The 2023 college football season is well underway, with three weeks gone and every team having played at least two games. There are still an immeasurable number of twists and turns left this season, but the story of the 2023 campaign is beginning to take shape. This weekend’s slate is not full of marquee matchups, with several top 25 teams as heavy favorites in games they cannot afford to lose. While the AP Top 25 rankings don’t matter yet, the polls shape opinions and determine how people view each team as the College Football Playoff Committee forms to make their list.
Which teams are currently undervalued and underrated in the AP Top 25?
Washington Huskies – No. 8
Part of the issue with the Top 25 poll is that no two pollsters approach it the same way. Some are strictly on the nebulous “eye test,” which is impossible to use accurately because no individual can get eyes on every team every week. Others use only analytics like power ratings. The power ratings are excellent but don’t always factor in results and overreact to past performance or recruiting rankings. Another approach is to use results, only moving teams up if they win and down if they lose. All that written, the Washington Huskies have been more impressive than a fellow 2-0 team like the Ohio State Buckeyes (ranked sixth). Michael Penix Jr. has completed 73.1 percent of his passes and has thrown for 859 yards with eight touchdowns. The Huskies have three terrific wide receivers and an improved defense. Washington waxed Boise State 56-19 and hammered Tulsa 43-10. The Huskies are not criminally underrated, but they have shown much more than Ohio State and have a bonafide answer at the sport’s most important position.
Kansas State Wildcats – No. 15
The reigning Big 12 Champions don’t reside in Austin, Texas. You’d hardly know it by listening to or watching the college football coverage nationally, but Texas did not win the Big 12 last season. Neither did Oklahoma or even TCU. That distinction belongs to the 2-0 Kansas State Wildcats. Will Howard returns at quarterback, and the Wildcats have picked up where they left off by bludgeoning opponents with a physical attack and winning games comfortably. Howard has completed 67.2% of his passes and added three rushing touchdowns as KSU beat SE Missouri and Troy in blowout fashion. The Wildcats are ranked where they are for understandable reasons, but they should not be underestimated.
Colorado Buffaloes – No. 18
Again, how a person is ranking teams goes a long way toward where they put Colorado. Deion Sanders has invigorated the Buffaloes program, but Colorado should be nowhere near a Top 25 poll if you rank strictly on power ratings. However, the power ratings might be wrong because most rating systems have difficulty evaluating a team with so many new players. Some of those players are coming from the FCS ranks, including star quarterback Shedeur Sanders. It doesn’t matter where they come from; guys like Sanders, receiver Xavier Weaver, and two-way Travis Hunter are stars. Very few teams have a better overall resume through two games than Colorado. The Buffaloes beat Texas Christian and hammered Nebraska in the first two weeks. That is wins over two Power Five programs, something few teams can boast. Eventually, a lack of top-end depth and other groups figuring out Sean Lewis‘s offense will catch up to Colorado, and they’ll drop a few games. For now, they deserve to be higher in the top 25.
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