College Football Preview: Which Teams Do Fans Consider the Most Overrated?

College football is back this weekend, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, I know some teams played last weekend, including a North Carolina-Texas Christian matchup in Dublin, but I think that the whole “Week 0” nonsense is silly.

Now that I’ve brought my “Week 0” snobbery out into the open, I’d like to draw your attention to an infographic that the sports betting site BetOnline sent me. It tracks the top 10 teams that college football fans have pegged as overrated going into the season.

Top 10 Most Overrated College Football Teams, 2026

Side note: Conspicuously absent from this list is Georgia because everybody has apparently gone back to sleeping on the two-time defending SEC champions. Kirby Smart thanks you for the bulletin-board material. And Go Dawgs.

Now, I’m not going to act as if this is the all-time definitive list or pretend that I completely agree with it, but it’s definitely interesting. Nevertheless, these fans may have a point, so let’s look at the narratives that may be leading fans to consider these teams to be overrated.

LSU: The Kiffin effect

We can place the hype surrounding Louisiana State University at the feet of one man: new head coach Lane Kiffin. Here’s a man with an entertaining, outsized personality who makes waves and headlines everywhere he goes. He speaks his mind, and you don’t have to guess what he’s thinking.

Kiffin has drawn some ire over his willingness to allow players who went to the NFL and didn’t make it there to come back and play college ball at LSU. Coaches and conference commissioners have balked at this idea, including Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who called the move “embarrassing.”

Ole Miss fans are still sore about his departure, which will make September 19’s primetime game between the two schools one to watch and pop popcorn for. But new coaches, schemes, and players may still leave questions unanswered as the season dawns.

Notre Dame: The perennial hypemaster

If there’s one name that has withstood the test of time and the constantly churning waters of the college football landscape, it’s Notre Dame. We’re talking about a name-brand school here that breeds both loyal fandom and resentment. We could consider Notre Dame the New York Yankees of college football.

Notre Dame had a solid season last year, despite some early stumbles. The team also courted controversy when it refused a bowl game invitation after the College Football Playoff Committee snubbed the Fighting Irish in favor of Miami and Texas A&M.

Head coach Marcus Freeman has a stellar returning quarterback, but his tandem of running backs is gone, which leaves some questions in place. I think Freeman is an excellent coach, and I’d like to see him do well, but I also can’t help but think that part of Notre Dame’s hype is that the race-obsessed sports media is desperate to see a black head coach win a national championship.

Notre Dame can often be a victim of its own history. When the standard is bringing your team back to national championship glory, being merely good isn’t good enough. And when you’re successful enough to get close to that level, it invites a lot of hyperbole that can be tough to get past.

Texas: How do you solve a problem like Arch Manning?

Much in the same way that LSU contends with the spotlight of one man, the Texas Longhorns have one player carrying the hype load: quarterback Arch Manning. Manning starts every season at the top of the list of Heisman contenders, and he commandeers a ridiculous amount of the headlines.

Last year, Manning had his struggles but improved tremendously over the season. However, some football insiders don’t consider him a top-five quarterback, much less the standard-bearer that the sports media considers him to be.

Look, nobody can realistically live up to the expectations of the Manning name and the standard that Texas wants to set. The Longhorns are a terrific team with an undoubtedly successful season ahead. But national championship contenders? Fans aren’t sold.

Oregon: How close can the Ducks come to a natty?

Confession: I’m a fan of Dan Lanning; I have been ever since he was part of Kirby Smart’s coaching staff at Georgia. I think he’s a heck of a coach, and I think that he has what it takes to lead Oregon to new heights.

Oregon has that insane waterfall of Nike money to recruit and bring talent in, and Lanning has come awfully close to taking the Ducks all the way. But fans perceive that Oregon may have hit a ceiling under Lanning. The Ducks have potential, but is potential enough?

USC: Has Lincoln Riley run out of the benefit of the doubt?

The University of Southern California is one of those college football brand names. For years, the dawn of the season brings discussion of the Trojans in hushed and reverent tones. And for the past four years, the question has loomed: Is this the year head coach Lincoln Riley will break through?

With a 35-18 record over four years and no playoff appearances to rest on, Riley’s reputation is running on fumes. And he’s his third defensive coordinator, so the Trojans can’t get traction on a defense that matches Riley’s offensive prowess.

Riley can only coast on USC’s reputation for so long. He needs results to back up the hype that fans apparently see through.

