AP top 25 poll: Three most underrated college football teams in Week 9

Four top 10 teams lost over the weekend, and a whopping nine ranked teams overall took defeats in a wild Week 8 of the college football season that has once again put the AP top 25 poll into a blender.

With the new rankings out Sunday, the top two of unbeatens Ohio State and Indiana are unassailable, while the rest is pretty subjective and ripe for debate.

Here are the teams we feel are most underrated in the latest AP top 25.

No. 19 Louisville

The Cardinals move into the top 25 for the first time this season after their momentous 24-21 upset win at then-No. 2 Miami, but No. 19 is low for a 5-1 team that took its only loss by three points to a Virginia team ranked No. 16 in the current poll.

The tough thing there is that Louisville can't be ranked ahead of Virginia due to the head-to-head result, but setting that aside, how are the Cardinals ranked behind No. 17 Tennessee and No. 16 South Florida?

The Vols have two losses -- sure, they were to Georgia and Alabama, but they lost to the Crimson Tide by 17 points this week. The polls have always put too much weight on losing to good teams as if it's an accomplishment just to have shared the field. Tennessee also could have lost to Mississippi State and Arkansas, and doesn't have a single signature win. So to review, more losses than Louisville, no notable win, but ranked higher. Nonsense.

And then there's South Florida, which is a fun story and probably the best Group of Five team this year. But the Bulls lost 49-12 to Miami -- the same Miami that Louisville just beat. South Florida's big wins over Boise State and Florida don't look quite as shiny anymore, though the 63-36 win at North Texas (which hasn't lost to anyone else) is notable. Still, South Florida and Louisville are both one-loss teams with a mutual opponent and very different results against that opponent.

We'll acknowledge that Louisville's resume is a little thin beyond the win over the Hurricanes, with Pitt being the only other Power Four win, so we won't push this too far. But the Cardinals should be two spots higher in this poll.

Arizona State is ranked No. 24 in the AP top 25 poll — Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the second half at Mountain America Stadium. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

No. 24 Arizona State

Arizona State won the Big 12 last year and reached the College Football Playoff. It was stunned with an early 24-20 road loss at Mississippi State and regrouped to get to 4-1 with notable Big 12 wins over Baylor and TCU.

Then, it had to play a ranked Utah team on the road without starting quarterback Sam Leavitt, and it was clear the Sun Devils simply weren't the same team with backup Jeff Sims and it led to a 42-10 loss. On paper, it looks ugly, but the circumstances are notable.

And on Saturday, Arizona State returned the favor, handing then-No. 7 Texas Tech its first loss (26-22) while the Red Raiders struggled without their starting QB Behren Morton.

So, how to evaluate the Sun Devils? If their bad loss to Utah is going to be treated as a normal loss despite the QB situation, then getting a top-10 win over Texas Tech should be as well, despite the QB situation.

What other 5-2 team fresh off a CFP appearance, with a top-10 win, wins over two of the Big 12's better teams, and its two road losses to an SEC team and a then-ranked Big 12 team would be relegated to No. 24 in the rankings?

More to the point, why is Arizona State ranked behind No. 23 Illinois, No. 22 Texas or No. 21 Cincinnati?

Illinois is 5-2, has one notable win on a last-second field goal at home over a now-unranked USC team and got blown out in its two biggest games -- 63-10 at Indiana and 34-16 vs. Ohio State. Yes, those are the two best teams in the country, but again, why are we giving credit just because Illinois was scheduled to play them and showed up to the field? The Fighting Ilini got cooked in both games.

Texas is also 5-2 and has that one singular impressive win over Oklahoma. The rest? Not so great. The Longhorns needed overtime this weekend to get past the SEC's worst team, Kentucky (16-13), as QB Arch Manning struggled badly yet again. Texas lost to a Florida team that just fired its coach.

And Cincinnati is 6-1, but it really doesn't have a notable win. Its best victory came over a then-ranked Iowa State team that was absolutely decimated defensively by injury and has since fallen well off the top 25 radar. Otherwise, the Bearcats have beaten Bowling Green, Northwestern State, Kansas, UCF and Oklahoma State while losing to Nebraska, which is no longer ranked.

Texas Tech Red Raiders football. — Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the first half at Mountain America Stadium. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

No. 14 Texas Tech

Everything we've seen this season indicates that Texas Tech is a top-10-caliber team, but the 6-1 Red Raiders dropped seven spots to No. 14 after losing 26-22 at Arizona State.

As noted, Texas Tech was playing without injured starting quarterback Behren Morton, relying on redshirt freshman Will Hammond in his first career start, on the road against the reigning Big 12 champion and CFP qualifier.

And the Red Raiders still rallied take a 22-19 lead with 2 minutes left in the game before Arizona State drove for the winning score.

In the games Texas Tech has had Morton at QB, it has won by 60 points (Arkansas-Pine Bluff), 48 (Kent State), 31 (Oregon State), 24 (on the road at then-No. 16 Utah), 24 (at Houston, which is 6-1) and 25 (Kansas).

Six absolutely dominant wins, including two very notable ones, and one narrow loss in the final minute on the road without its starting quarterback.

We'd rank Texas Tech ahead of No. 13 Oklahoma (that loss to Texas was ugly and its most notable win is over Michigan), No. 12 Notre Dame (good win over USC this week, lost to Miami and Texas A&M, no other notable wins) and No. 11 BYU (undefeated, yes, but win over Utah this week is only notable one).

Minor nitpicks ...

No. 20 LSU shouldn't be ranked behind No. 17 Tennessee, but we also wouldn't just flip spots, as the Tigers don't deserve to be above the teams in between (South Florida and Louisville). But LSU and Tennessee are both 5-2 with losses to a pair of current top-10 teams, but the Vols lost by 17 to Alabama, while the Tigers were competitive in both defeats.

Tennessee also got pushed for four quarters by the likes of Mississippi State and Arkansas and has no notable win. LSU at least has two double-digit-point SEC wins over Florida and South Carolina, and won at Clemson.

USC doesn't deserve any favors after blowing the game at Notre Dame on Saturday night to drop to 5-2, but it's a little silly to have Michigan ranked at No. 25 and USC unranked when the Trojans blew out the Wolverines two weeks ago and have the same record.