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Colorado, Troy among college football's most drastic overachievers in 2016

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Michigan State and Bowling Green are among the biggest underachievers.

By Bill C.
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Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

One request I get quite often is to create a place where you can track each team's week-to-week rankings. I will be building that into the stat profiles when I get a chance, but since I looked at week-to-week rankings for this morning's Auburn piece, I thought I would share it here, too. Since projections have been filtered out, it was a pretty good time to check.

2016 S&P+ rankings, preseason through Week 8

Team Record Preseason After 1 After 2 After 3 After 4 After 5 After 6 After 7 After 8
Michigan 7-0 6 4 4 1 2 3 2 1 1
Louisville 6-1 18 14 14 8 4 5 5 5 2
Alabama 8-0 1 1 1 2 3 2 1 2 3
Clemson 7-0 2 2 2 6 5 4 4 4 4
Ohio State 6-1 11 9 7 5 1 1 3 3 5
Washington 7-0 10 11 9 4 11 6 7 6 6
Auburn 5-2 25 23 24 22 26 17 12 8 7
LSU 5-2 3 3 3 3 19 9 8 7 8
Florida 5-1 20 20 16 9 7 8 10 9 9
Wisconsin 5-2 36 33 29 20 16 18 25 13 10
Baylor 6-0 19 18 15 14 12 15 16 14 11
Virginia Tech 5-2 33 31 37 24 14 14 19 16 12
Oklahoma 5-2 4 6 5 7 21 12 6 12 13
Florida State 5-2 5 5 6 10 13 13 9 15 14
Texas A&M 6-1 23 27 21 19 10 11 13 11 15
Penn State 5-2 28 26 26 28 44 38 17 20 16
Colorado 6-2 86 82 75 67 43 31 34 19 17
Boise State 7-0 37 40 41 34 18 22 26 22 18
Ole Miss 3-4 7 8 8 11 8 7 11 10 19
USC 4-3 9 10 11 16 34 21 18 23 20
West Virginia 6-0 35 34 40 40 48 47 49 24 21
Nebraska 7-0 27 28 25 29 23 23 24 21 22
Miami-FL 4-3 31 35 33 15 6 10 14 17 23
Western Michigan 8-0 63 69 62 60 59 48 61 28 24
San Diego State 6-1 50 46 46 47 50 59 42 31 25
Team Record Preseason After 1 After 2 After 3 After 4 After 5 After 6 After 7 After 8
Tennessee 5-2 8 7 10 13 15 19 15 29 26
North Carolina 6-2 30 30 28 26 30 27 37 34 27
Troy 6-1 102 98 97 94 66 63 58 41 28
South Florida 6-2 42 42 39 38 33 33 28 26 29
TCU 4-3 26 24 31 23 22 20 23 27 30
Temple 5-3 59 55 52 56 55 52 53 46 31
Houston 6-2 48 49 45 37 17 16 20 18 32
Pittsburgh 5-2 29 29 32 41 36 32 33 37 33
Toledo 6-1 45 51 49 46 24 30 31 35 34
Western Kentucky 5-3 43 43 42 42 52 46 75 56 35
Oklahoma State 5-2 24 21 22 25 39 36 27 30 36
Appalachian State 5-2 57 60 59 73 67 64 51 39 37
BYU 4-4 34 37 34 36 37 39 22 33 38
Minnesota 5-2 38 36 36 35 35 44 38 32 39
Missouri 2-5 56 64 60 50 42 57 48 49 40
NC State 4-3 41 41 43 45 40 25 39 25 41
Iowa 5-3 40 38 35 33 28 34 41 36 42
Utah 7-1 39 39 38 43 32 42 46 48 43
California 4-3 53 53 55 53 53 53 54 50 44
Texas 3-4 32 32 30 39 29 37 35 38 45
Washington State 5-2 46 54 64 62 63 56 56 42 46
Indiana 3-4 58 62 51 44 45 49 45 44 47
UCLA 3-5 15 15 18 18 27 24 21 43 48
Middle Tennessee 5-2 93 88 89 81 65 65 65 52 49
Georgia Tech 4-3 52 52 54 52 54 55 57 55 50
Team Record Preseason After 1 After 2 After 3 After 4 After 5 After 6 After 7 After 8
Oregon 2-5 14 12 13 17 20 26 40 40 51
Louisiana Tech 5-3 82 86 82 80 75 71 64 57 52
Texas Tech 3-4 44 44 44 54 49 45 36 51 53
Notre Dame 2-5 13 17 17 21 47 43 30 53 54
Stanford 4-3 16 13 12 12 9 28 32 54 55
Memphis 5-2 78 73 68 59 25 41 44 47 56
Northwestern 4-3 49 48 58 65 73 68 62 60 57
Kansas State 4-3 65 74 78 58 31 50 50 62 58
Wake Forest 5-2 74 70 66 68 58 69 71 63 59
Central Florida 4-3 99 96 98 98 77 73 69 61 60
Colorado State 4-4 96 97 93 89 90 97 91 74 61
Arkansas 5-3 17 19 23 31 38 35 29 45 62
Maryland 5-2 62 57 53 51 56 40 52 59 63
Mississippi State 2-5 22 22 20 32 41 29 43 58 64
Tulsa 5-2 92 90 88 83 83 80 87 79 65
Air Force 4-3 79 78 77 71 69 60 80 64 66
Southern Miss 4-3 69 67 57 66 51 51 63 71 67
