Andrew Grimes | St Petersburg College

Every year when the preseason polls are released and the chatter for the CFP begins there are teams that either get too much hype and teams who don’t get enough hype. These teams seem to get a lot of the media attention saying they are legit but seem to underperform. By no means am I saying these teams aren’t good or wont have good season but I don’t believe they are worthy of getting as much air time as other teams do.

The three teams who are overrated in the CFP:

Honorable mention: Florida State

While they usually are a stacked team it seems like they have been very underwhelming to watch in recent memory. They did go 13-1 in 2014–I’ll give credit where it’s due–BUT they were very close to finishing 7-5 and they did throttled by Oregon in the Semi-Finals. Then had back-to-back 10-3 seasons where they got a lot of CFP hype but lost to opponents like Georgia Tech, Houston, North Carolina, and Louisville. All teams that Florida State is clearly better than. As of now they remain off my official Top 3, but if they continue this kind of performance they might find a spot on the list next year.

Washington

2016: 12-2 (1st)

2015: 7-6 (4th)

2014: 8-6 (3rd)

This team will be no pushover this year but I find it hard to believe they will be a CFP contender again. Losing eight players to the NFL will be especially tough since Washington is not as good on the recruiting trail as other superior teams. Coach Peterson has done a fine job but they were given a generous ranking being ranked either in the country. I will have to see more seasons like last year before I start buying them as a legit CFP team. Last years team was special but I don’t believe we will see an encore.

Michigan

2016: 10-3 (3rd)

2015: 10-3 (3rd)

Coach Harbaugh will always make people believers in whatever team he has, whether it was one of his Stanford or 49ers teams and now his Michigan teams. Yet I remain skeptical. They lost a lot of experience and while he has done really well as far as recruiting I find it hard to believe that he will able to get over the hump this year. With a less experienced team, they will have to go up against teams tough opponents such as: Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and having to play Florida on opening weekend in Dallas. The future is bright but right now is not their time.

LSU

2016: 8-4 (3rd)

2015: 9-3 (3rd)

2014: 8-5 (5th)

2013: 10-3 (3rd)

2012: 10-3 (3rd)

This one is a no-brainer. They are that wanna be frat guy who says he throws amazing parties, but when you get there there is only half a six pack of lite beer with a ping pong table in his mom’s basement with no net. LSU is constantly finishing as one of the best classes in recruiting, yet has trouble finishing higher than third place in their own division. Sure the SEC West is tough but they can never seem to win the important game nor find any success against Alabama. Even teams like Ole Miss and Texas A&M have found some success, while the Tigers have found none. I find it unlikely that things change right away in favor for LSU. They might be a good team but they are the biggest pretenders in college football.