[Lefty Noob]

The Florida State Seminoles are the most overrated football team in the country, according to ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach.

"Florida State, which dominated college football during much of the 1990s, has been the sport's most overrated team during the last 10 seasons," says Schlabach. "In seven of the 10 seasons, the Seminoles finished with a lower ranking than they started with. FSU's biggest drop came during the 2002 season, when it started No. 3 and finished No. 21. Last season, the Seminoles were ranked No. 11 in the preseason and finished unranked in the AP poll for the first time in two decades." Do you agree?

ESPN - Schlabach: Preseason polls aren't perfect - College Football

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

The Florida State Seminoles are the most overrated football team in the country, according to ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach.

"Florida State, which dominated college football during much of the 1990s, has been the sport's most overrated team during the last 10 seasons," says Schlabach. "In seven of the 10 seasons, the Seminoles finished with a lower ranking than they started with. FSU's biggest drop came during the 2002 season, when it started No. 3 and finished No. 21. Last season, the Seminoles were ranked No. 11 in the preseason and finished unranked in the AP poll for the first time in two decades." Do you agree?

ESPN - Schlabach: Preseason polls aren't perfect - College Football

How can they be overrated after last season?...they still have the ability to recruit a top class each year, and they do...they are not overrated as much as they may "under perform"...totally different...

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by Gotham Dark Knight

How can they be overrated after last season?...they still have the ability to recruit a top class each year, and they do...they are not overrated as much as they may "under perform"...totally different...

The argument isn't that they're overrated now so much as it is that they have been for the past decade. They've been ranked higher in the preseason than they've finished after the season, and they've done it on a fairly consistant basis.

[darealdeal21@yahoo.]

Originally Posted by Gotham Dark Knight

How can they be overrated after last season?...they still have the ability to recruit a top class each year, and they do...they are not overrated as much as they may "under perform"...totally different...

Thanks for beating me to it. A lot of these analyst don't know their head from their ass. Its easy to kick someone when they're down. Seems like a lot just jump on the FSU hate bandwagon.

[athensnole]

That's kinda funny. Overrated for 10 seasons. that would date back to 1997. I suppose we were overrated in 1999 when we went undefeated, ranked number 1 and with a target on our back, wire to wire.

Sportswriters and sportscasters are so fickle. They have no shame jumping from bandwagon to bandwagon. I get a kick out of listening to them get all breathless and excited predicting doom for a team when they fall behind in a game. they come up with all these statistics which explain exaclty why this happened and why that team is doomed. Then the same team scores and they go digging and all of a sudden it's curtains for the other team and lo and behold they have new stats and theories backing the new prediction.

[Lefty Noob]

A wise person once said, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." This is just proof positive that you can make the statistics say whatever the heck you want. Yeah, these media guys are hilarious, but it is good fodder for discussion. So we've pretty much reached a consensus that the Seminoles aren't the most overrated team of the past decade. So who is?

[athensnole]

Well my first thought for most overrated team would be the development team that made MS Vista but that doesn't count

I hate to say this but it may be a team in the ACC. "V-tech"

Of course the words "overrated" and "Notre Dame" are synonyms aren't they ?

[cwstech]

Originally Posted by athensnole

Well my first thought for most overrated team would be the development team that made MS Vista but that doesn't count

I hate to say this but it may be a team in the ACC. "V-tech"

Of course the words "overrated" and "Notre Dame" are synonyms aren't they ?

I agree with you on all accounts. Especially about VISTA. In the words of the comic book guy from the Simpsons "Worst Operating System Ever".

But I agree also that they Seminoles are overated. They have been overated the last few years. They are not the dominate team they were during the 90's when they ran over the ACC teams like it was no one's business. I don't see them getting back to that point with Bowden at the helm.

"...But I agree also that they Seminoles are overated. They have been overated the last few years. They are not the dominate team they were during the 90's when they ran over the ACC teams like it was no one's business. I don't see them getting back to that point with Bowden at the helm.
"

Well I'm glad I funally actually clicked on the link and read the article before hitting the submit button. Now technically I suppose if a team started the season a preseason number 1 pick and finished number 2 then they are overrated. Everyone knows that a preseason poll is hugely influenced by the final standings the last year. It is true that a high preseason ranking does have some effect upon the final ranking of a team.

1 - Assuming the math in the ESPN article to be correct,

2 - Accepting that the drop or increase in rank from preseason to final ranking is a true correction of a team's ranking, which is a huge and almost surely bad assumption, (In other words other teams in the mix may have been over or under ranked significantly more that calendar year and therefore a team would have benefitted or lost from that inflation or deflation in rank)

3 - with the clarification that over the course of the last ten years is an arbitrary time span with accrued results. (In other words FSU was not overrated every year for the last ten years and a lengthening or shortening of the time span might produce an altogether different result)

then I will concede that Florida State is technically the most overrated team in the FBS over the course of the last ten years.

However, as Schlabach said regarding his methodolgy: "The formula was simple:..." A simple formula in compiling statistics often does not measure solely that which it is stated to measure. On the other hand of course, as the old adage goes, 'statistics are like prisoners, if you torture them enough they will say anything you want them to say". The term overrated has come to mean not worthy of overall attention or praise. I don't disagree that there have been years in which FSU has not lived up to their preseason hype. However sandwiched in that ten year span are three national title games, one national title, at least a piece of seven ACC championships, and seven BSC bowl appearances. That kind of success taken as a whole (accrued) is very possibly still, despite the huge drop off the last two years, the best in the country over the same span. To call a team with this success overrated is misleading in my opinion.

The author of the article should list the next few runners up if he had t