Navy 5-1 61 56 67 74 79 88 76 69 68
Syracuse 4-4 47 45 50 48 70 74 68 78 69
Kentucky 4-3 87 83 92 95 91 83 78 77 70
Arizona State 5-3 51 47 47 49 57 66 55 70 71
Duke 3-4 71 65 69 63 64 72 82 72 72
New Mexico 4-3 105 104 102 101 92 94 93 92 73
Georgia 4-3 12 16 19 27 61 54 47 67 74
Army 4-3 124 127 126 122 94 92 118 66 75
Team Record Preseason After 1 After 2 After 3 After 4 After 5 After 6 After 7 After 8
Cincinnati 4-3 66 71 70 72 72 75 72 75 76
Arizona 2-5 64 66 65 57 62 67 66 82 77
SMU 3-4 97 99 100 100 104 108 100 104 78
Eastern Michigan 5-3 122 121 122 114 97 95 99 87 79
Boston College 3-4 55 61 56 70 68 62 67 65 80
Michigan State 2-5 21 25 27 30 46 58 60 73 81
Utah State 3-4 70 63 76 77 81 79 107 86 82
Central Michigan 5-3 80 81 79 78 74 84 89 84 83
Wyoming 5-2 110 111 112 103 108 103 115 89 84
Illinois 2-5 72 58 63 61 71 70 73 81 85
Georgia Southern 4-3 54 50 48 55 60 61 59 76 86
Old Dominion 4-3 103 103 104 105 101 89 79 68 87
Oregon State 2-5 89 92 86 82 84 96 74 85 88
Ball State 4-4 101 101 103 93 80 91 85 88 89
East Carolina 2-5 84 84 84 87 88 81 84 83 90
Hawaii 4-4 117 116 115 119 120 102 97 99 91
Ohio 5-3 95 95 91 88 86 87 92 94 92
Virginia 2-5 68 68 71 75 76 78 94 80 93
North Texas 4-3 128 128 127 124 106 116 116 106 94
Akron 5-3 94 94 94 99 93 93 88 100 95
Northern Illinois 2-6 77 80 83 90 102 98 86 97 96
Iowa State 1-6 75 76 80 86 85 77 70 93 97
Connecticut 3-5 81 79 81 79 87 90 83 91 98
South Carolina 3-4 76 72 74 69 82 76 77 90 99
Vanderbilt 4-4 67 75 72 76 96 85 95 95 100
Team Record Preseason After 1 After 2 After 3 After 4 After 5 After 6 After 7 After 8
UL-Lafayette 3-4 108 109 107 107 98 99 98 109 101
South Alabama 3-4 114 118 116 112 110 105 108 103 102
Tulane 3-4 126 126 121 121 100 101 112 96 103
Georgia State 2-5 104 106 109 111 119 112 101 105 104
Arkansas State 2-4 88 87 95 97 111 107 103 107 105
Marshall 2-5 73 77 61 64 78 82 81 102 106
UNLV 3-5 112 110 108 108 99 86 102 98 107
Miami-OH 2-6 111 115 118 115 112 117 119 114 108
Kansas 1-6 115 114 113 113 109 118 105 112 109
UTSA 3-4 116 112 111 109 116 115 96 101 110
Idaho 4-4 109 108 110 116 121 121 114 110 111
Purdue 3-4 85 89 90 91 89 100 90 108 112
Rice 1-6 118 119 120 127 127 124 122 122 113
Kent State 2-6 106 105 105 110 117 110 109 113 114
Fresno State 1-7 98 102 101 102 103 106 110 111 115
Rutgers 2-6 83 85 85 92 95 104 106 117 116
Florida Atlantic 1-6 100 100 99 104 114 109 111 116 117
Bowling Green 1-7 60 59 73 85 118 113 104 115 118
Massachusetts 1-7 123 124 128 125 115 120 120 118 119
Florida International 3-5 113 113 119 117 122 119 117 121 120
New Mexico State 2-5 119 120 117 120 123 123 124 126 121
UTEP 2-5 125 122 125 118 126 126 126 125 122
Nevada 3-5 90 93 96 96 105 114 113 120 123
Charlotte 3-5 121 123 123 128 124 128 125 124 124
UL-Monroe 2-5 127 125 124 126 107 122 123 119 125
San Jose State 2-6 91 91 87 84 113 111 121 123 126
Buffalo 1-6 107 107 106 123 125 127 127 127 127
Texas State 2-5 120 117 114 106 128 125 128 128 128

First things first: I'm really happy with how the projections have performed. There were a few highly-projected teams (LSU, Oklahoma, Florida State) who underachieved early, but they've rebounded nicely. And of the current S&P+ top 8, six were projected 11th or better in the preseason, and all eight were projected in the top 25. And 22 of the top 23 were projected at in at least the top 40. (And no projections system on earth would have projected Colorado very high.)

Biggest overachievers through eight weeks: Colorado, Troy, Middle Tennessee.

Biggest underachievers: Mississippi State, Georgia, Michigan State, Purdue, and ... holy moly, is BGSU starting over.

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