Rating system: over or under

"Patience, as a virtue, is terribly overrated. Complaining, meanwhile, is one of the most underrated pleasures in sports." -- Dan LeBatard
Lots of things are overrated. Original ideas, for instance. Stealing ideas from Sports Illustrated, however, is very underrated.
So I labored for several painstaking hours playing Tetris, then spent 10 minutes writing my own overrated/underrated list for high school football. Enjoy.
Regular season
Overrated: Going undefeated. Sometimes being perfect only means you didn't play enough good teams. Only three of the last 12 state champions went undefeated. Going undefeated obviously isn't a bad thing, but it's like Knute Rockne said, "One loss is good for the soul. Too many losses are not good for the coach."
Underrated: Strength of schedule. Just ask Akron Manchester, which went undefeated and lost to Ursuline, which went 5-5. Ursuline's regular season schedule was stronger than a week without deodorant. Cleveland St. Ignatius plays the strongest schedule in the state -- and, usually, the longest schedule in the state.
Playoffs
Overrated: League titles. There are exceptions, but most leagues usually only have two or three good teams in a given season. (Or, in Manchester's case, there are no good teams.) Over the last decade, the Division I state title game could be called "Independent's Day." Only one of the last 14 big-school state champs has belonged to a league. And you don't necessarily need to win your league to win a state title. Just ask Mooney, which won a state title in 1982, but didn't win the Steel Valley Conference.
Underrated: Tradition. Good tradition usually means a good program, and a good coach. Teams with good tradition aren't happy to be in the playoffs -- they expect to be there.
Of course, there are limits. Massillon Washington has the best fan following, and best tradition, of any team in the state. But for 30 years, it hasn't mattered. (You can list all the state titles you want, but unless they came after 1971, they don't count.)
Interviews
Overrated: Media-savvy. Thanks to ESPN and our media-saturated society, even 10-year-olds know to give 110 percent and take it one game at a time.
Underrated: Saying something interesting. Here's an example. Guy named Clarett drops 400 yards and five touchdowns on Lakewood St. Edward in a playoff game. His coach comes into the interview room and says, "I'd like to think he has more left to show me."
Source of information
Overrated: JJ Huddle. For those who don't know, jjhuddle.com is a Web site devoted to Ohio high school sports. And for every good post from fans, there are a zillion that say something like: "I expect both teams to bring it for 48 minutes" or "I have it on good authority that their coach recruited 18 players from Brazil and they're all on steroids."
Underrated: Newspapers. Yes, this is self-serving, but I've been reading the sports section a lot longer than I've been writing for it. Jerry Seinfeld said it best: "I could read the sports page if my hair was on fire."
Stadiums
Overrated: Boardman. (I'm sure I'll take heat for this when I'm in Boardman's press box tonight.) Boardman is a first-class school district, but the Spartans' stadium isn't.
Underrated: Hubbard. You don't hear much about it, but it's a nice place to watch a game. The Eagles had a 24-game home winning streak until a Week 9 loss to Girard, so I'm sure there are some opposing coaches who would disagree.
XJoe Scalzo covers high school sports for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com.