College Football Fraud Power Rankings Week 11 (Ohio State is Overrated)

Winning matters, but how a team does it when compared to its peers also plays a role.

Ohio State, for example, was ranked No. 1 by the College Football Playoff selection committee last Tuesday in what will be a (made-for-TV) weekly release until the final four is announced at the end of the regular season. With impressive wins over the likes of Notre Dame and Penn State, the Buckeyes were seen as having the best resume despite lacking the dominance that teams like Georgia and Michigan have shown.

The Buckeyes may have won defensive slugfests against quality opponents, but this team is a fraud after struggling to pull away from Rutgers on the road. When a team with a potent offense takes on the Buckeyes, the team will be put on notice, taking over the top spot as our biggest fraud in college football.

Last week's top team, Washington, gets out of the top five after taking down USC on the road by hanging 52 points on the listless Trojans defense. Still undefeated, Washington gets some deserved credit.

Here's this week's top five with the Buckeyes at the top of my list.

If you want to fade any of these teams come Saturday, make sure to do it at Caesars Sportsbook, which is matching all new users' first bet up to $1,000! All you have to do is use the signup link below!

Most Overrated Teams in College Football

5) Washington

I still question the Huskies' defense in its quest to get to the College Football Playoff, but the team is now 9-0 on the year following an impressive road win against Caleb Williams and the Trojans.

Washington is third in terms of EPA/Play on offense, but the defense is 78th in EPA/Play and 112th in success rate, particularly struggling to slow down opponents' running game (117th in EPA/Rush). The Huskies will face a stout defense in Utah at home before traveling to Corvallis to face one of the best rushing attacks in college football at Oregon State in two weeks.

I still don't think this team can run the table with its defensive limitations, but it appears back on track after a late October swoon.

4) Tennessee

Tennessee jumps into the top five as it's listed as a PICK against Missouri on the road, but how many times do we need to see this passing offense struggle before we treat this team as a worse version of last year's SEC contender?

The Vols have struggled to move the ball all season long through the air, but have inflated its numbers by hanging 59 on UConn last week. Overall, this team is hovering around 50th in EPA/Pass and is 63rd in Pro Football Focus' passing grade.

If Tennessee can't establish the run (top 20 ground game this season) against a Missouri defense that is top 20 in line yards, too much pressure will fall on Milton to hold up against a Missouri offense that matched Georgia's output on offense last week on a yards per play basis.

3) Tulane

Tulane struggled to separate from a one-win East Carolina team on Saturday, another near loss for the reigning AAC champs who haven't lost in conference play yet.

the The Green Wave continues to skate by in conference play behind a lackluster secondary which is bottom half of the country in terms of EPA/Pass. After beating Rice by two, the team didn't ease any concerns against ECU. While the team is a three-plus touchdown favorite this week against Tulsa, a road trip to Florida Atlantic and a home game against fellow conference-unbeaten UTSA looms.

2) Penn State

Penn State was able to hang 51 on Maryland in a ton of garbage time, but the offense continues to lack the explosiveness to keep up with the elite teams in the sport. The Nittany Lions' defense put together a comprehensive effort, generating four turnovers to offset only 404 total yards of offense.

However, the team won't dominate at the defensive line against Michigan next week. Maryland ran for -49 yards when accounting for sacks and couldn't keep up with Penn State's swarming pass rush. However, can Drew Allar make the throws against an elite defense next week? Our data point of one showed that he will struggle quite a bit -- we are only three weeks removed from his 18-of-42 performance for 191 yards.

I'm not sold on Penn State despite the big scoring output.

1) Ohio State

No bigger fraud in college football right now than the Buckeyes, who have a serious quarterback problem.

Kyle McCord struggled yet again against Rutgers but found Marvin Harrison Jr. just enough to pull away from the Scarlett Knights offense, who couldn't cash in from inside the red zone early to hang with the Buckeyes.

McCord completed 19-of-26 passes for 189 yards and threw two of three touchdowns to Harrison Jr. On the year, the Buckeyes are a top 25 offense in terms of EPA/Play, but when you look under the hood you see the issues with the team that can't get much of a ground game with opponents not as wary of the passing game. OSU is averaging less than four yards per carry and is bottom half of the country in terms of explosive rush rate.

Similar to Penn State, I don't trust the quarterback to hold up when the going gets tough. The two wins for Ohio State it can hold its hat on came against Notre Dame (who just got outclassed at Clemson) and Penn State (who doesn't have MHJ).

Ultimately, the team is going to be compared against Michigan when the team travels to Ann Arbor the last week of the season. The team's inability to generate sound offense outside of force-feeding Marvin Harrison Jr. will cost the team.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

Track Reed's bets here!