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IAMAVelociraptorAMA Ballot for 2017 Week 4

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 18, 2017, 10:24 p.m.

Overall Rationale: We all make mistakes, and my big one was thinking LSU's freshman problem could be overcome so easily.  So much for that!  I think other than mostly below-10 ranking issues, I was pretty spot on, but time for me to eat some crow in the individual rationales below.

Rank Team Reason
1 Clemson Tigers As always, you're the king until you're not.  Defending champions, undefeated, with two ranked victories under their belt by week three.  While Alabama may be the better team this year, I repeat that an undefeated defending champion stays at number one until proven otherwise.  Their remaining schedule is no cupcake factory, and if they go undefeated they deserve to stay at number one, regardless of Alabama's dominance.  It's good to be king.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide If I'm being perfectly honest, I'm not as impressed with Alabama this year as I should be.  Despite a solid showing against Florida State, the individual performances were relatively lackluster and they don't have that same unstoppable juggernaut feel to them.  Then again, it may just be a hangover from last year's Natty.  Regardless, Jalen hasn't shown to be as good as many hoped he was, but he seems serviceable enough to help Alabama go what looks to be another possible undefeated (regular) season with that stout defense.
3 Oklahoma Sooners Turns out I was right to be high on Lincoln Riley.  The loss of Dixon didn't seem to hurt the Sooners and their phenomenal performance at Ohio State cemented my bullish outlook of these rampaging Sooners.
4 Michigan Wolverines I'm not as high on Michigan as I was after the Florida game - I'm not sure how to interpret their win against Air Force, especially in light of how bad Florida has been all year.  Let's go ahead and keep them where they were and see how it comes when Penn State arrives.
5 Penn State Nittany Lions Speaking of, time for me to eat some crow.  Penn State, at least for now, looks legit.  They're still even less tested than Michigan, but their wins are impressive.  Their schedule is backloaded, though, so expect a couple of high profile games against Michigan and Ohio State to truly test these high-powered Lions.
6 Washington Huskies They look weaker than I thought they would, but strong enough to coast to an undefeated season of an overrated USC team.  Speaking of which.
7 USC Trojans They don't deserve to be in the top 10, but competition is scarce and the world is topsy-turvy right now.  Expect at least one choke this season.
8 Wisconsin Badgers Two Big 10 teams over Ohio State?  r/cfb just collectively orgasmed
9 Oklahoma State Cowboys Oklahoma State continues to impress everybody, but I'm not sure why.  There really is no x-factor or anything special about this team.  I fully expect a late-season loss, but I'm betting on them riding high for now.
10 Ohio State Buckeyes From an absolutely abhorrent secondary to a pathetic running back experience, Ohio State is looking more like the Browns than usual.  Could the Browns beat Ohio State?  Maybe.
11 Virginia Tech Hokies They're surpassing my expectations and with a weak Florida State team, they should end the season around the top 10.
12 Florida State Seminoles Not just losing, but losing their best player?  That hurt more than usual.  Goodbye, playoffs.
13 Mississippi State Bulldogs god dammit.  Much respect to their top 10 defense, though - the number is pushed down slightly from some Florida teams not having played as much, but I respect this defense and fully expect them to annihilate Georgia.
14 Washington State Cougars look at all these 3-0 teams that aren't LSU, fuck me
15 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia looks ugly.  I don't know why they're ranked ahead of Mississippi State when I fully expect them to cudgel Georgia, a team that struggled to put away a mediocre Notre Dame team.  Going up against a top-tier defense like the Bulldogs'?  Good luck, buttercup.
16 Louisville Cardinals Yeah, I know.  They probably shouldn't be this high - but if the AP can put Auburn at 15 then I can put Louisville at 16.  Expect the Cardinals to bounce back from their wholly expected but not disastrous loss.
17 Auburn Tigers 14-7 against Clemson?  Not bad. Now do it again.  Auburn always seems to play to the level of the opponents, but all it takes is one bad game to screw all that up.  I'm still not high on Auburn.
18 Vanderbilt Commodores Not gonna lie, I'm doing this because fuck LSU and fuck Alabama.  I want Vandy to be unofficially ranked when they lose to Bama so that it stings a bit less.  One of the best defenses in the country is going completely underrated so I'm going to overrate them just a bit before reality comes crashing down.
19 Miami Hurricanes I don't want them on this list, but they haven't done anything to get off of it.
20 San Diego State Aztecs Fun fact: I almost went to SDSU.
21 USF Bulls I don't think Florida could be USF, so I'm ranking Florida beneath USF.
22 Florida Gators You don't deserve to be here, but you're here anyway.
23 Oregon Ducks Most people have Utah ahead of Oregon, but I don't.  Why?  Because honestly I'm drunk as hell and I don't know what I'md oing with my life. geaux tigers
24 Utah Utes Winning easy games gets you here.  Now let's see what you do against Stanford and USC.
25 TCU Horned Frogs hahahahaha why is life so miserable

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