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_Brazenhead_ Ballot for 2019 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 9, 2019, 12:54 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Second attempt at recursive binary sort. Began with last week's ballot minus Nebraska and Arizona State due to very poor performances against poor opponents. Added Cal, Iowa, and Army in for consideration due to good performances. Syracuse remained in the starting pool but dropped out during sort in favor of the fringe add-ins for this week.

Rank Team Reason
1 Clemson Tigers They pretty much dominated what, according to my poll, is a top-ten squad. They seem firmly in control to win another showdown with Alabama again this year.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide Dominated an opponent they were supposed to. No reason to move them down.
3 LSU Tigers An impressive offensive performance, albeit against a Big 12 defense. Beating a top-ten team on the road with a performance like that suggest the SEC might go to someone other than Alabama or Georgia this season.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes Handled Cincinnati better than anticipated. I think they're more balanced than Oklahoma, which is why I rank them one spot ahead.
5 Oklahoma Sooners Offense is insanely efficient of course and easily dominated a weak opponent like many peers, but did allow 14 points from this weak opponent. Not sure if they're any more balanced (defense) than in previous years, so ranked behind Ohio State for now.
6 Georgia Bulldogs Dominated an opponent they were supposed to. Couldn't see a reason to move them up relatively.
7 Texas Longhorns Kept same position as last poll. Lost to a superior opponent so don't see a reason to move them down.
8 Texas A&M Aggies Just like Texas, lost to a superior opponent. Don't see a reason to move them down.
9 Wisconsin Badgers These guys might be a little bit high but the complete domination at the line of scrimmage, even against the weak opponents, plus Michigan moving down, Notre Dame on bye, and Penn State staying their course, I couldn't see a reason to put them below those teams. I have a feeling they'll move down as we get more data.
10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Bye week and some teams jumped up and down around them. No reason to move.
11 Penn State Nittany Lions Blew out a weak opponent as they were supposed to but not as impressively as Wisconsin. No reason to move.
12 Michigan Wolverines Possibly an aberration against the frustrating team that is Army but sloppy turnovers on offense and lack of domination up front on defense at home causing a narrow escape has Michigan drop out of my top ten. I anticipate their position relative to Penn State, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin to shake out as the season progresses.
13 Florida Gators They handled their bad opponent as they should have. I wanted to hop them in front of Michigan but I couldn't. Michigan still won, and I think Michigan could still beat Florida head-to-head.
14 Auburn Tigers Not a great offensive performance but can't see any reason for teams behind them to jump them yet. Still ahead of Oregon thanks to head-to-head. Tempted to jump UCF ahead of them, but need more data.
15 Oregon Ducks Nevada is not terrible so given the utter domination, I was tempted to advance them, but head-to-head loss to Auburn prevented that. And I don't think they could beat either of Florida or Michigan head-to-head.
16 UCF Knights Tempted to jump Oregon here, but Oregon goes and scores 77 against a decent Nevada team. I expect they'll advance in the coming weeks but need more data.
17 Maryland Terrapins Frankly impressive start for Maryland. We've seen this before (sorta) from them at the beginning of the season. If they can stay healthy they might actually remain. I suspect as they enter their tough conference play, they might drop. But how they're playing right now, I expect they'd match up well with the teams they're near. UCF vs Maryland anybody!?
18 Utah Utes The best Pac-12 team, given Washinton's loss this week. I couldn't really see a reason to move them up this week, so same position as last poll. A case could be made to hop them in front of Maryland, or maybe even UCF, but we'll see as the weeks go on.
19 Washington State Cougars Jumped up due to the relative turmoil in the 20s. Offense looks poised to score a whole ton yet again. Not sure if they're better than Utah though, since Utah actually plays defense.
20 Michigan State Spartans I might get some flack for having MSU so low, considering that they looked better on offense against Western Michigan. But I need more than one week and some silly looking pants. For now, a move up two spots seems appropriate given the teams in front of them.
21 Iowa Hawkeyes I didn't have them in my poll last week, but given some of the drop outs and a shutout, even if it's against Rutgers, is enough to get these guys up more in-line with the AP poll.
22 Army West Point Didn't have Army in my poll last week, but you take a good Michigan squad to 2OT in their house, that's good enough for me, Rice struggles be damned. I don't anticipate they'll move much though, given their schedule.
23 Cincinnati Bearcats Yes they got blown out, but it was against a superior opponent. So a few  teams moved up ahead of them but staying around here seems appropriate to me. I think they could beat these fringe Pac-12 teams Cal, Washington, and Stanford.
24 California Golden Bears Someone tried telling me Cal could be a Pac-12 sleeper this week and I didn't think it had any merit. I was wrong. I was going to put them at 25, but couldn't have them behind Washington given the head-to-head they just won. So they moved up one spot to be ahead of Washington.
25 Washington Huskies Originally came out at 19 before doing some manual tweaking, since that was only 3 spots below last poll. Was going to put them at 24, but the head-to-head justifies them behind Cal that otherwise would have come in at 25.

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