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311polo Ballot for 2018 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 4, 2018, 1:32 p.m.

Overall Rationale: These rankings are based to the extent possible on week 1 performance.  As such expect significant variation over the first 3-5 weeks as we get a few games to evaluate teams.  As the season progresses it will normalize.

Rank Team Reason
1 Auburn Tigers Simple. They won the best matchup of the weekend.  If Washington has won, they'd be here.
2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2nd best win of the weekend.
3 Virginia Tech Hokies Dominant over Florida State; defense looked incredible.  I think Michigan is a better team than FSU, so I put ND slightly ahead.
4 LSU Tigers A win over a top-25 team.  Do they actually, finally have an offense?
5 West Virginia Mountaineers In a weekend where the SEC looked strong, WVU dominated Tennessee. 
6 Alabama Crimson Tide Dominated Louisville.  While I think Louisville will have a terrible year, Bama's domination earned them this.  They look like the best team in the nation, but those above them had better wins.  It's the results that matter.
7 Maryland Terrapins Every time Texas loses after tons of hype, it's wonderful!  Do I think Maryland is a top-25 team.  Nope.  But they earned this ranking with a solid win against a good team who has more talent.  
8 Ohio State Buckeyes 77 points on a P-5 team??  (even if it is Oregon State).  Impressive.
9 Northwestern Wildcats Purdue is a solid team and probably one of the top-25 overall in the country and Northwestern handled them.  
10 BYU Cougars Unexpected win by the Cougars against an Arizona team expected to compete for the Pac-12 South title and with a potential heisman QB candidate.  Simply, I think this is a more impressive win than those ranked below.  ((And it disgusts me to even put BYU on this list, let alone the top-25)).
11 Cincinnati Bearcats Another unexpected win against a P-5 team in UCLA with tons of talent on the roster.  Thanks Cincinnati!   ((As an aside, Ole Miss would have been ranked here, but for some reason they were forgotten in the software.  Poor Ole Miss).
12 Oklahoma Sooners Many had FAU hovering right around #25 on the country. Oklahoma dominated.  I don't think FAU is all that good, otherwise OU would be a few spots hire.  Expect OU in the playoff this year.
13 California Golden Bears Beat another P-5 team.  More than most can say.
14 Stanford Cardinal Dominated SDSU who is one of the best G-5 teams in the country. A team that beat them last year.  And done with a poor performance from Bryce Love.  Stanford is a darkhorse playoff candidate, particularly if it can get by USC next week.  Please, oh please, beat USC.
15 Washington Huskies The only team on here with a loss.  Was right there with Auburn.  Close game.  Clearly they are pretty equal. Have to drop them due to a loss, but they are worthy of staying in the rankings.
16 Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors Only 2-0 team that I can tell and they dominated both games.  Their offense looks great.
17 Washington State Cougars Manhandled a solid Wyoming team in Laramie.  That's a tough place to play.
18 Oregon Ducks Dominated an FBS team.  This is as good a spot as any.
19 Boise State Broncos On the road, in the south. Dominated.  
20 Iowa Hawkeyes Isn't Northern Illinois usually a pretty solid G-5 team?  I assume so.  Thus Iowa is ranked.  
21 UCF Knights Won the most heated rivalry in CFB!
22 Boston College Eagles UMass had a dominating win under their belt and BC simply owned them.  
23 Houston Cougars Looked good beating an FBS team
24 Fresno State Bulldogs 79 points on a what was an FBS team until this year.  
25 USC Trojans Looked bad for 3 quarters, but finally found their firepower with a dominating 4th quarter against a G-5 team.

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