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woakley Ballot for 2018 Week 5

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 23, 2018, 8:18 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Started from prior weeks poll and then moved teams based on the results of the week. Dropping out of my Poll this week were the following teams with their prior week rankings: #14 Virginia Tech, #21 Oklahoma State, #24 Texas A&M and #25 Iowa. New Teams this week - #18 Kentucky, #23 Cal, #24 BYU, #25 Texas

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Another top 25 game and another top 25 win. Rinse and repeat for Bama
2 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia had a scare from Missouri, but they ultimately survived and pulled away. They stay at 2
3 Clemson Tigers Unsurprisingly Clemson handled Georgia Tech. Not enough to move them over Georgia, but still another win against a P5 team
4 Ohio State Buckeyes I jumped Ohio State over Oklahoma this week. Im not concerned about Oklahoma, but Ohio States dominance and talent on display so far this season deserves to be rewarded.
5 Oklahoma Sooners Like I said above, i'm not worried about Oklahoma. Army played the perfect game against them, and held the ball almost the whole game. Regardless Oklahoma survived the scare and they are increasingly looking like the Big 12s only chance in the playoff. 
6 LSU Tigers LSU wins over a G5 foe by an okay margin, not a dominant win, but LSU sometimes does struggle with inferior opponents. Not moving them this week
7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame pulls off their best offensive performance of the year against Wake Forest, and they are finally living up to their high ranking
8 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State easily handled Illinois so they stay put. 
9 Stanford Cardinal Stanford stays at 9 for me. Did they beat a top 25 opponent? They sure did, but they needed overtime and some lucky breaks to do it. There is a pretty solid argument for moving them up, but for now I think that the 9 I had them at last week is right about right. 
10 UCF Knights UCF stays at 10. They struggled with FAU at times, but in the second half UCF pretty clearly showed that they were the better team. UCF will go as far as their defense can take them this year, but their talent is as good as advertised. 
11 Auburn Tigers Auburn easily beat Arkansas. Arkansas might be a bottom feeder in the SEC this year, but its still a solid win against an SEC opponent. No movement. 
12 West Virginia Mountaineers West Virginia hops up a couple this week. It wasn't that Kansas State is THAT good (they are solid, not great), but their body of work so far this year and their talent slots them above Washington and Wisconsin (who they were behind) last week. 
13 Washington Huskies Washington drops one spot. They beat a good Arizona state team by 7, but i've been more impressed by West Virginia this year than Washington
14 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin survived a tough one at Iowa. Hard to penalize them for going into Iowa and winning, as many top Big 10 teams can attest to thats easier said than done. They move up 2 spots because of the Mississippi State, VT  and TCU losses, but they get hopped by West Virginia
15 Miami Hurricanes Miami beat FIU by a sold margin (as they should have). Their move back up is mostly due to the losses in front of them, but i'll feel much better about the Canes if Perry stays the starter down there. 
16 Michigan Wolverines Michigan took Nebraska to the woodshed this week. They hop up because the teams in front of them lost, but beating Nebraska seems like less and less of an accomplishment as time goes on. 
17 Duke Blue Devils Duke has one of the more solid resumes in college football so far. Its not enough to get them into the top 15, but the Blue Devils are a team to watch as the season progresses. Virginia Tech will be a good test for them this week 
18 Kentucky Wildcats Kentucky just keeps winning. I almost ranked them last week, but couldnt quite pull the trigger. But when you take it to a Mississippi State team that I was high on like that you have my attention. They make a high debut on my poll. 
19 TCU Horned Frogs TCU has 2 losses, but one of them is against a top 5 team and the other is a close one against a talented Texas team. They still belong in the rankings, but they take another drop this week. 
20 Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State takes a drop this week after losing to Kentucky. They are still a talented team, but clearly not immune to a setback. They still deserve to be ranked. 
21 Oregon Ducks Oregon drops, but not too far. They still deserve a spot after really getting some unlucky bounces and losing a game that they probably deserved to win, but its still a disappointing loss for the Ducks. 
22 Colorado Buffaloes Colorado moved up one spot because people in front of them lost, but honestly with their only signature win against Nebraska, they are a team thats looking worse each week not better. Big test for them coming up. 
23 California Golden Bears Cal jumps in this week. They havent played the toughest of schedules so far, but if I think that BYU deserves to be ranked, then it probably makes sense to rank the only team thats beaten them. 2 P5 wins this season, we'll see how they fare with Oregon. 
24 BYU Cougars BYU hops in this week. They only played McNeese state this week, but they still deserve a spot after how they've performed so far this season.
25 Texas Longhorns Texas is BACK (in the top 25). They've looked downright impressive in back to back weeks by beating USC and then a talented TCU team. They've done all they can to deserve this spot, and we'll see how they go from here. 

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