All that needs to be said to sum up how wild this college football season has already been, is that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the AP preseason poll — Texas and Penn State — are now out of the rankings entirely after just six weeks.
The AP poll has seen considerable weekly shuffling, which is what makes college football so fun.
Ahead of the Week 7 college slate, let’s critique the latest rankings to spotlight which teams look the most overrated and underrated, which unranked teams are knocking on the door and the big games this week that will shake everything up once again.
Most overrated
No. 6 Oklahoma
The Sooners are 5-0 and may have weathered quarterback John Mateer’s broken throwing hand, as he’s reportedly pushing to play this week vs. Texas. But their two wins over Power Four opponents came against a ranked Michigan team, yes, but one with freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood making his first career road start; and home against a pretty mediocre Auburn team that pushed the Sooners most of the way.
This is a program that went 6-7 last year, including 2-6 in the SEC in its first season in the conference. Maybe Oklahoma is ready to prove it’s for real, but that’s the key — prove it, which still has to happen.
At moment, there are more accomplished teams ranked below the Sooners, like No. 7 Indiana (which beat a then-top-10 Illinois team 63-10) and No. 9 Texas Tech (which has won every game by at least 24 points, including against Utah and Houston squads that haven’t lost to any other teams but the Red Raiders). It’s also highly likely that one-loss Alabama and Georgia prove to be better teams than Oklahoma.
Most underrated
No. 19 Virginia
The Cavaliers are ranked for the first time since 2019 and certainly weren’t expected to be in this position. Perception tends to factor too much into these decisions, relative to straight resume.
Throw out what the college football world expected of Virginia this year and respect what it has done — upsetting a then-top-10 Florida State team at home and avoiding a letdown the next week by beating a previously-undefeated Louisville team on the road.
The Cavaliers are 5-1 with their lone loss coming by a 25-21 margin in Week 2 on the road against a decent NC State team. Meanwhile, they won their three nonconference games over Coastal Carolina, William & Mary and Stanford by 28 points or more.
Virginia is a better 5-1 than No. 17 Illinois, which again lost by 53 points to Indiana and has a better resume than No. 18 BYU (even at 5-0 the Cougars’ best win is by three points over Colorado). The case could also be made Virginia has done more than No. 15 Michigan and even No. 13 Georgia Tech (which outside of a narrow win over a middling Clemson team has not beaten anyone of note).
Most likely to move into the rankings
Cincinnati: The Bearcats (4-1) just missed breaking into the rankings after their 38-30 win over then-No. 14 Iowa State last week, handing the Cyclones their first loss. Cincinnati’s only loss came in Week 1, 20-17 to Nebraska. It hosts UCF, which is 0-2 in the Big 12, this week. With a win, the Bearcats should claim whatever spot opens up near the back end of the AP top 25.
Texas: For as poorly as the Longhorns played in their loss at Florida last weekend, they still landed second in the “others receiving votes” part of the poll and have a prime opportunity to hop back in if they can beat No. 6 Oklahoma at home this week.
USC: The Trojans are 4-1 with their lone loss coming 34-32 on the road on a last-second field goal by Illinois. They host No. 15 Michigan on Saturday and are actually 1.5-point favorites.