re: Who is the most overrated & underrated team in the top 25??

Overrated is easily Ole Miss

Underrated is Arizona

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Alabama, they are starting a new QB, lost their top WR and had a weak secondary. If their name was anyone else they would be ranked in the middle of the pack.

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People who say stuff like this are discounting the effects of deep, stockpiled, off-the-charts talent. When you have a top-five recruiting class every year, have one of the two or three best coaches in the game, and haven't won fewer than ten games in a season since 2007, you tend to get the benefit of the doubt. Does this mean that every ultra blue-chip kid will pan out, or that Alabama will win the national (or even conference) title every year? Obviously not. But who else, other than Ohio State, are you really going to put ahead of them in a preseason poll?

If you take the average college football coach and let him choose his team, position by position, from the TCU and Alabama rosters, at how many positions is he really going to take the Frog? My guess is 5 or less out of 22. That's why Alabama gets the preseason love.

And by the way, the underrated team is Georgia Tech (though their schedule is tough), and the overrated team is Wisconsin (although as I type that, I wonder what that says about Auburn at #7...)

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Most overrated: tcu/usc/ tennessee
Most underrated: lsu/ Arkansas/ arizona

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RIGHT!!!

8-5 LSU is underrated at 13.
7-6 UT is overrated at 25.

Think they got the top 2 right...but apparently returning a QB with experience isn't very high on their radar when rating a team...after OSU & TCU, of the rest of the top 10, only Michigan State and USC are returning starting QBs...Bama, Baylor, Oregon, Auburn, FSU, and UGA are all breakin' in new starters...some of 'em, including JJ, are potentially very good...but you never know how a QB will handle things when taking over the team, for the first time, for an entire season...

That being said, maybe it's not that important since first-year starters (at QB) have won something like 5 of the last 6 national championships...will be interesting to see how this year plays out...

And I think Bama is rated a little too high...think we lost too much to be rated at #3...starting out somewhere between 6 and 10 sounds 'bout right to me...

Would've said Arky was underrated (and they still may be) but will have to wait and see the impact of the JW injury...Ga Tech would've also been a candidate but, as the OP stated, their schedule is brutal (play at ND and could possibly have to play either Clemson or FSU twice if they make it to the ACCCG)...so I'll say Stanford is my most underrated: they have a senior laden team on both offense and defense, play a solid but not formidable OOC schedule (Northwestern, UCF, ND), and, with the exception of USC, play all their toughest games at home...

I'd like Alabama in the 5-7 range just because of who was lost due to graduation and the NFL draft, but I can see why they put them there. 2011 is the best example: lost Julio, new QB, some losses up front on the O-line, lost Marcel Dareus, and the defense was coming off of a shaky year in 2010.

I don't understand the love for USC or Notre Dame, but then again, I don't know a lot about their teams other than how they finished. Notre Dame has a pretty good quarterback coming back, but their team imploded after being in the top 5 for a few weeks.

Oklahoma should be in the top 15.

A weak secondary can improve based on experience from year 1 to year 2. For example, Alabama's secondary in 2010 was very young and started a freshman in Demarcus Milliner, who was picked on all throughout the year. Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn, and even a Jordan Jefferson led team with LSU exposed the secondary. The following year was a complete 360 from the previous performance and led to one of the best secondaries in the nation in '11. In '08, same thing. Javier and Marquis Johnson were both picked on (though not as much), but improved dramatically in '09. Experience is huge when it comes to playing DB. This is not saying someone like Cyrus Jones will be an all-american, but he should be more respected in terms of coverage than he was last year. As will Tony Brown.

Forgot about Georgia Tech. They should challenge fsu for the acc again. I love their offense.

Most Overrated overall: Notre Dame - doesn't need to be explained
Most Overrated SEC: LSU - can't be explained to those that need it explained.

Most Underrated: Oklahoma St (they will be 3rd in B12)
Most Underrated SEC: Missouri: how many times does Mizzou have to win SECe to be ranked better than 7th in the SEC?

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have you seen their (Ga Tech's) schedule? They have one of the toughest scheds in the country, despite being in the ACC

They play: Notre Dame, Clemson, FSU and UGA - that is 4 legit "top tier" games

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Not to mention that, if they make it to the conference championship game, chances are they'll be playing either Clemson or FSU again...