Preseason rankings are just guesses, our unproven opinions about college football teams as we attempt to set the conversation for competition at the conference and national level. Every team is undefeated and unbeaten at the same time, but our ratings and rankings are the starting point.

Admittedly, it's not perfect, and it leads to a lot of misses on the part of the coaches and media who are asked to predict the outcome of the upcoming season.

Our picks for underrated and overrated teams at the midway point of the season take the current product and compare it with the projections headed into the season. We break it all down below, what we missed and what happened to derail the expectations of those teams we over-rated in August.

Underrated

Wisconsin (4-2)

Preseason projections: Not ranked by the AP voters, the Badgers were picked to finish anywhere from second to fourth in the Big Ten West by the CBS Sports experts. After avoiding Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State in a 10-win 2015 season, Wisconsin was labeled a team that was ready to take a step back this season.

What we missed: The defense would not drop off after losing top assistant Dave Aranda. The Badgers are just as aggressive on that side of the ball, making life hell for quarterbacks everywhere, even getting the best of Ohio State's J.T. Barrett for three quarters. Jack Cichy has been tremendous, teaming up with T.J. Watt and Vince Biegel (expected back from injury soon) to make the country's most impactful linebacker trio. Wisconsin stood eye-to-eye with Michigan and Ohio State and didn't flinch, taking each game down to its final moments before suffering defeat. I'll even give the Badgers a good shot to beat either team should they meet again in the Big Ten title game.

Louisville (5-1)

Preseason projections: A potential dark horse in the ACC, but a team that was definitely behind Florida State and Clemson in the Atlantic Division. A solid, top-25 team that would probably finish 9-3 in a good bowl game. No one had the Cardinals standing out as one of the best teams in the country in 2016, and while Lamar Jackson was expected to improve, the only hints of his meteoric rise came in the bowl game last year against Texas A&M.

What we missed: Jackson transforming into a college football superstar. Jackson's numbers through six games are comparable to the pace of Cam Newton or Johnny Manziel in their Heisman Trophy-winning seasons. After the three-man quarterback rotation of 2015, the offense didn't come in with sky-high expectations on the outside. Devonte Fields, Josh Harvey-Clemons and the defense had a shot to be good enough to make this a top-25 team. Action Jackson and the offensive firepower make the Cards a playoff contender.

Oh, and what makes all this really fun? Jackson, and a good chunk of the offense, is just getting started, and many of them will be back in 2017 for more. I'm guessing they won't be underrated entering 2017.

Navy (4-1)

Preseason projections: Not ranked by the AP voters, the Midshipmen were picked to finish behind Houston, the preseason darling of the American, in the AAC West. No one projected Navy to take a huge step back in 2016, but with record-breaking quarterback Keenan Reynolds gone, there was a belief that there would be a drop-off from winning 11 games and finishing in the Top 25.

What we missed: Ken Niumatalolo has Navy humming, and we were too blinded by Reynolds' production to recognize where this program currently sits in the college football landscape. Navy's offense is so ingrained that it could pull a quarterback out of the stands and still maintain production.

The breakthrough win against Houston ended an 18-game losing streak against AP top-10 teams (a drought that dated back to 1984) and was powered by 306 rushing yards, far more than any team had totaled against the Cougars this year. Navy's only loss, to Air Force, doesn't hurt its ability to compete for the AAC title and a shot at the New Year's Six. Unbeaten in league play at the midway point, the Midshipmen are on their way to "golden ticket" consideration.

Utah (6-1)

Preseason projections: Unranked in the preseason polls with CBS Sports' order of finish projections ranging from second (credit: Dennis Dodd) to fourth in the Pac-12 South. We believed that Utah would be a tough out and good at the line of scrimmage, but new faces at all of the key skill positions kept the Utes out of the spotlight heading into the season.

What we missed: Kyle Whittingham's impressive ability to field top-notch defenses on a year-in, year-out basis. The Utes consistency in identity over the last three years has been astounding, and Troy Williams has been marvelous leading an offense that's had to overcome injuries at both the running back position and along the offensive line.

