Florida State is the new Notre Dame. And no, that's not a compliment.
For years, sports writers have falsely forecasted Notre Dame's return to football glory, giving the Fighting Irish preseason hype that they ultimately don't live up to. The true national champion of this phenomenon, though, is Florida State.
Since 2001, the
Seminoles have been overrated more than any other major program based on the change between how many votes they get in the preseason Associated Press poll and the final one (including this season). Over this span, the Seminoles have finished with 60.4% fewer points in the poll than they began with. That's the largest decline of any team with at least five preseason-poll appearances over this span.
California has the second-biggest drop-off (-47.7%), which is owed to the Golden Bears' repeated failures in the mid-2000s.
Tennessee (-40.1%) and Nebraska (-33.0%) are next-worst. Notre Dame is "only" at -30.5%. The Irish have finished each of the past five seasons with fewer poll points than they started, but they haven't been getting many votes to begin with lately. (Notre Dame was ranked 16th before this season; the Irish are currently unranked.)
The Seminoles have had several disappointing seasons in recent years as they've tried to rejoin the sport's elite, but this season is truly a masterpiece. Ranked No. 6 by the AP before the season, Florida State (2-3) has fallen out of the polls by losing to Oklahoma (understandable), Clemson (forgivable) and Wake Forest (ouch).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203633104576621010225742674.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
