado, it took them until late in the third quarter to pull away. The offense still looks inconsistent and Will Hammond hasn’t shown any signs of what Texas Tech needs at the position. It seems as if the Red Raiders are hanging by a threat, waiting to get exposed by a team with a pulse. It may not happen in the Big 12, but it won’t be pretty in the CFP.
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Perhaps the dark horse of the Big Ten was one of the conference’s worst teams last season. Don’t look now, but the Bruins are 4-0 with an opportunity to cause chaos in the Big Ten title race. Bob Chesney has well and truly revitalized this program and has them looking like they could actually determine the outcome of the conference as well. This week, they take on a somewhat vulnerable Oregon team sans Dante Moore and close out the season against USC in what could be a highly important game. Maybe their start to the season is a mirage, but the Bruins certainly look much better than expected.
Oh, Iowa. Just when you giveth, you taketh away. Just as people started to believe that their game against the Buckeyes could actually be competitive, Jeremiah Smith took over Kinnick Stadium and broke several more records. While everyone could have seen this coming, it sure felt like a huge letdown for the Hawkeyes after the emotions of last week. However, it just seems that Kirk Ferentz’s formula runs dry against the conference’s elite.
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Most overrated/underrated teams in Week 5 coaches poll
