Back to poll results >>

crownebeach Ballot for 2019 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 8, 2019, 4:45 p.m.

Overall Rationale: General notes: 1) Not a resume ranking. In theory, I am ranking the teams based on their overall quality relative to the field. 2) I am skeptical of total-points computer methods, especially early in the season. Fumbles are dumb luck. Housed kickoff returns are dumb luck. Defensive touchdowns are dumb luck. 3) As in the preseason poll, I prioritize balanced contributions: glaring yards-per-play disparities or neglecting one side of the ball will hurt you.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide
2 Clemson Tigers
3 LSU Tigers Texas ran eight plays inside the LSU 10-yard line during the first quarter. They didn't score.
4 Georgia Bulldogs
5 Ohio State Buckeyes
6 Oklahoma Sooners
7 Florida Gators
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
9 Oregon Ducks Murdered a pretty good Nevada team. I feel comfortable with Oregon being the best team in the Pac-12 right now.
10 Michigan State Spartans Pros: The offense actually delivered this week! Did you know Brian Lewerke is from Phoenix?Cons: The defense looked a little shaky against the pass, and when your team's defensive philosophy is "force the pass," it's not what you want.
11 Oklahoma State Cowboys
12 Texas Longhorns Were down by two possessions *five* times, and came back to cut the lead to one score every time. A pretty good showing against a more talented, more experienced opponent.
13 Wisconsin Badgers I try really hard to use really conservative methods and avoid overreactions, but they haven't allowed a *point* yet. Their peripherals are good, their returning production is good, maybe Jack Coan is good too. 
14 Auburn Tigers JaTarvious Whitlow is really, really good -- the rest of Auburn's offense is grinding gears right now. Auburn just threw everything that worked against Oregon completely out the window this week. I understand playing conservatively against Tulane, but not that conservatively.
15 Utah Utes Looked much improved over last week, against an NIU team that's basically a clone of BYU's style of play.
16 Iowa Hawkeyes
17 Michigan Wolverines Biggest drop, ten spots. It was a weird game with lots of fumbles, but I can't ignore 4.47 yards/play against an Army defense that allowed 5.5 last year. The OL got outworked and Shea Patterson looks checked out right now. I want to stick with my preseason optimism but I just don't see it rn.
18 Texas A&M Aggies On the road against the defending champ, losing doesn't really lower my opinion of TAMU at all. The offense looked worse than expected but the defense was much better, which is interesting for a team that gave up way too many big plays and coverage busts last year.
19 UCF Knights Beat FAU every bit as badly as Ohio State did. Dillon Gabriel isn't polished, but he needs to be ahead of Wimbush on the depth chart right now. Should beat a Stanford team that looks short on team speed, but it could be a shootout.
20 Penn State Nittany Lions
21 Boise State Broncos Forget the score. Boise outgained Marshall 437-172. Against a Herd team with a decent defense and amazing special teams, that's good enough for me.
22 Washington Huskies The defense isn't where it was this time last year, but there are a lot of young players. There's time to get back on track. It's the offense that has me worried -- Bush Hamdan clearly is not the guy, and if Jacob Eason doesn't learn to throw a catchable ball soon, he might not be either.
23 Memphis Tigers
24 Washington State Cougars
25 Mississippi State Bulldogs This backup QB situation is weird. But there's a healthy balance between offensive and defensive efficiency right now, and the offense did good work against what I think is a pretty good Southern Miss defense.

Back to poll results >>