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The 2020 AP Top 25 preseason poll was released on Monday, and the Associated Press decided to release the poll with all 130 eligible FBS teams, even those who have already opted out of the 2020 season. that such, it’s a little hard to get up in the arms to know which teams are overrated and underrated and damn, my arms are still there, and I want to put everything in place!
So I’m taking a slightly different approach to my annual reactions to the AP Top 25 pre-season poll this year. I will only judge the ranking of the teams that still plan to play this fall. It doesn’t make much sense to call a team that doesn’t play overrated or underrated because I don’t get the chance to gloat if I’m right, or laugh at me if I’m wrong.
I’m looking at which schools will participate in the AP Top 25 poll and which schools will have received votes and judge based on that.
Overrated: # 11 Auburn
When I reacted to the Coaching Poll’s Top 25 earlier this month, Auburn didn’t make the cut but was on the verge of a precipice. I was going back and forth between Auburn and his colleague at SEC West # 13 Texas A&M School. I picked Texas A&M to consider it overrated then, and this time it’s Auburn’s turn. I’m not just trying to be right here, though. It’s more of a statement of intent.
Having Texas A&M in 13th place in the Top 25 in the Coaching Poll seemed a bit high, but I also wrote a story during the offseason in which I called the Aggies a dark horse. I still believe a lot of what I’ve written to be true, even though the team schedule has become more difficult in the updated SEC version. But Auburn too.
The truth is, if I choose between A&M or Auburn to be the team that will meet or exceed expectations in 2020, I go with A&M. As crazy as it may sound to some, I trust Kellen Mond more on quarterback than Bo Nix. Nix’s accuracy in throwing the ball last season was a real concern for me, and I’m not sure those issues can be addressed in an unusual offseason that didn’t include spring practice. Chad Morris is back on the offensive, and while Morris is a creative thinker who knows how to use his staff, he’s also a coach who enjoys throwing the ball.
So either Morris is going to have to adapt to Nix, or Nix will have to adapt to Morris. I think the former is the most likely scenario, because it is the one with the most chances of success. It’s just, I don’t know how far it will end.
So that’s me, officially declaring myself skeptical of Auburn for everyone to see.
Underrated: No.25 Tennessee
I ranked Flights as an underrated team in my feedback to the Coaching Survey because they weren’t ranked. Well, they made the top 25 in the AP Top 25 poll, but they should be even higher.
If we look at the teams in the poll ranked higher than Tennessee planning to play this fall, we see Iowa State’s No.23, UCF No.21, and Cincinnati’s No.20 directly above them. . UCF and Cincinnati with whom I will not quibble. The Bearcats won 11 games last season and UCF has been a Group of Five powerhouse for a few years now.
Iowa State went 7-6 last year and 5-4 in the Big 12. Tennessee had 8-5 and went 5-3 in the SEC. So not only did Tennessee have a better record, they achieved this record in the toughest conference.
I have nothing against the state of Iowa, and I fully understand why people are brought up on it every year. But the Cyclones have yet to meet those expectations. They started last season ranked 21st and ended the year without a ranking. Iowa State hasn’t completed any season ranked in the AP’s top 25 since 2000, when it was No.25. While I’m betting a lot of money, that streak ends this season (the AP won’t continue not to rank teams that don’t play), I’d also bet Tennessee finished better.
This is one of those cases where I think there’s a lot of guesswork going on. We’re assuming that with a healthy line of Spencer Sanders, Chuba Hubbard and Tylan Wallace, the Cowboys will win a lot of games. It makes sense to do so, as this is a very talented line-up that few other Big 12 teams can match.
There is, however, one flaw. The flaw is that the state of Oklahoma had this healthy line for the first eight games of last season and was only 5-3. So it’s not like this team is a heavyweight before injuries derailed the season. The Cowboys went 2-0 in games with Sanders and Hubbard healthy, although the wins came at home against a 5-7 TCU team and a 3-9 Kansas team. They were 1-2 with only Hubbard remaining, although both losses came to Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
Still, I’m not convinced Oklahoma State will be a better team than some of the others behind it. Especially in a Big 12 that maybe nobody really has the ability to top Oklahoma, but has a lot of depth in its second and third levels.
Underrated: Unranked Kentucky
Remember last year when Kentucky suffered so many quarterback injuries they were forced to place wide receiver Lynn Bowden under center, give up any semblance of passing offense and still succeed in going 8-5? I guess I was more impressed with this than the voters in the PA. Now, that’s not where I’m going to tell you that Kentucky should have been in the top 25 if the AP included the 130 FBS schools in the preseason poll. This is not the case.
But there are a few teams ahead of him in the land of others receiving votes that probably shouldn’t be ahead. For example, the Louisville team, I remember Kentucky, beat 45-13 last year, or maybe even the Virginia Tech team they beat at the Belk Bowl.
The Wildcats have won 18 games over the past two seasons, but are still consistently treated like the .500 team they were a few years ago.
Miami unranked overrated
Miami is not ranked in the top 25, but it is ranked ahead of teams like Kentucky, Baylor and Virginia. The same Virginia who won the Miami Division (although Miami beat her 17-9) last year.
This is a team from Miami that ended the 2019 season with losses to Duke, FIU and Louisiana Tech. It’s a Miami team that has already lost one of its best players, Gregory Rousseau, who opted out of the season to focus on the NFL draft.
It’s the Miami team that started the 2017 season 10-0 and have gone 13-16 since. This is the team we rank ahead of a team that played in the Orange Bowl last year (Virginia), a team that won 18 games the previous two seasons (Kentucky) and a team that won 11 games. last year (Baylor). .
Having said that, I understand why. Miami has a lot of talent, and he added an exciting quarterback to D’Eriq King. There’s a chance King will raise the floor for Miami’s attack so high that the Canes continue to have a good season. But how about getting them to prove it first this time?
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