Ohio State: Buckeyes with targets on their backs

We’re back with another name-brand team: the Ohio State Buckeyes. We expect to hear the Buckeyes in the conversation every season, and as sure as the sun rose this morning, Ohio State came in with a preseason number-one ranking in the polls.

Naturally, rivals will claim that the Buckeyes are overrated. Calling Ohio State overrated is practically a preseason civic ritual in Michigan. This season, the area where the Buckeyes will have to prove themselves most is on defense. Replacing eight defensive starters is an unenviable task. The proof of the preseason hype may rest on how quickly Ohio State’s defense can overcome defensive growing pains.

The Buckeyes face a tough schedule despite plenty of undeniable talent. This season will obviously rest on how this team handles that brutal schedule.

Alabama: The shadow looms large

You can’t talk about college football without mentioning Alabama. Earlier I talked about how USC’s Lincoln Riley has done a certain amount of coasting on the Trojans’ perennial reputation. Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer is trying to live up to one of the most impressive names in football history: Nick Saban.

It’s hard to question DeBoer’s success with the Crimson Tide. He has coached this team with a record that plenty of coaches would envy; the trouble is that DeBoer is no Saban.

DeBoer is rebuilding his offense going into the new season. Will it be enough? The biggest question is whether DeBoer is capable of bringing Bama back to the standard its fans are used to. And until he can prove it, it’s easy to see why some fans think the Tide is overrated.

Indiana: One-season wonders or here to stay?

The Hoosiers may be the victims of their own success. An out-of-the-blue 16-0 national championship run made Indiana the media’s darling last season. You couldn’t hop on a sports media site or social media channel without seeing head coach Curt Cignetti or quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

That ubiquity may have a lot to do with fans putting them on the list of overrated teams. Cignetti and his team have a huge achievement to live up to — one that seemingly came out of nowhere. Can they do it again?

None of this is skepticism about last year’s championship. It is doubt about repeatability. Fans are asking whether Cignetti has created a lasting national power or caught lightning in a transfer-portal bottle.

For Our VIPs: Hoosiers Everywhere on TV, Nowhere at Publix

**Miami: 'The U is back!' Is it really?**

Miami fans have been desperate for the Hurricanes to return to greatness. Former Georgia head coach Mark Richt put Miami on a trajectory that current head coach Mario Cristobal has seized upon.

For the past couple of seasons, the Hurricanes have relied on transfer quarterbacks to help them succeed. This year is no exception, with Duke transfer Darian Mensah filling that role. Will he capture the same magic that Cam Ward and Carson Beck did for the Canes? (I can’t believe I used “magic” and “Carson Beck” in the same sentence.)

Miami has earned its ranking more than most teams here, but years of premature “Miami is back” declarations created a skepticism debt. Even after a championship-game appearance, some fans are waiting for the Hurricanes to prove that last year wasn’t another one-season surge built around a rental quarterback.

Oklahoma: So much to prove

The Sooners’ 2026 success hangs on two factors: the health of quarterback John Mateer and a potentially elite defense. Last year’s 10-3 record and a playoff appearance demonstrated that Oklahoma was a force to reckon with, but will that translate into success this season?

Oklahoma faces one of the toughest schedules in the Southeastern Conference, which is a gauntlet even when a team’s conference schedule is relatively easy. Predictions are all over the map, ranging from the Sooners playing for a natty to missing the playoffs altogether.

Needless to say, the stakes are high for Oklahoma. It won’t take long to see how the Sooners will fare in SEC play, and that will determine the team’s postseason destiny.

Conclusion

I want to remind y’all that this isn’t my ranking, and it’s not necessarily meant to reflect teams that are overrated across the board. Instead, the list identifies the ten programs carrying the largest gap between public attention and public trust.

The real work will happen on the gridiron over the next few months. Some of these teams may reveal themselves early, while others may take several weeks to expose their true colors. No matter what, it’s going to be a fun season, and I can’t wait to tailgate, watch games, and ride the emotional rollercoaster that is college football.

The sports media may overhype teams, but the political media’s bias is in a league of its own. PJ Media cuts through the spin and brings you reporting and commentary you won’t find in the legacy press. Join PJ Media VIP today and use the promo code FIGHT to save 60% on your membership. You’ll unlock exclusive columns and podcasts while helping us keep taking the fight to the media establishment.