Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Oct. 31, 2017, 7:50 a.m.

Overall Rationale: This is a resume-based ballot which only considers the quality of opponents played to date. At this point opponent quality is about half S&P+ (and Sagarin rankings of FCS teams) and half my own eyetest. Like most entirely backwards-looking ballots, it's still got some wonky results midseason, but those are getting rarer at this point. I award a fixed-value undefeated bonus which diminishes in relative value over the course of the season; we're now seeing one-loss teams start to overcome that barrier. The strangest results at this point are teams who have a long string of wins over teams I've classified in "average" category, but a few of those opponents are probably in fact below average ... but they're getting the benefit of the doubt because they haven't lost enough games yet.  That's obviously a self-correcting problem - if they are in fact bad opponents the masquerade will inevitably end, if they're not, they'll prove it in the stretch.

• Ballot
• Analysis

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Georgia Bulldogs
2	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
3	Alabama Crimson Tide
4	Ohio State Buckeyes
5	Wisconsin Badgers
6	Clemson Tigers
7	Penn State Nittany Lions
8	Miami Hurricanes
9	Oklahoma State Cowboys
10	USC Trojans
11	UCF Knights
12	Oklahoma Sooners
13	TCU Horned Frogs
14	Washington Huskies
15	Michigan Wolverines
16	Virginia Tech Hokies
17	Memphis Tigers
18	NC State Wolfpack
19	Auburn Tigers
20	Mississippi State Bulldogs
21	Michigan State Spartans
22	LSU Tigers
23	Toledo Rockets
24	Boise State Broncos
25	San Diego State Aztecs

Teams Ranked:

Rank	Team	Unusualness
1	Georgia Bulldogs	0.15
2	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	0.62
3	Alabama Crimson Tide	-0.56
4	Ohio State Buckeyes	0.00
5	Wisconsin Badgers	0.00
6	Clemson Tigers	0.00
7	Penn State Nittany Lions	0.00
8	Miami Hurricanes	0.00
9	Oklahoma State Cowboys	0.12
10	USC Trojans	1.84
11	UCF Knights	0.00
12	Oklahoma Sooners	-0.52
13	TCU Horned Frogs	-0.35
14	Washington Huskies	0.00
15	Michigan Wolverines	3.86
16	Virginia Tech Hokies	-0.56
17	Memphis Tigers	0.54
18	NC State Wolfpack	0.00
19	Auburn Tigers	0.00
20	Mississippi State Bulldogs	0.00
21	Michigan State Spartans	0.00
22	LSU Tigers	0.00
23	Toledo Rockets	1.22
24	Boise State Broncos	0.97
25	San Diego State Aztecs	0.08

Omissions:

Team	Unusualness
Iowa State Cyclones	2.71
Stanford Cardinal	1.27
Arizona Wildcats	0.53
Washington State Cougars	0.31

Total Score: 16.22