The biggest AP Top 25 overreactions to Week 8 of college football

The college football Week 8 slate provided fans with a lot of great games and upsets. Most notably in the SEC where No. 5 Georgia toppled No. 1 Texas and No. 11 Tennessee handed No. 7 Alabama its second loss on the year.

Naturally, that prompted some drastic changes to the AP Top 25 poll on Sunday. We're here to dissect who may have been punished too harshly and who's being hyped a little too much.

Is Indiana really better than Alabama?

It was surely a surprise to some casual fans to see the Crimson Tide all the way down at No. 15 this week and the Hoosiers jumping three spots to No. 13. Even though they haven't played one another, by the transitive property Indiana is technically better than Alabama.

But let's take a step back for a second and really think about this. Yes, Alabama has two losses — one of them very bad — but if you insert Indiana into the SEC there's a very significant chance they aren't 7-0. The Hoosier's schedule has been soft by Big Ten standards and it will get its biggest test against No. 4 Ohio State on Nov. 23. That being said, Indiana certainly has earned its way into the College Football Playoff conversation.

Does Oregon deserve the No. 1 spot over Georgia?

The Ducks are undefeated and took down an Ohio State team that was sitting at No. 2 at the time, that's a pretty impressive resume and in any other year usually deserves the No. 1 spot. However, No. 2 Georgia (6-1) took down the No. 1 team in Texas (6-1) despite losing it's crown as the top team in the country just weeks earlier.

The Bulldogs' one loss is certainly an understandable critique when comparing them to Oregon (7-0) but the AP voters had shown they were rewarding teams that defeated No. 1 squads. It really could've gone either way but Georgia's definitely wins the strength of schedule battle so far. If both teams win out then I can see why voters invested in Oregon this early.

Are Miami and Tennessee Top 10 teams by default?

Both programs have impressive wins on their schedules but the manner in which they've won games has been of great concern lately. No. 7 Tennessee (6-1) hasn't scored more than 25 points in a game for four straight weeks after dropping at least 50 against its first three opponents. No. 6 Miami (7-0) hasn't won a game by more than one score in its last three games after winning four straight by at least four possessions.

These teams are fragile at the moment and sitting inside the Top 10 is either setting them up to squeak into the College Football Playoff by default or just fall short once the dam finally bursts on their weaknesses. The Hurricanes have No. 9 Clemson (6-1) and No. 19 Pittsburgh (6-0) closing in fast while the Volunteers are surrounded by stacked teams in the top half of the SEC standings.

Is the SEC overvalued in the rankings?

Some programs like No. 18 Ole Miss (5-2) and No. 21 Missouri (6-1) feel like they don't deserve to be in the rankings after being absolutely exposed in recent weeks. But given the fact that they reside in the SEC, they're probably getting the benefit of the doubt from the voters. I did mention that those schedules are a lot tougher than even the Big Ten but where does the line get drawn on teams that were clearly overhyped and finally had their shoes drop?

And then there's No. 25 Vanderbilt (5-2), entering the rankings for the first time this season two weeks after toppling mighty Alabama. It feels like that massive win is being overvalued for a team with two bad losses and the SEC favorability is leaning on the scales. It could also be that voters didn't want to include a 4-2 team on the poll last week but one additional win doesn't necessarily improve their resume that much now.