5 overrated college football teams from ESPN's post-spring top-25 rankings

We are so incredibly thankful to have something juicy to dissect. On Monday, ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach released his post-spring college football top 25 rankings. It features many of the usual suspects. Again, I will fully admit that this exercise is incredibly difficult. We have to erase from our memories what happened a season ago and prepare for what might be coming down the pipeline.

I have already touched on Schlabach being a big believer in Kalen DeBoer's Alabama Crimson Tide, who he has slotted in at No. 7. That ranking is significant because it largely implies that Alabama is essentially a playoff lock, almost certainly getting in out of the SEC, either as a conference champion or one of its many at-large teams. Of course, I had the Crimson Tide slotted a few spots later in mine.

Here are the top 25 college teams in the country, per Schlabach's latest rankings over on ESPN.com.

1. Georgia Bulldogs
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
3. Texas Longhorns
4. Oregon Ducks
5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
6. Ole Miss Rebels
7. Alabama Crimson Tide
8. Missouri Tigers
9. Utah Utes
10. Michigan Wolverines
11. Florida State Seminoles
12. Penn State Nittany Lions
13. North Carolina State Wolfpack
14. LSU Tigers
15. Tennessee Volunteers
16. Clemson Tigers
17. Kansas State Wildcats
18. Oklahoma Sooners
19. Oklahoma State Cowboys
20. Arizona Wildcats
21. Virginia Tech Hokies
22. Kansas Jayhawks
23. Iowa Hawkeyes
24. Miami Hurricanes
25. USC Trojans

In some order, I think everybody is probably on board with the top four being the top four. You could make an argument for any of them in any of those spots, if you really wanted to. Right now, one of those four teams are probably going to win the whole thing. Barring some unforeseen collapse between now and Selection Sunday, those four teams are absolutely College Football Playoff locks.

Since I am in the business of giving out takes, let's start with five teams who I think are overrated.

5. Iowa Hawkeyes (No. 23)

I can see where Schlabach could arrive at Iowa being a top 25 team. The Hawkeyes have a tremendous defense under Phil Parker and a transcendent special teams unit under LeVar Woods. With a healthy Cade McNamara under center and a new offensive coordinator in town in Tim Lester, I could see Iowa being a top-20 team at some point next season. My big issue is the new-look Big Ten...

At this time, I think there are about four or five teams in the Big Ten who I think could make the playoff. Ohio State, Oregon and probably Penn State are locks. After that, Iowa is in a group with the likes of Michigan, USC, Washington and maybe even Nebraska. Since I can't trust their offense, Iowa feels closer to an 8-4 team than a 10-2 team simply because there is no Big Ten West to take advantage of.

I would have had at least USC ahead of them in the Big Ten, as Iowa may not even be a top-25 team.

4. Oklahoma Sooners (No. 18)

I would put the Oklahoma Sooners in a similar bucket as teams like the Iowa Hawkeyes in this. Could they be top-20 teams this year? It really wouldn't shock me. However, I think that there is a lot more working against the Sooners than even the Hawkeyes this year. Oklahoma is switching leagues, going from one it used to dominate in the Big 12, to the SEC where maybe they will be the eighth-best team.

For as much as I like the upside of Jackson Arnold as their quarterback, this season could be a total referendum on head coach Brent Venables. Although the Sooners were much improved last season when compared to his first year in Norman, that was in the Big 12. This is the SEC. Oklahoma could be in for a rude awakening. The biggest question is the eighth-best SEC team worthy of being No. 18?

I could be wrong, but I think the gap between then at Tennessee should be more than three spots.

3. Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 7)

As you might have expected, I do think that Mark Schlabach might be a tad more bullish on the Alabama Crimson Tide than for my liking. I have the Crimson Tide as the fifth or sixth-best team in the SEC entering the season, well behind Ole Miss and slightly behind Missouri, who comes in at No. 8 in Schlabach's rankings. To me, there is not much that separates Alabama from LSU at No. 14, honestly.

Do I think Alabama is probably a playoff team? Yes, but the Crimson Tide have a bit of a last four in type of feel to them than being anything close to a lock. I love Jalen Milroe as a quarterback and like what Kalen DeBoer is about as a head coach. However, I fully expect for there to be a learning curve for him in his first season leading the Crimson Tide. That is enough to have them be around No. 10.

It is not by much, but Alabama might be closer to No. 12 than they are to No. 5 if I were to rank them.

2. Utah Utes (No. 8)

This one is wild, not going to lie. For as much as I like what Kyle Whittingham has built in Salt Lake City, I just cannot get there with the Utah Utes being a top-eight team in the country right now, especially with them changing conferences. No, it wouldn't shock me if perennial Pac-12 power Utah ended up winning the Big 12 during its first year in the league. However, we don't need to crown them just yet.

With the Power Five becoming the Power Four, and really the Power Two, if we're being totally honest here, I just cannot see an ACC or a Big 12 team be comfortably inside the top 10 before we really see them play ball. While I have no problem with the ACC and Big 12 champion being shoehorned in as top-four seeds with a first-round bye, I had Utah somewhere closer to No. 15 or No. 6 than at No. 8.

It would be really great for the sport if Utah was indeed a top-eight team, but I need to see it first.

1. Michigan Wolverines (No. 10)

This just feels like absolute lunacy. For as strong of a program Michigan was under Jim Harbaugh at the end, this is not his program anymore. His former offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore was promoted from within to take over arguably one of the most difficult situations in the country. For my money, he will have a harder job of sustaining excellence than Kalen DeBoer coming over to Alabama.

With Harbaugh, much of his staff and many of his best players leaving for the NFL, I struggle to see Michigan as a top-four team in the Big Ten. Penn State returns a lot more than them. Since I don't know if their new starting quarterback can really throw the football, I cannot under any circumstances have Michigan as a top-10 team in the country. They are closer to how I feel about the Utah Utes.

I would have Michigan as the fifth-best team in the Big Ten, trailing Penn State and USC right now.