College Football’s Most Overrated Teams in AP Top 25 After Week 6

Every so often, a nondescript weekend of college football turns into one of the wildest slate of games imaginable. That was certainly the game for Week 6 of the 2024 season, as seven teams in the AP Top 25 lost, including five teams ranked in the top 11 spots of last week’s poll.

No. 1 Alabama lost at Vanderbilt for the first time in 40 years, falling in a shootout to Diego Pavia and the Commodores , 40-35. No. 4 Tennessee lost a surprising low-scoring affair at Arkansas , 19-14. No. 9 Mizzou fell in the only game between Top 25 teams, 41-10 at No. 25 Texas A&M.

A pair of ranked Big Ten programs also took losses. No. 10 Michigan fell in a national championship rematch at Washington, 27-17, while No. 11 USC dropped a game at Minnesota , 24-17.

No. 22 Louisville lost its second consecutive game, falling to new ACC foe SMU 34-27. UNLV, which was tied with Texas A&M in the last spot of the Top 25, lost in overtime to Syracuse on Friday night, 44-41.

The Aggies were the big winner of the week, jumping up 10 spots to No. 15. Two ACC programs have joined the rankings, 5-0 Pitt (No. 22) and 5-1 SMU (No. 25).

After the craziest weekend of college football in recent memory, here are the three most overrated teams in this week’s AP Top 25.

Disagree with our rankings? Let us know in the comments below.

No. 6 Miami Hurricanes

Miami has been dancing on a razor’s edge over the last few weeks. A week after a 10-point fourth quarter comeback against Virginia Tech, the Hurricanes rallied from a 35-10 deficit to knock off Cal. Both games featured extremely consequential fourth quarter refereeing decisions that directly impacted the outcomes.

The U’s 38-34 win over Virginia Tech ended on a controversial Hail Mary. It was difficult to determine which team ultimately came down with the ball in the end zone, which was initially ruled a game-winning touchdown for the Hokies. Upon review, it was determined that a Miami player touched the ball while out of bounds, making it an incomplete pass. The ACC later said that this call was correct , but considering the standard of “indisputable video evidence” to overturn the call on the field, it remains questionable.

MIami deserves credit for its perseverance after a poor first half at Cal, and the Golden Bears can’t blame one call for their loss after being up by 25 points. Even so, they likely hold on if ‘Canes linebacker Wesley Bissainthe is called for targeting on his helmet-to-helmet hit on Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

The play was reviewed, but no penalty was applied. Cal punted, pinning Miami back at its own eight-yard line, but Heisman candidate Cam Ward found Xavier Restrepo for 77 yards on the opening play of the drive. He connected with Elijah Arroyo for a five-yard go-ahead touchdown just five plays later, which proved to be the decisive score.

Miami remains in the driver’s seat to win the ACC and 6-0 is 6-0, but the ‘Canes are starting to show some real cracks as they get into conference play.

No. 21 Missouri Tigers

Missouri has yet to put together a performance befitting the top 10 ranking that the Tigers held for most of the season. They were able to sneak by in home games against Boston College and Vanderbilt, but Saturday’s road trip to Texas A&M exposed many of the issues that have been bubbling under the surface for Eliah Drinkwitz’s team.

Mizzou’s offense entered with significant hype, with the return of veteran quarterback Brady Cook and one of the best wide receiver combinations in the country: Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr. Cook has been shaky throughout the year and had his worst start since early 2022 against the Aggies. The senior completed just 13-of-31 passes for 186 yards with a touchdown, averaging just six yards per attempt. Burden and Wease had moments, but one of the biggest — a 75-yard Burden touchdown that would have cut an early Aggies lead to 10-6 — was waved off for an ineligible man downfield penalty.

Missouri’s offensive line was dominated up front by an Aggies defense that sacked Cook six times and recorded eight tackles for loss. Running back Nate Noel has been productive stepping in for last year’s star rusher, Los Angeles Rams back Cody Schrader, but he couldn’t get anything going against Texas A&M, rushing 10 times for just 30 yards. Missouri averaged just 2.3 yards per carry as a team.

