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moistats_ Ballot for 2018 Week 5

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 23, 2018, 2:26 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Dropped: Boston College, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, and Iowa. Primarily based on results of previous weeks with rigor considered, talent and coaching experience, future schedule, projections of playoffs and conference champions, and standing of the previous polls. Criteria expected to change when the CFP Poll hits, and will include teams under a first-year head coach as well as five-eight G5 teams (maybe as early as week six). Notre Dame, the outliers, and my projected champion/runner-up get the top 10 spots at least.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama is No. 1 right now. Pigs do not fly.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes This was a pleasing win for Ohio State, so I will keep them at No. 2. As stated before, the match at Penn State will (at least nearly certain) decide the Big Ten West division and probably the CFP spot.
3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame is doing what they should have against Ball State and Vanderbilt. I like this. Their list of wins is much better than Clemson's as well.
4 Clemson Tigers It was an awesome performance by Clemson. However, there aren't a lot of opportunities to truly show their potential since it is currently Clemson & friends. They should be a lock for the CFP but it probably will be an underwhelming run. Unless, of course, the clemson'd curse...
5 Stanford Cardinal For a moment, I thought I had to move Oregon to the top 6 and excuse the "first-year head coach" criteria relatively early. Stanford took advantage of every opportunity and truly tried their best. They believed in everything, and did not make a big deal out of it.
6 West Virginia Mountaineers West Virginia's performance against Kansas State was amazing. This is enough for me to put them over Oklahoma for now. The match at Texas Tech may prove their worth more, too.
7 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia is fucking awesome. I don't need to explain much.
8 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma struggled against Army at home. I don't know how I feel about this. A win is a win, and they look much better than the runner-ups for the other conferences (oh fucking boy...).
9 Miami Hurricanes Miami is killing it. They'll need to show it against a big time opponent, so they probably will be around here for a while. Expect the match at Virginia in three weeks to be relatively competitive.
10 Wisconsin Badgers The game at Iowa was much closer than what the score indicates. Honest to God, I'm genuinely shocked that this division is still Wisconsin & friends after the loss to BYU. Unless if we get that typical Northwestern run under the plate...
11 Colorado Buffaloes Please do good against UCLA, Colorado. I do not want a trash team from the Pac-12 South sitting at No. 11.
12 North Texas Mean Green Thank you for humiliating Liberty, North Texas. -Ethics This is currently a strong pick for the NY6 G5 representative. I suggest to look into this team more.
13 LSU Tigers LSU had a strong win against Louisiana Tech. Yippee!
14 Penn State Nittany Lions I'm just going to act as if the 4th quarter Penn State is the team we are talking about.
15 Washington Huskies That was a cool win against Arizona State!
16 Michigan Wolverines https://i.imgur.com/iEKgsxX.gifv
17 Duke Blue Devils A win against NC Central. Cool, moving on.
18 Buffalo Bulls I hope my poll doesn't become controversial because of this pick. I personally think Buffalo looks much stronger than USF, Cincy, or UCF. Buffalo embarrassed Rutgers away, and they have stronger wins now that I look deeper into it. UCF has yet to show a strong win against a strong team, Cincinnati is the same case as well, and USF is struggling to win. I think they have what it takes to beat Army. Also, they have several players on award watch lists, much more than the aforementioned three.
19 Auburn Tigers Auburn trashed Arkansas?! COOL! Also, welcome to the many new teams below with in-depth analysis (besides USF)! I won't be surprised if this list is controversial because there was so much chaos this week. Oh man, here we go.
20 Kentucky Wildcats As of this writing, I am currently seeing the list of undefeated teams through week 4 garnered by Alabama fan /u/well___duh. Kentucky is definitely the team that stood me out the most. First, Kentucky has the schedule to make a good run and place second in the SEC East. Second, Kentucky has a lot of talent, particularly Snell, Allen, Edwards. Third, they performed well against their previous four opponents and their fans consistently have a good showing. They have what it takes to maintain the top-25 ranking.
21 NC State Wolfpack The second new team is NC State. While there were not any impressive wins in particular, I like that they have enough talent to secure a top-25 ranking for a while. In addition, NC State is definitely familiar of being in the top-25, and have the coaching experience as well.
22 California Golden Bears California was one of the teams I considered in my top 25 prior to the season. However, my biggest concern was their level of coaching experience. I'm not too confident that Wilcox can do much in his 2nd year, as much coaches don't. Also, they haven't exactly figured out their QB situation yet. However, California has a lot of talent, such as Laird, Wharton, and Kunaszyk. With their level of competition against the previous three, they could go 7-0 heading into Washington. They just need to get it together (and the fans have to show up against Oregon).
23 Syracuse Orange Syracuse is the last undefeated P5 team, and I included all in this list. The primary reason I put them last is because - to be brutally honest - I expect them to drop out if they lose to Clemson. I just wanted to recognize the fact that they are undefeated. It seems like Babers is the perfect fit for 'Cuse though. With the Dungey-Riley pair, they should make a bowl this season. 'Cuse may be an awesome team after they get out of probation in 2020.
24 USF Bulls Although USF is undefeated, they are seriously struggling to win. I don't have high hopes for them later in the schedule if they don't start blowing out good opponents.
25 Texas Longhorns End me. After going through all of the P5 one-loss teams besides the ones already in this ranking, I truly do think Texas has what it takes to stay in the top-25. They have the most talent, best schedule to get the most wins, and especially since it seems like Herman nearly got it together after watching their performance against TCU. They did break history too. I was close of ranking Maryland, but their next match isn't favorable and the situation over there is dire. Texas is fucking weird folks, I have to put them in that 25th AKA ??? spot.

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