Question of the day: Which teams are the most overrated and underrated in the AP college football poll? {Updated} | The Fabulous Forum | Los Angeles Times

Reporters from around the Tribune Co. weigh in on the topic. Check back throughout the day for more responses and feel free to leave a comment of your own.

{Updated at 12:18 p.m.:

Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times

Most overrated team in this year's AP poll? Let's start with No.1 Alabama. What other major college team losing nine starters on defense would be annointed in such an overwhelming manner?

I could have accepted Alabama in a closer vote, but the Crimson Tide took 54 first-place votes out of a possible 60. Boise State was also 14-0 last year, did not get a shot at winning the national title and returns more than 20 starters, yet ended up No. 3 with only one first-place vote?

Alabama should be loaded, for sure, but so is Ohio State, which picked up only three first-place votes in opening at No. 2. The Buckeyes return nine offensive starters, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the preseason Heisman favorite, and seven starters on defense. Ohio State also plays eight home games -- including four"paycheck" games against Marshall, Ohio, Eastern Michigan and 1-AA Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Also overrated ... Louisiana State at No. 21.  The Tigers are 17-9 since winning the BCS title in 2007 (with two losses, mind you).

Underrated? That's easy too. How can Navy, coming off a 10-win season and its second win in three years over Notre Dame, garner only 12 points?

And wait a minute: USC opens at No. 14 in the AP, but Stanford doesn't crack the top 25 despite crushing USC last year at the Coliseum? Well, you say USC has a great young QB. Well, he's not better than Stanford's great young QB. You say Stanford lost running back Toby Gerhart. Well, USC lost Pete Carroll and 30 scholarships.

UCLA fans want me to put the Bruins here. Sorry. UCLA, coming off 7-6 and a bowl win over Temple, did not pick up a single point in either the AP or the coaches' poll. And the coaches poll includes five Pac-10 coaches, the former UCLA coach (Bob Toledo) and the Temple coach (Al Golden). These guys must know something.}

Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune

Let’s start at the top: How can Alabama be rated No. 1 after losing 10 of its 11 defensive starters? I know Nick Saban can recruit, but can a program really wave goodbye to that many quality players and remain the nation’s best? That wouldn’t say much for the nation, in my book.

Also overrated: No. 19 Penn State. Minus a legit starting quarterback and still plugging holes in the O-line, I see the Nittany Lions finishing in the bottom half of the Big Ten.

The most underrated team didn’t even make the top 25: Cincinnati. The Bearcats are first among the “others receiving votes” teams even though they still have the weapons to crack 40 points against half their competition.

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