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beerslingerjay Ballot for 2017 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 5, 2017, 5:15 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Best until proven otherwise.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes OSU was able to weather the early onslaught by an Indiana team that seemed very "up to the challenge." The talent gap was very apparent, though, as the game proceeded.
3 Penn State Nittany Lions Total annihilation of Akron told us what we already knew: Barkley is a machine, and McSorley continues to produce. I expect Penn State to be undefeated going into their back-to-back meetings of Michigan and Ohio State. These two weeks later down the line could shape the CFB Playoff picture.
4 Wisconsin Badgers Took a little while to get going, but Wisconsin was able to put a stop to all Utah State's shenanigans pretty early in route to a relatively easy victory. Much like Wisconsin teams of yore, expect this team to methodically destroy teams while no one really lights up the box score.
5 Washington Huskies Jake Browning didn't have his best stuff, but it was more than enough to put away a seemingly improved Rutgers. They won't really be tested until Week 4, so I expect the offense to get its footing before traveling to Colorado.
6 USC Trojans A Corey Davis-less WMU gave them a run for their money until USC was finally able to pull away at the end of the game. Could The Darnold be showing some chinks in the armor? Stanford sure as hell will find out this Saturday.
7 Clemson Tigers Yes, I have Clemson a little lower than most everyone else. All the new pieces looked amazing while beating the breaks of Kent State. I'll have to see a bit more before catapulting them up into CFB Playoff contention. 
8 Florida State Seminoles Taking on Bama Week 1 is no easy task for anyone, even if you're FSU. Much of the worries about O-Line strength came to fruition, but it's Bama, right? Nonetheless, it looks like they have a star-in-the-making with Akers and a stout, incredibly athletic defense. But we'll have to see how this team rebounds after losing Francois.
9 Oklahoma State Cowboys The offense looks to be everything we all expected. Hopefully, a streaky defense will be enough to take at least some of the strain off the offense.
10 Oklahoma Sooners Doesn't look like Baker Mayfield really misses DeDe Westbrook at all. Pretty much every QB that went into the game for OU looked like Heisman finalists. They'll have to quickly remove the charred remains of UTEP from their boots before taking on OSU this weekend.
11 Michigan Wolverines In what really turned out to be an ugly game, Florida managed to look uglier. Was it a great Michigan defense or a worthless Florida offense? Only time will tell, but even with the lackluster performance of Michigan's offense, they were still able to handily win a big opener against a strong SEC team.
12 Stanford Cardinal Stanford was able to fit in another practice day (that Rice just happened to join them for) before their Week 2 showdown with USC. It may be early, but this game will probably shape the rest of the year in the PAC 12.
13 LSU Tigers This just in: LSU's defense looks okay. LSU has to be flying pretty high after making BYU look like Furman. Etling was unspectacular, but efficient, which is already a step in the right direction. This could help Derrius Guice see more holes against stiffer competition.
14 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia was able to quickly snuff out the mythical juices of "Week 1 Appy State" and show why they're the front runner in the SEC East. We'll have to see how Fromm takes the reigns, but really all Georgia needs is a healthy duo of Chubb and Michel. They'll be fine.
15 Auburn Tigers Nothing too surprising in Week 1. The defense looked incredible, and after shaking off some jitters early on, Stidham looked fine, albeit against Georgia Southern. Kerryon Johnson and Kam Martin will help bring some of the load off Stidham as he becomes more accustomed to Malzahn's offense. He'll have to hurry, though, because as of this writing, Clemson is a slightly better team than Georgia Southern.
16 Kansas State Wildcats Ertz looked amazing against Central Arkansas. I don't think there's a question of whether they'll put up points. I'm anxious to see how this offense performs against a pretty solid Vandy D in Week 3.
17 Virginia Tech Hokies Justin Fuente continues to look like an amazing hire for Va Tech. Despite giving up a ton of yards to a re-vamped WVU offense, Tech was able to pull it out in the end. If Josh Jackson can continue to look like he did Week 1, Tech will make some noise in the ACC.
18 Louisville Cardinals They didn't look to great, but a win is a win... I guess? Lamar Jackson is still the best player in CFB, but literally everyone else around him needs to pick it up if they're going to contend with FSU and Clemson in the ACC. With a performance like this past one, don't be surprised if UNC knocks them out before Clemson or FSU has a chance to.
19 Miami Hurricanes Miami was able to stick it to Bethune-Cookman without much difficulty. All phases of the game looked sharp, so we'll see how they, along with Va Tech and Louisville, will be able to make waves in a stacked ACC.
20 Washington State Cougars Complete domination over FCS Montana St. Seemed like they had something to prove after losing their last two season openers to FCS schools. With that bullet dodged, expect the Cougs to score all of the points.
21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish It looks like Notre Dame is going for more of a ground attack this year, and judging by the beatdown they put on Temple, it may just be crazy enough to work. Also, Temple's had a pretty solid defense for the past few years. Is the Irish offense simply that good, or has Temple taken a step back?
22 TCU Horned Frogs Poor Jackson State. TCU looked pretty much perfect in Week 1. The defense didn't allow anything, and the offense was efficient. Their first real test comes against Arkansas this week, which could catapult either team into Contender territory.
23 USF Bulls They haven't looked especially dominant for a complete game yet against San Jose State or Stony Brook, but they probably still won't be tested for a couple weeks. It's a "wait-and-see" type of thing for USF. They're supposed to be good, but won't lose to any of these teams. Let's count on breakout performances against UConn, Illinois, and Temple in the next three weeks.
24 Colorado Buffaloes Colorado State put up a million points on Oregon State, then put up 3 against Colorado. Yes, Oregon State has an atrocious defense, but Colorado completely halted a confident team in a season-opening rivalry game. Impressive.
25 South Carolina Gamecocks I don't think anyone was expecting such a high-scoring game from USC East and NC State. Despite a crazy showing from Ryan Finley, SCAR found a way to hold them off. And don't look now, but Bentley and Deebo put up some real numbers against what was supposed to be a top-ranked defense. SCAR could be SCAR-y.

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