With college football’s preseason AP top-25 officially out, Brad Crawford of 247Sports took some time to project the teams that might be underrated entering the 2022 season.
Taking the average poll ranking of each team, the CFB analyst narrowed down five teams in particular that folks may be overlooking.
According to Crawford, Arkansas, Iowa, Penn State, Michigan and Tennessee are the programs to watch out for.
On arguably his most underrated team, Iowa, Crawford wrote:
Another offseason of disrespect for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Look, this offense isn’t striking fear in any opposing team in the Big Ten, but with much of a defense back that ranked inside the top 10 of several categories nationally last season after winning the Western Division, shouldn’t Kirk Ferentz’s team be getting more love than this as one of the best 25 teams in the nation coming in?
For the most part, Iowa succeeds outside expectations and is often undervalued this time of the year. It’s been proven over and over. Nine starters return from a defense that accumulated 25 interceptions last fall.
One of those top veterans is Jack Campbell, who has a chance to lead college football in total tackles if he stays healthy. Riley Moss is back, too, after earning the Big Ten’s Defensive Back of the Year honors despite missing a quarter of the season with an injury. Defensive coordinator Phil Parker has to look at this roster and smile heading into the opener with the underrated label.
Who do you think teams need to watch out for this fall?