The Tigers defense was carved up by a resurgent Conner Weigman, who was somewhat unexpectedly reinserted into the Aggies lineup after being a gametime decision. Weigman was 18-for-22 for 276 yards in the game, posting the best passer rating against a Power Four opponent of his college career (187.2).

Texas A&M, which opened the season with a home loss to Notre Dame, now looks to be right back in the heat of the College Football Playoff race. At 4-1, there’s no reason that Missouri can’t play its way back into the conversation, but the Tigers haven’t had one performance this season that made them look like a real contender.

No. 24 Michigan Wolverines

Michigan and Washington had similar offseasons after facing off in January’s national championship game. The Wolverines lost head coach Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers, while the Huskies saw head coach Kalen DeBoer leave for Alabama. Both rosters had significant losses to the NFL, and Washington had a fair amount of transfer portal attrition.

On paper, Michigan was better positioned to hit the ground running in 2024, with a number of significant holdovers from the national title team and more coaching continuity with Sherrone Moore, the team’s interim coach for a large portion of the 2023 season, taking over for Harbaugh. Washington was the team that looked further along on Saturday, however, beating Michigan in their first game as Big Ten opponents 27-24.

Michigan has been a regular in this weekly piece , in large part due to its inability to replace J.J. McCarthy at quarterback. The Wolverines trotted out their third QB of the season on Saturday, with Jack Tuttle replacing Alex Orji after UM fell behind 14-0. He opened with a touchdown drive, but didn’t fare much better than Orji or the team’s early season starter, Davis Warren, finishing 10-of-18 for just 98 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Michigan has eclipsed 200 passing yards just once this season, in a blowout loss to Texas. Only four teams in the FBS have fewer passing yards per game than Michigan (115), and two of them are service academies that run the option: Army and Air Force.

Washington also lost its 2023 starter, Michael Penix, to the NFL, but Jedd Fisch dipped into the transfer portal to land longtime Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers in the transfer portal. Rogers already has 1,625 yards, 12 touchdowns and just one interception this season, and was productive against Michigan’s talented defense, throwing for 271 yards and two touchdowns to one pick. The difference highlights the poor approach that Michigan had this offseason, even if the timing of Harbaugh’s departure wasn’t ideal for finding an answer at quarterback.

Michigan’s struggles don’t fall solely on the quarterback situation. While running back Kalel Mullings has been impressive (589 yards, six touchdowns) and tight end Colston Loveland is a reliable target, the team lacks game-breaking players. Sophomore Semaj Morgan has just 78 receiving yards on the season, and he leads all of Michigan’s wide receivers. Even Donovan Edwards, perhaps Michigan’s most established offensive weapon, has failed to break out this year, and has lost a significant chunk of his workload to Mullings. Edwards had his best offensive game against Washington, running the ball 14 times for 95 yards and a touchdown, but even that performance feels lacking after he slipped at the line of scrimmage on a play where he looked to have a sure first down, if not more. The rebuild offensive line has also struggled at time. Pro Football Focus ranks UM as just the 10th best run blocking and 13th best pass blocking unit in the Big Ten.

The Wolverines defense is still a fearsome unit, but star cornerback Will Johnson doesn’t look to be fully healthy and the rest of the secondary is fairly vulnerable. Last year’s defense could shut down opponents and let the offense go into full ground and pound mode. The 2024 defense just isn’t at that same level.

Michigan fell substantially in this week’s poll , but keeping the Wolverines in the Top 25 feels like a stretch at this point. Their best win is over USC, which fell out of the Top 25 this week. Teams like No. 25 SMU, unranked Washington and undefeated Army and Navy teams all seem like more worthy choices at this point.

More college football coverage:

• College Football Rankings: Athlon Sports Top 25 (After Week 6)
• Vanderbilt QB Pavia Cements Place As a CFB Folk Hero With Upset of Alabama
• College Football Group of 5 Coaches Poll: Week 5