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TanzaniaMagic Ballot for 2017 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 6, 2017, 2:13 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Two overall thoughts. First, I feel that there is a big jump from ranks 2-14 and then 15-25 (Alabama stands up top alone). All the teams between 2-14 feel like they could be playoff contenders. Secondly, OSU, Washington, USC and Wisconsin all dropped in my poll for having slow first halves against their opponents.Teams dropped from preseason rankings include Texas and North Carolina State.Teams added to my polls include Virginia Tech and West Virginia. Other teams considered include Boise State, Oregon, Utah, UCLA, Maryland, Tennessee, and Notre Dame

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama sits on the Iron Throne. Can anyone dethrone them?
2 Oklahoma Sooners Baker Mayfield threw for an incredible 19/20, 329 yards and 3 TDs before sitting out for the second half. Lincoln Riley era is off to a good start.
3 Clemson Tigers Clemson appears to have answered their biggest question mark of the offseason with QB Kelly Bryant.
4 Penn State Nittany Lions Doesn't appear to have missed a step from the end of last season. Took care of business and shut out Akron. Both Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley looked phenomenal.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes Questions still remain over their passing game. JT Barrett has been around for a long time, I imagine Buckeye fans expect more out of him. One thing that struck me was how dominant their defensive line looked against Indiana's line.
6 Oklahoma State Cowboys Took care of business against a underrated Tulsa team. Rudolph and Washington makes for an amazing combo.
7 Washington Huskies Rutgers game left a lot of Husky fans with anxiety. I have concerns over our pass rush and WR play. In the end, Washington still took care of business 3000 miles away from home
8 USC Trojans WMU kept it close against the Trojans until nearly halfway through the 4th quarter. Darnold was probably better than his stats imply, but the Trojan running backs were the real stars during their game against WMU. There are some concerns over their rushing defense.On a side note, Jake Olsen long snapping was awesome and will likely be a highlight for this season.
9 Florida State Seminoles Amazing defensive play. Special teams... not so much. Lots of question marks with QB Deondre Francois now out for the year. Francois is one of the toughest players I ever had the pleasure of watching. I hope he comes back stronger and better.
10 Michigan Wolverines That offense was all sorts of inconsistent during the first half. Still, Michigan took care of business against a ranked Florida team and looked great defensively despite replacing most of their starters. (Or maybe Florida is just bad.)
11 LSU Tigers LSU's defense prevented BYU's offense from crossing the 50 yard line all game. The offense didn't look to shabby either.
12 Wisconsin Badgers After being tied at 10 with Utah State in the first half, Wisconsin scores 49 unanswered points in the second. That's impressive.
13 Auburn Tigers Dropped because of other teams moving up. Took care of business against Georgia Southern. Felt that Jarrett Stidham had an alright game. Excited to see how he plays against better competition.
14 Stanford Cardinal Another victim of other teams moving up. Stanford was on bye, but destroyed Rice with ease in the other side of the world during Week 0. With Washington and USC looking more or less lackluster during week 1, Stanford is in a prime position to reclaim their spot at the top of the Pac-12. We should learn a lot when Stanford visits USC in week 2.
15 Georgia Bulldogs Jake Eason is out indefinitely. Bring out the other Jake. Despite Eason's injury, Georgia was never not in control during their game against App State.
16 Louisville Cardinals Avoided a narrow upset against Purdue. Lamar Jackson is going to need some more support from his team.
17 Virginia Tech Hokies One of the best games of the weekend, overshadowed by UCLA's miraculous comeback. QB Josh Jackson will be an exciting player to follow this year.
18 Miami Hurricanes Took care of business against HBCU Bethene-Cookman and debuted the swag chain.
19 Washington State Cougars Perhaps the biggest upset of the weekend, the Cougs win an opener (for the first time since Leach arrived in Pullman) and beat FCS Montana State. Running backs and defense looked very impressive during this game.
20 TCU Horned Frogs Horned Frog took care of business against Jackson State. Kenny Hill looked solid and accurate. Let's see if he can keep that going.
21 Colorado Buffaloes Colorado's defense doesn't seem to have taken too much of a step back after replacing nearly everyone on that side of the ball. They held a dynamic Colorado State offense to 3 points in a Rocky Mountain Showdown win (maybe with the help of some flags). RB Phillip Lindsay still looks legit.
22 Kansas State Wildcats Jesse Ertz was electric against an admittedly over-matched team. Still lots of concern on the defensive side, especially their front seven. Kansas State needs to get better at defending the option.
23 Florida Gators Yeesh that offense. New year, same old storyline. Florida needs a QB.
24 USF Bulls Charlie Strong's Bulls are 2-0 but haven't looked very good doing it. USF survives another slow start. This time against Stony Brooks.
25 West Virginia Mountaineers A close loss to the Hokies earns the Mountaineers a place in my polls (quality loss!). What a quarterback duel between Will Grier and Josh Jackson. It looks as though Grier just might live up to his preseason hype.

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