Week 8 AP Top 25: Overrated and underrated teams in new college football rankings

After Georgia and UNC lost, the Week 8 AP Top 25 features a fresh new top-five in the college football rankings, but can Alabama surpass Clemson at No. 1?

With No. 3 Georgia and No. 5 North Carolina falling, they were among the five ranked teams to lose in Week 7, including No. 15 Auburn, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 21 Louisiana. The race for the No. 1 ranking between Clemson and Alabama should intensify after the Tide beat Georgia by 17 and Clemson put up 73 points on Georgia Tech.

We finally got to see what we expected from the best teams in the country, just in time to have Ohio State permanently set up shop in the top four. Clemson gave Trevor Lawrence his requisite Heisman numbers in the first half, while Tom Tupa Will Spiers threw for more yards in the second half than Georgia Tech did. Get those pearls ready, the sanctity of the game guys. T-Law is going to have to put up mammoth first-half numbers to have a shot at the Heisman this year. That means even more final scores like yesterday.

Meanwhile, Alabama put to bed any notion that this year might be a down year. Despite not having their typical smothering defense, Alabama was able to route the Georgia Bulldogs behind Mac Jones’ 417 yards passing. Jones isn’t anywhere near as talented as Lawrence or Justin Fields, but games like this will have him in the Heisman conversation all year with that duo. Voters love guys who get it done against SEC opponents.

Last week’s overrated teams went 1-2, and our underrated teams went 2-0 (never mind Notre Dame looking lifeless against an outmatched Louisville team.)

Week 8 AP Top 25 college football rankings

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Notre Dame
4. Georgia
5. Ohio State
6. Oklahoma State
7. Texas A&M
8. Penn State
9. Cincinnati
10. Florida
11. Miami
12. BYU
13. Oregon
14. North Carolina
15. Wisconsin
16. SMU
17. Iowa State
18. Michigan
19. Virginia Tech
20. Kansas State
21. Minnesota
22. Marshall
23. NC State
24. USC
25. Coastal Carolina

Overrated: No. 4 Georgia

Get out of here with this. Look. Stetson Bennett is a great story. But it’s clear he’s in over his head. What isn’t clear is why Kirby Smart, who was not nearly this patient with D’Wan Mathis (who is also a great story!), continued to give Bennett a shot. As long as Bennett Independent Variable is under center, Georgia has no business being ranked this high.

Underrated: No. 12 BYU

Put. Some. Respect. On. Their. Name. In what was probably their toughest remaining game, Zach Wilson went off. Again. His 400 passing yards led the Cougars to a comeback win against Houston. Sadly, it hasn’t been enough to put them into playoff consideration.

Overrated: No. 6 Oklahoma State

If Oklahoma State is the sixth-best team in the country, then BYU is the fifth-best team. The Cowboys have wins against the worst team in the Big 12, West Virginia (who counts among their wins Kansas and Baylor), and dropped 16 points on Tulsa.

Underrated: No. 5 Ohio State

Now that we are a week away from the Buckeyes announcing their presence with authority. They open up with Nebraska and Penn State. Two wins (and they should be wins) and they will be on cruise control until Michigan to wrap up the season.

Overrated: No. 16 SMU

The fact that the American Athletic Conference might be better than the Big 12 this year is absolutely hilarious. But it’s enough that Cincinnati (with that schedule!) is in the top ten. If you’re going to put SMU ahead of Michigan, the Mustangs had better be crushing their opponents, not eking out wins against Tulane.

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