Schule’s NCAAF Weekly Power Rankings Review – Week 5

Have you ever noticed that all the major polls look basically the same? Whether it’s USA Today, ESPN or the Associated Press, you won’t see any dramatic differences in where they have teams ranked. When it comes to Power Rankings, professional handicapper Jesse Schule has proven to be ahead of the curve. Since the 2011 football season he’s been going against the grain, and more often than not he’s 2-3 steps ahead of the other guys. His weekly NCAAF Power Rankings are published at Covers.com on Mondays, and every Tuesday he will review the teams that he believes are overrated, underrated, or flying under the radar.

Most Overrated Team – Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0 SU, 1-3 ATS)

The Buckeyes beat Western Michigan by a score of 38-12 on Saturday, and Cardale Jones threw for 288 yards with two TDs and an INT on 19-of-33 passing. Urban Meyer would still like to see more from his starting quarterback, and here is what he had to say after the game: “Overall, I thought Cardale played okay… he threw for 288. I still give him the okay because we have high expectations.” It was their third straight week failing to cover an inflated spread, and the Buckeyes are going to have to get a lot better if they want to beat Michigan State in November.

Most Underrated Team – Stanford Cardinal (3-1 SU, 3-1 ATS)

Stanford’s Week 1 loss at Northwestern looked pretty bad at the time, but now that Northwestern is 4-0 and ranked in the Top 20 in the Associated Press poll, it’s starting to look a little better. The Cardinal are ranked lower than USC in all the polls, despite the fact that they went into California and upset the Trojans by a score of 41-31 just two weeks ago. The remainder of their schedule looks pretty favorable, as their two toughest opponents will be UCLA and Oregon, and both of those are home games.

Flying Under The Radar – California Golden Bears (4-0 SU, 3-1 ATS)

While everyone is talking about the Utah Utes after they upset Oregon, the real sleeper in the PAC12 might be the California Golden Bears. Jared Goff has been mentioned as a Heisman candidate, and he’s looked the part throwing for 1240 yards with 11 TDs and just three interceptions. Coming off consecutive impressive wins on the road at Texas and Washington, they return home to face a struggling Wazzu team. Then they travel to Utah to take on the highly touted Utes, and this looks like a classic let down spot for Utah as it will be their first game after the upset win over the Ducks.

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