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T-Thugs Ballot for 2016 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 11, 2016, 6:13 p.m.

Overall Rationale: I try to make my poll by evaluating who teams have played and who they have beaten. I don't have any teams in my poll currently with a loss even though I think several of them are among the best 25 teams. I also don't have Ohio State or Michigan ranked despite thinking they are good teams because they have not played a power 5 opponent yet. (I count Notre Dame and BYU in that list). Ohio State can jump high in my poll next week if they win at Oklahoma. Michigan will also enter my poll if they defeat Colorado, although not very high. The winner of next week's Notre Dame/Michigan State game will also be ranked in my poll. 

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Defending champs. Their win over USC is still the most impressive of the year. Looked dominant again this week.
2 Houston Cougars Crushed a nobody. Their win over Oklahoma looks a little more impressive after the Sooners got a mark in the win column.
3 Florida State Seminoles Florida State looked dominant against a nobody. Their win over Ole Miss is still very good. 
4 Texas Longhorns Looked dominant against UTEP. Notre Dame winning is also good for the Longhorns resume. 
5 Wisconsin Badgers Dominant against a bad team. Their win over LSU is still one of the best. 
6 Texas A&M Aggies After a dominating performance against a cupcake, Texas A&M moves up a spot in my poll, jumping Georgia who struggled to beat an FCS opponent. Their win over UCLA is still a very good one. 
7 Georgia Bulldogs They looked pretty shaky this week, but their win over North Carolina still keeps them high in my rankings. North Carolina beat Illinois this week so that is helpful.
8 Utah Utes Utah won against a nobody in week 1, but their win over BYU shoots them up my rankings this week. This may be a little bit high but BYU did beat Arizona in week 1 so I'm counting it as solid for now. 
9 Arkansas Razorbacks Their week 1 performance was really bad, but getting a win at TCU is pretty impressive. Until other teams get solid wins, they need to have some respect for that. 
10 Arizona State Sun Devils Sun Devils dropped 68 on Texas Tech. Big 12 teams play no defense, but that's still legit. 
11 Washington Huskies Washington dominated a nobody. Rutgers got a win. Washington will probably slip some in my poll the coming weeks as they play nobodies while everyone else starts playing real games. 
12 Stanford Cardinal Didn't play this week. Still 1-0 with a win over Kansas State. Big game next week against USC that could push them up in the rankings. 
13 West Virginia Mountaineers West Virginia got another win. Their win over Missouri still keeps them high as Missouri got a W this weekend.
14 Clemson Tigers They looked shaky this week, but their win at Auburn is still good. 
15 Central Michigan Chippewas While their Hail Mary never should have happened, it still counts as a W. A win on the road at Oklahoma State is pretty solid and they dominated a cupcake in week 1. 
16 Louisville Cardinals Dominated a p5 opponent in Syracuse this week. Huge matchup with Florida State this week. A win would shoot Louisville up in to my top 5.
17 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Won big against Mercer. Best win is over Boston College who is now 1-1. 
18 Tennessee Volunteers They should have lost to Appalachian State, but they didn't. Their win over Virginia Tech started out a bit shaky but they looked much better by the end. 
19 Pittsburgh Panthers Pittsburgh moves into the rankings with a win over rival Penn State. 
20 ECU Pirates East Carolina gets into my rankings after defeated ACC opponent North Carolina State. NC State won their first game big. ECU also won their first game big.
21 Minnesota Golden Gophers Big win over a nobody. Still have a win over power 5 team in Oregon State. Oregon State didn't play this week, so I'm still counting that as a better win than Florida over Kentucky since Kentucky is confirmed as terrible. 
22 Florida Gators Dominated a bad Kentucky team. 
23 Cincinnati Bearcats Cincinnati got a win over Purdue this week after beating a nobody in week 1. The Bearcats likely will be out of my rankings next week since I expect them to get rolled by Houston.
24 Boise State Broncos Hard to compare Boise really against a team like Michigan or Ohio State. Those teams crushed bad opponents like Boise did in week 1. Boise got a win over a p5 opponent this week by beating Washington State. 
25 Oregon Ducks Oregon gets the last spot in my poll after defeating Virginia, even though Virginia is terrible. Oregon can stay ranked by defeating Nebraska next week. 

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