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GilBrandt Ballot for 2016 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 11, 2016, 12:08 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Ugh it's still too early in the season for me to feel comfortable ranking most teams.  I don't care if you complain that I didn't rank your team.  Just know that there probably isn't enough evidence to me THIS SEASON to put your team (that might be ranked in polls like AP) in my ranking.  Maybe they will make it eventually, but I'm not going to assume yet that any team is good just off what people assume in the preseason.  

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama is going to stay here.  They look so good.
2 Florida State Seminoles I have FSU and Houston pretty even right now.
3 Houston Cougars
4 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State, Louisville, and Michigan look dominant in their wins so far.
5 Louisville Cardinals
6 Michigan Wolverines
7 Texas A&M Aggies A&M and Texas have very similar resumes so far and I believe would both have similar outcomes with the other's schedule so far.  A&M is over Texas only because of homerism because I can't know for sure yet if Notre Dame or UCLA is a more impressive win.
8 Texas Longhorns
9 Wisconsin Badgers It's hard for me to assume how good LSU is so far, but I'm certain they'll do decently as they always do...  So Wiscy will stay this high unless LSU proves to be a less impressive win.  Also they tore apart a poor Akron team.
10 Pittsburgh Panthers Winning rivalry games is never easy and I feel good about Pitt this year.  Not sure they will end the season this high, but they are here for now because the first few weeks of ranking is hard.
11 Iowa Hawkeyes Both Iowa and Colorado have handily taken down their in-state rivals.  I don't know if either will end the season ranked (especially with Colorado's past seasons), but I'm happy with what y'all have done so far.
12 Colorado Buffaloes
13 Washington Huskies I'm still not totally sure I buy the hype around Washington, but you have 2 solid victories so far (arguably against pretty weak teams).  Don't make me regret having you this high.
14 Nebraska Cornhuskers Nebraska and Arizona State are two teams I'm pretty unsure about.  Nebraska has had solid wins, but against weak teams.  ASU now has a win over Texas Tech, but I'm still a little unsettled at ranking ASU.  On one hand you beat an offense that I believe is very good, but on the other hand, this was obviously a zero-defense game.  I guess we'll see with you two as the season goes on.
15 Arizona State Sun Devils
16 Tennessee Volunteers I was semi-vocally against your hype to start the season.  And at the beginning of the Bristol game I was feeling confident I was still correct.  But unfortunately for me, you made me eat my words.  Now you have a solid victory over a P5 team and a shaky but still a win over App St who I believe will be good again this year like they were last year.
17 Utah Utes Won the Holy War!  Maybe I should have you higher like I do with Pitt, but right now I feel more confident with Pitt than Utah.
18 San Diego State Aztecs I like both SDSU and BSU this year.  I think you're both strong teams that will fight for the MW title.
19 Boise State Broncos
20 Florida Gators Florida easily beat Kentucky, but it's starting to look like that is possible for most teams this year.  Still unsure about how good you actually are.
21 ECU Pirates Top Carolina school?  Maybe
22 Baylor Bears I still believe Baylor is a good team, and hopefully I'll be proven right when you face a decent P5 team.
23 Oregon Ducks Oregon seriously needs to improve their defense.  They had a similar outcome with Virginia as Richmond did.  I almost left you out like I did last week, but I believe you will get better and hopefully fix those glaring mistakes. 
24 Central Michigan Chippewas Ugh it makes me kinda sick to have CMU in the rankings because I had to take my beloved Cowboys out.  I'm not happy with the outcome, but OSU also shouldn't have let the game get to where it did.
25 Georgia Southern Eagles Georgia Southern was a hard last team to decide on.  Was going between teams like Southern Miss, WMU, and Maryland.  Ultimately I believe a win over South Alabama is a more impressive win then winning over teams like Kentucky, FIU, or Northwestern.

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