Week 5 didn't give us much in the way of marquee, ranked-on-ranked matchups, but it did give us plenty of games that functioned as stress tests — ways to find out for good which teams are serious and which very much aren't as we hit the meat of conference play. As such, the weren't a ton of big winners in the latest AP top 25 poll, only big losers (Florida and Iowa foremost among them after coming up small in big spots on Saturday).
But which teams are still coasting by on little more than reputation and a soft schedule? And which might be making big moves up the AP rankings in the weeks to come as they get high-profile opportunities to prove themselves? Here's who we're buying and selling.
Full AP top 25 rankings after Week 5
- Texas Longhorns
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Miami Hurricanes
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Indiana Hoosiers
- BYU Cougars
- Ole Miss Rebels
- LSU Tigers
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Utah Utes
- Oregon Ducks
- Missouri Tigers
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Florida Gators
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Oklahoma State Cowboys
- USC Trojans
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- UCLA Bruins
- Houston Cougars
- Boise State Broncos
- SMU Mustangs
- Pittsburgh Panthers
Overrated: BYU
It's not that BYU is bad, really. It's just that I'm not sure they've shown a ceiling any higher than last year's, when they got blasted twice by Texas Tech in their two biggest games of the year.
And yet, here the Cougars are, all the way up to No. 8 now despite slogging through a 17-10 win over a TCU squad that's actively falling apart. BYU has exactly two wins over power-conference opposition this season (against TCU and Arizona), and neither of them wre overly impressive. This defense is still salty, and the running game still keeps everything on schedule; but Bear Bachmeier still can't throw the ball downfield when he has to, and that feels like it's going to come back to bite them sooner or later. It's hard to take this team seriously at its current ranking until something changes.
Underrated: ... Alabama?
Yes, I understand the irony here. And it's not as though Alabama is an afterthought, now up to No. 6 in this week's AP poll. But that represents just a one-spot difference from last week, which feels like an inadequate response to the 33-point pasting they just put on Mississippi State in Starkville.
Kamario Taylor's injury didn't help matters, but even when he was on the field, this Crimson Tide defense limited him in a way that nobody else has so far this season. Combine that unit with an explosive offense led by QB Keelon Russell, and you have not just Kalen DeBoer's most balanced team in Tuscaloosa but also a legitimate national title contender. They've won big on the road against two solid SEC teams; is that not a more impressive resume at the moment than, say, Notre Dame or Miami?
Overrated: Texas Tech
I promise my goal isn't to hate on the Big 12; just wait until the next team on this list. But I'll continue to label Texas Tech as overrated until their standing in the AP poll changes, which is to say until they lose a game.
And if they keep playing this way, it won't be long, no matter how friendly their schedule is. (Seriously: Outside a trip to Oklahoma State in November, the Red Raiders don't play anybody.) Saturday's 29-7 win at Colorado may look respectable enough at first glance, but they trailed 7-3 at half and only led 12-7 at the end of three quarters. Will Hammond and this offense continue to struggle mightily, and while the defense has done enough so far to remain undefeated, they don't look nearly as overwhelming as last year's unit. This is a good team, but it feels like high time we stop treating them as one that can win one or multiple College Football Playoff games.
Underrated: Utah
See, it's not a Big 12 thing! Granted, Utah still has some questions to answer of its own, with Arkansas and Iowa State its only two power-conference victories to date. But they've physically manhandled that competition in the way that you'd expect from a Playoff-caliber team, and this defense in particular seems not to have slid even a little bit in year one post-Kyle Whittingham.
Can the Utes score enough to win the Big 12? That remains to be seen; Devon Dampier has let us down in big spots before. Right now, though, Utah has been the most impressive team in this conference on a down-to-down basis, and having them at No. 12 behind several other questionable would-be contenders feels like something that will look silly in a few weeks' time.
Overrated: USC
USC's stirring, redemptive win was ... a 25-21 victory over a flailing Washington side in which they needed a fluky scoop and score to take the lead for good. That might keep the wolves at bay for Lincoln Riley for at least one more week, but it doesn't do much to convince me that this is suddenly a legitimate top-20 team.
Seriously, look at the power-conference resume: a two-score loss at home to Oregon's backup quarterback, plus two wins over middling-to-bad Big Ten competition. What, beyond preseason expectation, suggests that the Trojans are worth taking seriously? The offense is efficient as always, but it's missing explosiveness amid a rash of receiver injuries, and this defense is still all kinds of suspect. If we did these rankings from scratch starting in October, USC would be nowhere near No. 19
Underrated: UCLA
I promise I'm not trying to twist the knife in our Trojan friends. But while UCLA is still waiting to play its first credible opponent — which will change this weekend with a trip to Eugene — there's something to be said for the fact that the Bruins are beating the breaks off the teams they do play. Bob Chesney's team had very little problem disposing of Maryland, Cal and Purdue, and this offense is looking like one of the most dynamic in the country behind a three-headed rushing monster.
Do the Bruins belong in the top 15 just yet? No. But they've been more impressive on a down-to-down basis than many of the teams directly ahead of them. Given what we know about Michigan now, why exactly does Iowa deserve to be ranked above UCLA?
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