College Football Top 25 Rankings Reaction and Analysis For Week 11: Penn State, Clemson Too High - Indiana, South Carolina Deserve More Love

Somehow, the 2024 college football season is already 10 weeks old, and the College Football Playoff push is heating up. Week 10 saw top-15 programs Penn State, Texas A&M, Clemson, and Iowa State suffer defeats. Elsewhere, No. 17 Kansas State and No. 18 Pittsburgh took Ls. This college football season has been full of upsets, and there is sure to be plenty of drama through the final four slates of the year.

The Week 11 slate is headlined by a virtual College Football Playoff eliminator between Alabama and LSU. However, things could also get interesting when Georgia travels to Oxford to take on an Ole Miss squad that is in a must-win situation. There aren't a ton of other matchups that look great on paper, but again, upsets have come in bunches in 2024.

It's time for the next article of a year-long series: Overrated and Underrated College Football Teams, after the weekly Associated Press Poll release. All rankings listed are based on the AP Poll.

Overrated College Football Teams For Week 11

Penn State Nittany Lions: No. 6
Week 10 Result: L vs. Ohio State (13-20)

The Nittany Lions lost to the No. 4 team in the country by one score. Penn State is a good team. However, its resume is weak compared to other programs ranked in the top 10.

Penn State's best victory was against a 6-3 Illinois squad, and Ohio State was the only true test on their schedule. Otherwise, the team has beaten a mediocre West Virginia, Bowling Green by just seven points, Kent State, UCLA, USC, and Wisconsin. They have not been overly impressive in any of those contests.

WILL HOWARD FIRST DOWN 😤 THAT'LL DO IT ‼️@OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/RGN19JW9si

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 2, 2024

James Franklin cannot win a big game, and he won't have another opportunity to do so this season, as Penn State has the 56th-toughest remaining schedule in the country, according to ESPN. Penn State's schedule sets the program up to make the College Football Playoff without a single notable victory, and that's a problem.

For this week, it's a little bit surprising to see the Nittany Lions ranked ahead of No. 7 Tennessee, No. 8 Indiana, No. 9 BYU, and maybe even No. 10 Notre Dame. All of those programs have one or no losses, are riding winning streaks, and have better overall resumes.

Clemson Tigers: No. 19
Week 10 Result: L vs. Louisville (21-33)

Clemson looked to be getting hot at the right time, and quarterback Cade Klubnik has been playing the best football of his career since the Week 1 loss to Georgia. The loss to Georgia has been forgiven, but after the Tigers were whooped at home against Lousiville this weekend, its playoff hopes are surely extinguished.

Losing late in the season has mattered since the start of the College Football Playoff, and when the committee looks at the Tigers' overall resume, it will be far from impressed.

The best team Clemson has beaten this season is probably a 5-4 NC State squad that is falling well under expectations this year. Despite having a favorable ACC schedule that does not include Miami or SMU, Clemson failed to run the table in the conference it dominated for most of the last decade.

Removal from the top 25 altogether is arguably warranted, but at best, Clemson should be in the No. 21 slot behind Washington State and Colorado.

Underrated College Football Teams For Week 10

Indiana Hoosiers: No. 8
Week 10 Result: W at Michigan State (47-10)

Like some of the other highly-ranked Big Ten schools this year, Indiana has not exactly faced world-beaters this season. However, the impressive Hoosiers' squad ranks No. 1 in point differential (+27.8), No. 8 in total offense (476.2 YPG), and No. 3 in total defense (271.3 YPG) in the country.

Head coach Curt Cignetti has done an excellent job this season, and his team is not finding themselves in nail-biters. Dominance means something, regardless of the quality of opponents. All that said, whether Indiana will find itself among the 12 teams competing for a national championship comes down to its next two games against Michigan and Ohio State.

The only QBs since 2000 to throw at least 3 TDs in their first three @bigten road games:

🌰 Justin Fields, 2020
🔴 Kurtis Rourke, 2024

Watch the @IndianaFootball star's Week 10 scoring strikes 👇#B1GStats x #B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/vbBuYn08z2

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 2, 2024

The 9-0 Hoosiers have already tied a program record for wins in a season, but it will be a truly special year if they can knock off No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus on November 23. Based on Indiana's resume through 10 weeks, how are they not ahead of fellow Big Ten program Penn State? It doesn't make any kind of sense.

SMU Mustangs: No. 13
Week 10 Result: W vs. Pittsburgh (48-25)

SMU's only loss is by a three-point margin against the undefeated BYU Cougars, and the Mustangs just took down the undefeated Pitt Panthers over the weekend. Dual-threat quarterback Kevin Jennings is thriving in the program's first season in the ACC, and the team is now the favorite to face Miami in the conference title game.

The Mustangs had an 11-3 record last season, so it's not as if the program doesn't have talent or is getting "lucky" in conference matchups. To this point, SMU has a legitimate argument that it should be placed ahead of No. 11 Alabama and No. 12 Boise State. We're looking at a legitimate contender for a College Football Playoff spot here.

South Carolina Gamecocks: N/R
Week 10 Result: W vs. Texas A&M (44-20)

The Gamecocks lost by 24 points to Ole Miss last month, but otherwise, this looks the part of a top-25 team. Its other losses are by a combined five points versus LSU and Alabama. This weekend, Shane Beamer's gritty team spanked No. 10 Texas A&M by three scores, and the game wasn't even as close as the score indicated.

LANORRIS SELLERS GETS THE GAMECOCKS ON THE BOARD FIRST 🔥 pic.twitter.com/L9E3agLbZx

— ESPN (@espn) November 3, 2024

South Carolina has not been an easy out this year, and it has important matchups against Vanderbilt, Missouri, and Clemson remaining. Should Lousiville be in the No. 25 spot for beating an unproven Clemson squad, or is South Carolina's overall resume far superior? I'll take the latter option.

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