There are two inherent truths about college football's top 25 rankings. The first is that everyone reads them. The second is that everyone hates them.
The contempt is legitimate. Look at the numbers:
Teams ranked 20 through 25, over the past decade, are just 76-76 in matchups against unranked Power 5 foes who went on to finish the year with a winning record.
Last year, teams ranked 11th or worse at game time were just 14-15 against unranked (but above .500) Power 5 competition.
Teams that finished the year unranked in 2019 had a fairly solid 14-17 record against teams ranked 11th or worse at game time, too.