Heading into 2016, Washington State is ... overhyped?

For nearly a decade, there has been no hype around Washington State's football team in May. The Cougars were an afterthought at this point of the year, with most fans just hoping WSU cracked the top 50 -- or in some years the top 100 -- of preseason rankings. Well it's a new time and now not only are the Cougars getting some hype, they actually cracked a list of teams getting too much hype.

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports released his list of the five most overhyped teams and there was Washington State at No. 5. Here is a bit of Fornelli's reasoning:

Because of a shaky defense, I'm just not as convinced that Wazzu will be able to win nine games again, particularly with a schedule that includes road trips to Boise State, Stanford and Arizona State, as well as dates with UCLA, Oregon, Arizona and Washington.

Now Fornelli's list isn't based on teams he thinks are bad, simply teams where expectations may be a little too high. He makes some valid points on why WSU is on the list, including plenty of defensive work to do and the fact the Cougars won a lot of close games last season. The defense wasn't great last year, but it was mightily improved and with a similar step forward next season, these concerns become mostly irrelevant.

My biggest issue with Fornelli's reasoning is citing the schedule. If the Pac-12 schedule is a reason to be overhyped, well then every Pac-12 team is overhyped. Sure there are tough teams on the schedule, but those games are also against teams WSU beat last season.

A few years ago, WSU was lucky to get a single line of mention in a story in May. Now, the Cougars are among the overhyped. What a time to be alive.

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