Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Nov. 5, 2017, 9:46 p.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	Clemson Tigers
5	Wisconsin Badgers
6	Miami Hurricanes
7	USC Trojans
8	Oklahoma Sooners
9	Penn State Nittany Lions
10	Washington Huskies
11	UCF Knights
12	TCU Horned Frogs
13	Michigan State Spartans
14	Ohio State Buckeyes
15	Auburn Tigers
16	Michigan Wolverines
17	Iowa Hawkeyes
18	Toledo Rockets
19	Memphis Tigers
20	Washington State Cougars
21	Oklahoma State Cowboys
22	Mississippi State Bulldogs
23	Virginia Tech Hokies
24	NC State Wolfpack
25	Boise State Broncos

Teams Ranked:

Rank	Team	Unusualness
1	Georgia Bulldogs	0.00
2	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	0.54
3	Alabama Crimson Tide	-0.65
4	Clemson Tigers	0.06
5	Wisconsin Badgers	0.00
6	Miami Hurricanes	0.00
7	USC Trojans	1.63
8	Oklahoma Sooners	-0.17
9	Penn State Nittany Lions	0.83
10	Washington Huskies	0.00
11	UCF Knights	0.00
12	TCU Horned Frogs	-1.02
13	Michigan State Spartans	0.00
14	Ohio State Buckeyes	0.00
15	Auburn Tigers	0.00
16	Michigan Wolverines	1.31
17	Iowa Hawkeyes	1.16
18	Toledo Rockets	2.53
19	Memphis Tigers	0.00
20	Washington State Cougars	0.00
21	Oklahoma State Cowboys	-1.49
22	Mississippi State Bulldogs	0.00
23	Virginia Tech Hokies	-1.28
24	NC State Wolfpack	0.00
25	Boise State Broncos	0.00

Omissions:

Team	Unusualness
Iowa State Cyclones	0.33
USF Bulls	0.18
West Virginia Mountaineers	0.26

Total Score: 13.43