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SSJRoshi Ballot for 2017 Week 4

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 17, 2017, 9:59 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Next Five: 26. Houston    27. Purdue    28. LSU     29. Boise State    30. Kentucky     This was a real tough week to feel good about the rankings. A lot of teams either lost badly, got upset, or didn't look very good in their wins (in my opinion, as this is my ballot).    Dropped Out (of top 25): LSU, Boise State, Stanford, Kansas State

Rank Team Reason
1 Clemson Tigers Have the highest number of really good wins, even if the Auburn win looks a little worse after Auburn's struggles this week, giving the just the edge on the resume to jump Alabama and Oklahoma.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide Still undefeated, have yet to struggle against really any opponent. Still have a great win against Florida State.
3 Oklahoma Sooners Slight struggles at the very beginning against Tulane not enough to make them drop, instead Clemson jumps them on their own merits.
4 Oklahoma State Cowboys Mr. Consistent, the only team to stick in the exact same spot in every one of my polls. They've looked dominant every week, their only problem being their schedule has not been that tough. 
5 Penn State Nittany Lions Another team that has looked dominant in every game they've played against much lesser competition, and their one game against P5 competition was still a decided victory.
6 Michigan Wolverines Team with a struggling offense at times that has still won by double digits every week, in large part due to their dominant defense. Still, they are 3-0 with a good win that looks better in Florida.
7 Ohio State Buckeyes Decided victory against a much lesser opponent that helped them jump several spots when teams in front of them also struggled or lost.
8 Wisconsin Badgers Outplayed a P5-level opponent (albeit a bottom end one this year) by quite a bit. Teams above them struggling let's Wisconsin jump back into the top 10 as it looks more and more like their early struggles in the first half of week 1 were truly a fluke.
9 Georgia Bulldogs See Ohio State reasoning.
10 USC Trojans Won their game, but struggled quite a bit and very nearly lost to a Texas team at home that lost to Maryland by double digits in Texas.Still undefeated, but between Darnold's struggles (7 touchdowns to 6 interceptions this year) and the team's struggles as a whole, they need to figure something out before they truly look like the playoff contender they were forecasted to be.
11 Washington Huskies See Ohio State reasoning.
12 Virginia Tech Hokies Absolutely demolished a lesser team, and have been rolling since their close victory over a good West Virginia team.
13 Colorado Buffaloes Had a close game against a lesser foe until they finished it off by rattling 13 straight points to win by 20. Still undefeated, and moving up due to teams in front of them struggling and dropping.
14 West Virginia Mountaineers Have dominated much lesser teams two weeks in a row (I actually had to double check that they played again this week because their score this week was almost identical to their score last week), and their only loss came in an extremely close game with a very good Hokies team.
15 Florida State Seminoles Still only 1 point of data (a loss against Alabama). Hard to keep them in the rankings, but hard to drop them when their only loss is to a top 2 team in the country and wasn't a complete destruction.
16 TCU Horned Frogs See Ohio State reasoning.
17 Auburn Tigers They won the game, but man did they look poor doing so. Struggling against Mercer is a sure-fire way to drop yourself out of the top 10.
18 Miami Hurricanes Bye week let them move up one spot as one team in front of them plummeted.
19 Oregon Ducks Have looked very good for a few weeks now, including a demolishing of Wyoming this week. Combined with teams in front of them losing/struggling, able to climb a few spots.
20 Utah Utes See Ohio State reasoning.
21 Florida Gators Florida found their offense, though it took them 3 halves to do it. Their defense is still good, having 3 pick-six's in 2 games. A solid win over a likely top-30 Tennessee team, no matter how ugly the game is, gets them back in the top 25.
22 Washington State Cougars See Ohio State reasoning.
23 Louisville Cardinals Lost in fairly dominant fashion to the new number 1 team in the country. Causes them to drop a few spots with the loss, but they stay in the top 25 because it's a loss to a very good team.
24 Maryland Terrapins Their victory over Texas looks even better with Texas putting up a great fight against USC. Had a bye week, but teams in front of them struggling let's them jump from my 26 spot to 24.
25 Mississippi State Bulldogs One of the best wins of the week, Mississippi State absolutely dominated what had been viewed as a top 10 team. Time will tell if LSU was overrated, Mississippi State was underrated, or both. I'm giving it one more week before Mississippi State jumps a lot of the current top-25 teams as they have another great test against Georgia. Play well there, and they could easily jump into the top 20.

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