Back to poll results >>

GenialGiant Ballot for 2018 Week 4

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 17, 2018, 5:59 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Now we've entered the point of the season where teams people (e.g. yours truly) haven't been following as closely begin to stand out. As such, I've added a few new teams to my ballot this week. At the moment, my computer model is still giving me only very basic results, so I didn't use it much (and therefore do not consider this to be a hybrid poll). I'm hoping that my model will begin to give more robust results soon. I'm also working on a different computer model, but that one is more time-consuming and so may not happen for a while (or at all). First N Out - Kentucky, Oregon, and Texas A&M

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama annihilated Ole Miss en route to a 3-0 record going into Saturday's game against Texas A&M.
2 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia continues to roll through over-matched opponents and maintains its position in second.
3 Clemson Tigers Clemson put away a previously-undefeated Georgia Southern and stays in third place.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State defeated TCU under the lights and holds its position.
5 LSU Tigers With a (very close) win over Auburn, LSU jumps into the top five.
6 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma's game against Iowa State was closer than they would have wished, but they got the job done.
7 Penn State Nittany Lions A second consecutive blowout for Penn State; we'll see if they can keep this up in conference play.
8 Stanford Cardinal Stanford beat up on their FCS foe, but USC's loss makes that win look less impressive.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame continues to win, but they continue to do so in less-than-graceful fashion, this time against Vanderbilt.
10 Auburn Tigers Auburn fell in a close match against LSU but continues to cling to a spot in the top 10.
11 Oklahoma State Cowboys I've been high on Oklahoma State all season, and the Cowboys' win over Boise State only increases that.
12 Mississippi State Bulldogs The Bulldogs, under first-year coach Moorhead, continue their undefeated season.
13 Virginia Tech Hokies As the weeks go on, Virginia Tech's win over FSU looks less dominating, though still good.
14 West Virginia Mountaineers Will Grier is a very good quarterback and it will certainly be interesting to see how the Mountaineers perform in conference play.
15 Washington Huskies Auburn's loss to LSU does Washington no favors, though they also didn't help themselves with an ugly game against Utah.
16 Miami Hurricanes Despite some comeback efforts by Toledo, Miami managed to put away the game in large part due to Malik Rosier's five total touchdowns.
17 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa's bid to win the B1G West will face its first challenge as the Hawkeyes take on Wisconsin.
18 Duke Blue Devils Duke surges into the rankings with a win over Baylor; the win over the Bears and Army's win over Hawai'i gives Duke two victories over 2-1 teams.
19 Boston College Eagles Boston College took care of business against Wake Forest and is shaping up to be the primary challenger to Clemson in the ACC Atlantic.
20 Wisconsin Badgers Yes, Wisconsin lost to BYU (ranked 22nd), but I think their total body of work, along with the close nature of the game, puts them above the Cougars.
21 UCF Knights Unfortunately, the Knights didn't get the opportunity to beat up on P5 punching bag UNC, but they'll have another chance against an ACC team when they take on Pitt.
22 BYU Cougars BYU jumps into the rankings after defeating Wisconsin; they sit ahead of Cal (to whom they lost) largely because of this victory.
23 TCU Horned Frogs TCU was unable to get the job done against Ohio State; their fall is so extreme in large part because their best win to date (SMU) continues to look awful.
24 California Golden Bears Cal beat the team that beat Wisconsin; however, their wins have all been too close for them to be ranked higher.
25 Syracuse Orange At 3-0, Syracuse clambers into the last spot in my ballot; if all goes to plan against lowly UConn, Syracuse should be heading into the Clemson match-up at 4-0.

Back to poll results >>