Preseason college football rankings should always be taken with a grain of salt.
Texas was the center of the drama surrounding the release of USA TODAY Sports’ Coaches Poll on Monday. The Longhorns surprisingly received one first-place vote from another head coach. Steve Sarkisian was not listed as one of the voters this year.
Sarkisian has also been very vocal of not understanding the meaning behind preseason polls. Texas’ second-year head coach believes rankings should reflect the way you play and the record you have.
He certainly has a point, as many programs around the country are being hyped up and/or looked over due to all the movement in the transfer portal this offseason. Texas is one of the “wait and see” teams. The same could be said for Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans.
Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports’ dissected the five most overrated teams in the Coaches Poll. To no surprise, Texas and USC were both included on the list.
According to Smith, there’s too much optimism surrounding Texas A&M given their difficult schedule and uncertainty at quarterback, while Cincinnati and Pittsburgh lost several key players. Here’s a look at Smith’s five overrated teams in the latest preseason poll.