A ton of hype is one easy way to turn college football fans against a team before the season even starts. And of course, once the season starts, if that team doesn't live up to the hype... things could get ugly.
As for one team that's overhyped heading into 2017? FOX Sports' Stewart Mandel points to one squad: the USC Trojans.
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Breakout QB Sam Darnold can cover up a lot of warts, as can some familiar faces on defense like LBs Cameron Smith and Porter Gustin and CB Iman Marshall. But the Trojans must replace two stalwart offensive tackles in Zach Banner and Chad Wheeler, will be very young at receiver and will assuredly miss star Adoree' Jackson's impact on special teams in particular.
USC is easily the prime candidate for this distinction after finishing the 2016 season on such an amazing run. USC, as a historical powerhouse, is always one of the first teams to get a push of hype whenever they start to show flashes of their old greatness, and it's not a shocker that it's happened again.
Of course, USC should still be a fine team next season, something that everyone probably agrees with. But will they really be a title contender? That remains to be seen.
As far as the other side of the spectrum, Mandel points to Stanford as a team that is underappreciated heading into the 2017 season. Stanford will have to replace Christian McCaffrey in the backfield, but they do return 16 starters elsewhere.
