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Charlemagne42 Ballot for 2019 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 2, 2019, 10:40 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Still a human ballot this week as my computer model comes together. Right now, with just one game, it can basically choose between ranking all teams by their own games' actual numerical results, or by looking at their schedules and deciding whether they have opportunities for important wins - based on the results of just one game. I tried to coax it into considering an even mix of results and schedule, but with one data point, it's still very sloppy. Too results-oriented, and it moves teams like Maryland and Illinois up. Too schedule-oriented, and it tends to "circlejerk" a few conferences with lots of wins (because all my measurables correlate strongly with wins). That means the undefeated XII and the 12-2 B1G have nearly all their members ranked, while very good SEC teams miss the cut because the East lost a lot of games. -----------Model Ranking----------->> [1] Kansas State (24.0); [2] Michigan State (23.53); [3] Michigan (23.52); [4] Baylor (23.44); [5] Rutgers (23.42); [6] Iowa State (23.36); [7] Texas (23.35); [8] Maryland (23.33); [9] Texas Tech (23.29); [10] TCU (23.2); [11] Ohio State (22.73); [12] West Virginia (22.72); [13] Kansas (22.61); [14] Oklahoma State (22.59); [15] Penn State (22.55); [16] Illinois (22.4); [17] Oklahoma (22.3); [18] Nebraska (22.1); [19] Hawai'i (21.88); [20] Iowa (21.86); [21] Wisconsin (21.69); [22] (It's actually UT Martin (21.65) but they aren't eligible) Texas A&M (21.5); [23] Indiana (21.4); [24] Notre Dame (21.3); [25] Colorado (21.2) <<------------------------- Sorry the model ranking looks so messy. A better text editor is at the top of my wish list for this poll.

Rank Team Reason
1 Clemson Tigers Is Trevor okay? (+0 from last week)
2 LSU Tigers Jeaux Burreaux is ready to geaux. (+0)
3 Alabama Crimson Tide Use your players, Nick. Don't play stupid games like you did Q1. That's how you win stupid prizes. (+1)
4 Michigan Wolverines They looked almost vulnerable against Middle Tennessee. The "Middle" stands for where they fall in the C-USA. (-1)
5 Ohio State Buckeyes A new Day has dawned in Columbus. Now clean up that garbage time. (+0)
6 Georgia Bulldogs No excuse to let Vandy keep you out of the end zone for 9 drives in a row. (+0)
7 Oklahoma Sooners Two steps forward on defense. One step back on offense. (+1)
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Struggling against Louisville is a bad look for a team aiming at the playoff. (-1)
9 Texas A&M Aggies Mond looks threatening. You might even say doubly so. (+0)
10 Washington Huskies Thorough dismantling of an experienced, disciplined EWU team. (+0)
11 Penn State Nittany Lions Smells like french fries. (+5)
12 Cincinnati Bearcats And covered the spread, too. That's good for a (+1)
13 Texas Longhorns Disciplined, smart play. Sloppy, dangerous play calling. Ehlinger needs to override Beck and Herman or risk his NFL future. (+1)
14 Boise State Broncos What a finish, circumstances considered. (+8)
15 UCF Knights #or1and0hana (+2)
16 Stanford Cardinal Gritty win in a high-IQ imbroglio. Losing Costello makes this position look a lot more precarious. (+2)
17 Utah Utes Another year, another Holy War win for the Utes. (+3)
18 Florida Gators Yikes. Franks got worse, not better. Florida's typically stout defense should have registered 3 TFL per drive, considering Miami's OL. (-1)
19 Wisconsin Badgers Okay, so Coan isn't perfect. That shouldn't matter. Get back to your identity, Badgers. Get JT his Heisman. (NEW)
20 Memphis Tigers It would have been nice to see another score at the end there, but the Tigers sent the rest of the AAC a clear message: it's time to play defense. (NEW)
21 Michigan State Spartans -73 is both the temperature of Mark Dantonio's heart and the number of rush yards MSU allowed on Saturday. (NEW)
22 Iowa Hawkeyes Defense needs to be sharper to survive the B1G West. (+2)
23 Army West Point The game wasn't as close as the score let on. Army's in prime position to give teams like Michigan next week a scare. (-11)
24 Auburn Tigers The Tigers are lucky Bo Nix found his feet in his first game. And that Oregon didn't call more meshes to rip their zone apart at the seams. (NEW)
25 Oregon Ducks Speaking of which. Herbert needs the support of better play design. Leaning on Verdell's talent to open it up would have won that game. (-2) Dropped: Iowa State (from 11); South Carolina (from 15); Mississippi State (from 21); Ohio (from 25)

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