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PHubbs Ballot for 2018 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 5, 2018, 9:39 a.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide They looked as absolutely dominant as we all expected them to look.
2 Georgia Bulldogs No reason to move them up or down after 1 week.
3 Clemson Tigers No reason to move them up or down after 1 week.
4 Wisconsin Badgers No reason to move them up or down after 1 week - new post Bret Bielema "we don't run up the score anymore" edition.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes No reason to move them up or down after 1 week - beating up on a second string QB for the likely last place PAC-12 finisher edition.
6 Oklahoma Sooners The first team to move in my ballot. What made them move? The team above them lost. That is it. Very few week 1 games showed us anything in the top 10 since replacement level players came on the field early and often. I did expect FAU to put up more of a fight against OU, but we need more time to interpret if that's because FAU just didn't have the players to compete or Kyler Murray was just that good. I'm afraid for the rest of the Big XII that the answer might be the second option.
7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The first big mover in my polls. I expected Notre Dame to actually fall off more from last year's 10 win campaign, but they're looking like a potential double digit winning team again. Wimbush impressed me with his elusiveness that will drive defenses crazy, but his accuracy needs to improve significantly to keep them as a top 10 team. His receivers did an incredible job to bail him out, and that should be good enough to get them to 4 wins before their two possible top 10 matchups. Notre Dame survived one of the few real tests a ranked team faced in week 1 and earned this spot by what they've done on the field and not just where we expect them to be.
8 Washington Huskies Washington lost to another legitimate top 10 team in week 1 while putting up 398 yards to Auburn's 420 and gaining 24 first downs to Auburn's 27. The game was close so I see no need to penalize Washington too much on the loss. I know people will take issue with me leaving Auburn behind them in the rankings, but I expect Washington to start a winning streak that will go 8 games into their match-up with Stanford, while Auburn has to survive another prove it game in week 3 against LSU. There is a very good chance that Washington doesn't lose again until the playoff and I'm just not comfortable letting a week 1 close loss knock them down just yet. Both teams have plenty of chances to prove they need to go up or down in the coming weeks, so I'm waiting this one out a little longer.
9 West Virginia Mountaineers Will Grier looks like the number 1 Heisman contender coming out of week 1 and should stay on that path for quite a while since WVU should be favored through their first 9 games. West Virginia has all of the potential in the world to go 9-0 before the three toughest contests on their schedule end their season. Maybe they flame out and go 9-3. Maybe they don't even make it there unblemished, but as long as Will Grier can look that good in every game, I think we might get two weeks in row of Oklahoma-West Virginia to end this season. I can't wait.
10 Auburn Tigers Auburn won a top ten contest, and yet I'm a jerk who won't move them up at all. I'm sorry tiger bros. For as much as people say early season polls don't matter, Auburn will face two potential top ten games in the first 3 weeks. We should all have a very good idea of Auburn's ceiling very early, and if they beat LSU in week 3, they will definitely go higher into my top 10. The main problem I see for Auburn is that every other team in my top ten has Playoff potential. Auburn finishes the year with the top 2 teams in their final 3 games. Auburn might actually be one of the 4 best teams in the country and still not even have a shot at the playoff. I'm not ready to put them there yet, though. As the season plays on, the teams above them will sort themselves out while Auburn's early tough contests will give them plenty of chances to prove they deserve to be up there.
11 Stanford Cardinal SDSU took Bryce Love out of Stanford's game plan, and it didn't even matter. Stanford was the methodical, dominant team that Shaw seams to roll out every year no matter what personnel he has. Stanford gets the best match-up of week 2 in a game against USC to prove just how good they are this season. I expect them to come out with a win as they compete with Washington for the PAC-12's top rank and potential playoff spot.
12 UCF Knights Week 1 was less about UCF looking great (which they did) and more about UCF's non-conference opponents looking bad. FAU looked mediocre. UNC looked bad, and Pitt looked decent but far behind UCF. It looks like the Golden Knights can't rely on marquis OOC games this year to boost their rankings, but it also looks like the Knights have a very good shot to go undefeated. Obviously Memphis and USF have something to say about that, but the Knights should feel good about their first post-Frost season after how week 1 shook out across the board.
13 TCU Horned Frogs TCU beat a team from Baton Rouge. It just wasn't the one everyone knows. A week 1 win over a SWAC school doesn't say much about a team, but TCU looked prepared and dominant. Like most teams on this list, we need to get through week 3 to have a better idea of who they are. That applies especially to the Horned Frogs since they face Ohio State in week 3. TCU's mainly benefiting here from other schools above them having troubling games (PSU and MSU), and me really not wanting to rank LSU too high because it scares me. Gary Patterson did have his team prepared, though, which should be a troubling sign for OSU.
14 LSU Tigers LSU let off the gas early in the 3rd quarter leading to a scoreline not near as lopsided as the game showed. LSU's receivers dropping balls that hit their hands didn't help that fact either. Still, this team looks much better than whatever the AP saw heading into week 1. As with the Auburn-Washington game, I try not to overreact too much to week 1 ranked match-ups, but LSU looked ready to prove they're here to compete in the SEC. As for now, Georgia and Alabama are in a tier of their own while LSU and Auburn get ready for the week 3 slugfest in the Tiger tier. If LSU's receivers don't drop the ball (literally) the rest of this team has top 10 potential. Just like Auburn that might not be good enough for the playoff with Georgia and Bama on the schedule, but for now, the sky's the limit.
15 Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State dominated without their best weapon in Fitzgerald even suiting up. That means two things:1. The rest of this team is likely better than people realize.2. We still have no idea who they are since he completely changes the look of the team.This team will win or lose based on Fitzgerald's big game ability, so if he's healthy, the rest of the SEC needs to watch out. Until he plays, though, we can't see just how high their ceiling can go.
16 USC Trojans
17 Michigan Wolverines
18 Virginia Tech Hokies
19 Penn State Nittany Lions
20 Northwestern Wildcats
21 Boise State Broncos
22 Oklahoma State Cowboys
23 South Carolina Gamecocks
24 Michigan State Spartans
25 Miami Hurricanes

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