Link: The Most Overrated Teams of the Last Decade

ALA2262

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By: Jason Lisk | July 21, 2016 12:30 pm ET

Which football programs of the last decade have been the most overrated? To answer this question, I took an objective approach by comparing the preseason AP Top 25 to the end of season poll after the bowl games, for every year since 2006. (all info from LINK /.)

LINK /

3 SEC teams.

 

Bamabuzzard

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Not glossing over Les' incompetence but seeing that he's been in the same conference as one of the top five greatest coaches in college football history for the last ten years and playing against a team with arguably THE greatest championship run in college football history. I have some reservations putting LSU on this list. Take away the timing of Bama/Saban and odds are LSU has two more titles since 2007 rather than zero. Just my opinion though.
 

tidefanbeezer

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Not glossing over Les' incompetence but seeing that he's been in the same conference as one of the top five greatest coaches in college football history for the last ten years and playing against a team with arguably THE greatest championship run in college football history. I have some reservations putting LSU on this list. Take away the timing of Bama/Saban and odds are LSU has two more titles since 2007 rather than zero. Just my opinion though.
Agreed. He's fielded some great teams. Had they won the rematch in 2011, you would probably hear that team mentioned as one of the all-time greats.

LSU shouldn't be on this list.
 

Cruiser

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Would be more interesting if overrated teams chosen based on a a particular years performance vs expectations.
For instance; Barn 2015. any other nominations?
 

Isaiah 63:1

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Agreed. He's fielded some great teams. Had they won the rematch in 2011, you would probably hear that team mentioned as one of the all-time greats.

LSU shouldn't be on this list.
Take a few seconds to read his methodology:

"I took an objective approach by comparing the preseason AP Top 25 to the end of season poll after the bowl games, for every year since 2006. (all info from http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/.) For programs not ranked at the end of the season, I assigned an end-of-year ranking of “30” for uniformity (though certainly some seasons are worse than others). That way, a team ranked 25th would still get a penalty, but it wouldn’t be the same as the fifth overall team finishing unranked (and more in line with the fifth overall team finishing 10th)...'
I'm not saying I agree with it, but if you grant his methodology the rest is just simple math, by virtue of which LSU makes the list...
 

RammerJammer14

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IMO this year's Tennessee team is destined for such a list.
Actually, if Tenn hadn't so horrifically tanked as a program after 2008 that no one thought they would be good, they would be up there I think. I recall several seasons between 2004-2007 that Tenn was ranked pretty high, only to finish in the mid to high teens and no East title.

Much like UGA


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

LA4Bama

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Take a few seconds to read his methodology:



I'm not saying I agree with it, but if you grant his methodology the rest is just simple math, by virtue of which LSU makes the list...

I'm not a huge fan of these lists with so called "methodology", and numbers never tell the whole story anyway. There's no way to know if these teams were overrated or underachieving, or sabotaged by injuries, or whatever.

What we do know is they are elite at being among the most disappointing (or at least disappointed) programs in the last decade. Not sure FSU really belongs here. They held on to Bowden too long but I don't think the fan base is that dejected about their decade. As good as they've been, the LSU program has not been disappointing, but as good as they've been LSU fans have to be disappointed with certain results (even though they got a championship in 2007). Likewise Florida with a championship, but other years they have been disappointing. I would drop Florida add Michigan to the list. Also might drop West Virginia (who really ever thought WVU would be a world beater?) and let Tennessee sneak in; they have to be disappointed with the last decade. Also if we call it the most disappointing list, then we can add Penn State in the #1 slot in a run away.
 

Isaiah 63:1

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I'm not a huge fan of these lists with so called "methodology", and numbers never tell the whole story anyway. There's no way to know if these teams were overrated or underachieving, or sabotaged by injuries, or whatever.

What we do know is they are elite at being among the most disappointing (or at least disappointed) programs in the last decade. Not sure FSU really belongs here. They held on to Bowden too long but I don't think the fan base is that dejected about their decade. As good as they've been, the LSU program has not been disappointing, but as good as they've been LSU fans have to be disappointed with certain results (even though they got a championship in 2007). Likewise Florida with a championship, but other years they have been disappointing. I would drop Florida add Michigan to the list. Also might drop West Virginia (who really ever thought WVU would be a world beater?) and let Tennessee sneak in; they have to be disappointed with the last decade. Also if we call it the most disappointing list, then we can add Penn State in the #1 slot in a run away.
Your list has a "methodology" - a subjective one: your (immeasurable) opinion.

His list has a methodology - an objective one: the (measurable) aggregate difference between teams' pre-season and post-season rankings over the last nine seasons. Of course, pre-season ranking are opinions, as to an arguably lesser degree are post-season rankings, but that's the whole point of his story - the extent to which teams' seasons diverged from expectations, repeatedly over several years.
 

rgw

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If not for the brilliance of Vince Young, I think Texas and Georgia would easily hold the belt for accomplishing the least with the most since 2000. And this isn't to say they didn't have some great teams that just caught bad breaks but they've also had some really talented teams that just straight up flopped.

The back-end of Carroll USC and Lane Kiffin's tenure also just flopped or blew it several times too. They were basically operating like us for nearly a decade and got one media anointed title, one real title, one tough-luck all-timer performance against them in another title, and a whole bunch of regular season no-shows sprinkled over the course of their seasons following 2005.
 

LA4Bama

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Your list has a "methodology" - a subjective one: your (immeasurable) opinion.

His list has a methodology - an objective one: the (measurable) aggregate difference between teams' pre-season and post-season rankings over the last nine seasons. Of course, pre-season ranking are opinions, as to an arguably lesser degree are post-season rankings, but that's the whole point of his story - the extent to which teams' seasons diverged from expectations, repeatedly over several years.
Well then, I think you are using "methodology" in a very loose sense, watering it down to mean very little. I do not claim to have a method other than reflection on the last decade as I imperfectly recall it. But I also don't think the author of the article has much of one either. Using numbers that happen to be lying around doesn't really make something objective. In any case, I was offering an observation I considered complementary to the discussion. If it didn't stimulate your thought, let it pass.
 

Redwood Forrest

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I can't believe Virginia Tech is on the list. They suck at recruiting year after year and usually overachieve on the field. They should not have been ranked that high to begin with.
 

ALA2262

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I can't believe Virginia Tech is on the list. They suck at recruiting year after year and usually overachieve on the field. They should not have been ranked that high to begin with.
Your last sentence could be said about any of them. In fact that is why all of them are on the list.
 

CajunCrimson

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I'm not a huge fan of these lists with so called "methodology", and numbers never tell the whole story anyway. There's no way to know if these teams were overrated or underachieving, or sabotaged by injuries, or whatever.

What we do know is they are elite at being among the most disappointing (or at least disappointed) programs in the last decade. Not sure FSU really belongs here. They held on to Bowden too long but I don't think the fan base is that dejected about their decade. As good as they've been, the LSU program has not been disappointing, but as good as they've been LSU fans have to be disappointed with certain results (even though they got a championship in 2007). Likewise Florida with a championship, but other years they have been disappointing. I would drop Florida add Michigan to the list. Also might drop West Virginia (who really ever thought WVU would be a world beater?) and let Tennessee sneak in; they have to be disappointed with the last decade. Also if we call it the most disappointing list, then we can add Penn State in the #1 slot in a run away.
4 losses in the SEC West is not like losing four in the ACC is it....
 

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