Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 4, 2017, 7:27 p.m.

Overall Rationale: First week losers are not going to make my top 25. Regardless of their projection or how well they did last year, FSU and Florida are out. 

• Ballot
• Analysis

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	Defense and special teams good, still some questions on offense. They were clearly in control of the game with a solid opponent though, so they deserve #1.
2	Oklahoma Sooners	Clicking on all cylinders. Not a strong first week opponent though, so I gave Bama the edge.
3	Ohio State Buckeyes	Shaky first half against an okay-but-not-great first week opponent on the road. A better overall performance would have leap-frogged them over OU b/c tOSU had a more difficult opponent.
4	Clemson Tigers
5	Penn State Nittany Lions
6	LSU Tigers	Not a smooth start, but overall solid win against a decent team.
7	Michigan Wolverines	The score was not reflective of the feel of the game IMO. It was a close game until late in the 3rd quarter. Michigan's defense was good but clearly has some work to do. I'm not thrilled about Harbaugh taking Speight out early in the game and causing uncertainty at QB.
8	Washington Huskies
9	Wisconsin Badgers
10	Louisville Cardinals
11	USC Trojans	USC did not look as sharp as I'd expect against W Michigan at home, which is why I dropped them precipitously in my poll.
12	Georgia Bulldogs
13	Stanford Cardinal
14	Auburn Tigers
15	TCU Horned Frogs
16	Oklahoma State Cowboys
17	Kansas State Wildcats
18	Miami Hurricanes
19	Virginia Tech Hokies
20	UCLA Bruins	Epic comeback, and a team that I project to do well this year.
21	Colorado Buffaloes	They won but it wasn't especially pretty against CSU. 
22	USF Bulls
23	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
24	Washington State Cougars
25	Navy Midshipmen

Teams Ranked:

Rank	Team	Unusualness
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	0.00
2	Oklahoma Sooners	0.72
3	Ohio State Buckeyes	0.00
4	Clemson Tigers	0.00
5	Penn State Nittany Lions	0.00
6	LSU Tigers	0.77
7	Michigan Wolverines	0.00
8	Washington Huskies	0.00
9	Wisconsin Badgers	0.00
10	Louisville Cardinals	1.32
11	USC Trojans	0.00
12	Georgia Bulldogs	0.59
13	Stanford Cardinal	0.00
14	Auburn Tigers	0.00
15	TCU Horned Frogs	2.04
16	Oklahoma State Cowboys	-0.98
17	Kansas State Wildcats	0.22
18	Miami Hurricanes	0.00
19	Virginia Tech Hokies	-0.10
20	UCLA Bruins	0.40
21	Colorado Buffaloes	0.00
22	USF Bulls	0.00
23	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	0.00
24	Washington State Cougars	0.00
25	Navy Midshipmen	0.00

Omissions:

Team	Unusualness
Florida State Seminoles	1.89
Tennessee Volunteers	0.04

Total Score: 9.06