Overrated

Notre Dame (2-5)

Preseason projections: No. 10 in the AP Top 25, No. 8 in the preseason CBS Sports 128. Picked by some (including yours truly) as a College Football Playoff darkhorse. The Fighting Irish lost just two games in the regular season by a combined four points to Clemson (the eventual national runner-up) and Stanford (the eventual Pac-12 and Rose Bowl champion). With DeShone Kizer back, double-digit wins was the expectation.

What went wrong? According to the 247Sports college football talent composite, Notre Dame has the ninth most talented team, on paper, in the country. No one doubts that Kizer, offensive lineman Quenton Nelson and linebacker Nyles Morgan will have their shot at the NFL soon, but peel back the layer a little bit and that talent rating is deceptive. Many of the most highly-rated players by 247Sports' metric are freshmen or sophomores playing in reserve roles. Meanwhile, the coaching staff is in flux and Brian Kelly doesn't ever seem happy when talking about his team in postgame press conferences.

Georgia (4-3)

Preseason projections: Ranked as a top-20 team in the polls, Georgia was, for the most part, considered the top contender to Tennessee in the SEC East. It was all good just eight weeks ago, right? Nick Chubb was going to contend for the Heisman and Kirby Smart, coming off an impressive showing in front of the cameras and microphones at SEC Media Days, was ready to make a splash in the SEC.

What went wrong? Nothing went wrong, per se. Georgia has been on the wrong end of two one-score losses in SEC play to Tennessee on a Hail Mary and this week against Vanderbilt, falling short on fourth down while driving for the game-winning score in a 17-16 loss. With a few more breaks, the Bulldogs are 6-1 and contending for the SEC East as projected. But there's something else at play, particularly an offensive line that hasn't been able to establish dominance up front for Chubb and Co. and a defense that has learned there is no Kirby Smart magic fairy dust.

Michigan State (2-4)

Preseason projections: No. 12 in the preseason AP Top 25, No. 17 in the preseason CBS Sports 128. Perhaps a step back from the Big Ten title winning season of 2015, but certainly a team that could challenge the league's best. Tyler O'Connor helped Michigan State win in Columbus with Connor Cook banged up and none of the CBS Sports experts thought the Spartans, even with a step back, would finish lower than third in the conference.

What went wrong? Michigan State played a vanilla game against Furman, had an early bye and then beat Notre Dame. Then the Irish were exposed and Michigan State lost four straight. The Spartans need to rally and Mark Dantonio knows it. They've turned the ball over at the wrong times and broken down defensively at the most unexpected times. This week, Dantonio pulled no punches talking about a team that has to win four of its final six games with Ohio State and Michigan still left on the schedule.

"You're checking the pulse of our football team," Dantonio said Tuesday, via the Detroit Free Press. "Thus far, I would say, hey, we're hanging. ... I think you got to be a rock. You have to be. Bad things are going to happen. That's going to be a part of your life. Everybody goes through struggles."

UCLA (3-4)

Preseason projections: No. 16 in the preseason AP Top 25 and either first or second in the Pac-12 South in every CBS Sports expert prediction. If you subscribe to Bud Elliott's Blue-Chip Ratio Theory (more four and five-star prospects than two-and three-star prospects over four recruiting cycles), then UCLA was one of 13 teams with the right combination of talent to win a national championship. Quarterback Josh Rosen's best performances from a highly-touted freshman year combined with an outspoken personality to make him the story of the offseason in the Pac-12 with high expectations for the 2016 campaign.

What went wrong? Some bad breaks in games early left the Bruins with a couple too many losses, and now Rosen is banged up. UCLA is in the process of dealing with the now, but we can look down the line and acknowledge that 3-4 with a remaining schedule of Utah, Colorado, Oregon State, USC and Cal leaves the Bruins very little margin for error on the path to making a bowl game. That's a big adjustment in expectations from the start of the season.