FSU football is again finding themselves as one of the top ranked teams in the preseason – and one site says that continues a trend of them being overrated.
In the coming days, you are going to hear even more about the upcoming season opening monster showdown between FSU football and Alabama – yes, even more than you have already heard for the last eight months. That’s what happens when you have a team ranked No.1 in the country taking on a team named No. 3 nationally.
It’s the third time in the last four seasons that the Seminoles are starting the year ranked in the top four nationally – and each season, the Noles didn’t finish at that spot or higher from where they started. It’s something that has some fans on notice entering the upcoming season, especially after starting 2016 ranked fourth and having three losses in October.
For one website, it marks a disturbing trend that has them using a word to describe FSU football that will make those supporting the Seminoles mad: overrated.
Fivethrityeight.com, a site that crunches the numbers for issues involving sports and politics among other issues, put together a list of the most overrated teams using the preseason AP rankings for the last 20 season (1997-2016). In the mix includes FSU football:
"No. 1 – Notre Dame (Avg. Ranking 25.1, 10 percent same, 20 percent better, 70 percent worse)No. 2 – Texas (Avg. Ranking 13.4, 10 percent same, 20 percent better, 70 percent worse)No. 3 – FLORIDA STATE (Avg. Ranking 9.4, 10 percent same, 20 percent better, 70 percent worse)No. 4 – Penn State (Avg. Ranking 25.2, 5 percent same, 25 percent better, 70 percent worse)No. 5 – Florida (Avg. Ranking 12, 30 percent better, 70 percent worse)"
Now, the one dynamic in this “study” that people might seem to forget is that FSU football, over much of that span, was a top 10 ranked team – 12 times to be exact. When you are starting the season ranked so high, there is very little room for error and if you start the year ranked fourth and finish ninth, you aren’t “overrated.”
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As Florida State starts this season ranked in the top three, this theory of overrated means the Seminoles would be called that if they don’t make the College Football Playoff. While that would be disappointing for many, an 11-1 or 10-2 regular season that could still bring an ACC crown and Orange Bowl berth would still be a heck of a season – and the furthest thing from being overrated.