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PHubbs Ballot for 2019 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 9, 2019, 1:29 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Clemson Tigers
2 Alabama Crimson Tide
3 Ohio State Buckeyes
4 LSU Tigers Great win by the Tigers, though the defense needs to play better when the temperature goes under 100. I'm not down on Georgia, I just don't believe in putting 3 teams from the same conference in the playoff top 4 when that has no way of happening, and right now, LSU has proven themselves adaptable and deserving of a top 4 rank. Georgia should be back in the top 4 in due time when Alabama breaks LSU's hearts.
5 Georgia Bulldogs
6 Oklahoma Sooners
7 Wisconsin Badgers Am I this high on Wisconsin? No. But all they've done is dominate lesser opponents while everyone in my poll last week from 7-11 needed to drop. Wisconsin has Michigan next so they both have a very good chance at earning a top 10 spot immediately.
8 UCF Knights I feel like the media polls are a bit too low on UCF. I don't see a loss on their schedule. Cincy and Stanford (might) give them a fight, but they should keep stomping through their schedule even without McKenzie Milton. If he was back, this is a playoff team. I still see them slightly behind the top 6, but as they beat each other up later in the season this team could sneak into the playoff.
9 Auburn Tigers This is a team with a lights out defense and no offense. Someone in the stretch of A&M, MS State, and Florida will expose them if they don't get things together in the next 2 weeks. I've seen Malzahn teams start slow only to become offensive juggernauts before, though, so I'm keeping them here until they lose.
10 Texas Longhorns You lose, you've sadly got to fall. Texas looked great in their defeat, though, having the same problems on defense as LSU. This would have all the makings of a magical season for Texas... if Hurts didn't go to OU.
11 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State faces the same problem as Wisconsin in that they haven't faced actual competition yet. The difference is I respect a down USF more than Idaho and Buffalo. I'm not certain this team can survive their murderer's row of Iowa, Michigan, and Michigan State, but they have the pieces to surprise everyone.
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish They didn't play, but I still felt uneasy for ranking them 10th last week when they looked BAD against Louisville. They've got a tune up game before their top ten test in Georgia. Also, Virginia and USC look competitive now, so this schedule got a lot harder than it looked preseason. Book should still be the best QB on the field, though, in every game minus Georgia.
13 Utah Utes They are still playing very ugly against teams they should beat. They are also undefeated, though, and have the best chance at winning any close game in the Pac12 due to their defense.
14 Florida Gators Well they looked better than in week 0, but still need to play well against some real competition. They look to possibly be a fringe top 10 team again this year and, by far, the best P5 team in Florida (though not quite UCF good).
15 Michigan Wolverines Maybe I'm dropping them way too much for a win, but people need to stop comparing this game to Oklahoma's OT Army win last year. Army clearly couldn't stop OK, but they could control the clock and get a constant 4 against Oklahoma's worst P5 defense. Michigan is supposed to have a defense, yet they kept failing to stop Army while making bad mistakes on offense. Michigan looks to be a step back this year.
16 Washington State Cougars Leech's air raid is humming along like always, and the Cougars have a favorable schedule with time in between Utah, Oregon, and Washington. This might be their year.
17 Oregon Ducks Maybe they are the Pac12 title favorites still. The meat of their schedule all falls in the 3rd quarter, so if they get through it with still only one loss, they could cruise into the post season looking to grab a conference title and potential playoff spot.
18 Texas A&M Aggies Clemson would beat most teams much worse than this, but this game was never close. Mond also looked lost at times when he was supposed to be A&M's x-factor this year after how he ended last season.
19 Washington Huskies Oof. I had the Huskies as my Pac12 title favorites, but I'm afraid that if they won the trophy one of their receivers would drop it on the stage. Eason didn't look bad, but his stats look awful since the whole team has the butterfingers. Also, what is Peterson doing making bad late-game calls? This team seems to have lost its identity. Hopefully this loss gets them refocused and ready to charge into the meat of their schedule.
20 Michigan State Spartans It's a worse version of Auburn! Like the Tigers on the plains, though, this defense should keep them in a good ranking all season. Never count out a scrappy, ugly MSU team. I don't know how Spartan fans survive watching this maybe we'll win slugfests every week, but I respect them for it.
21 Memphis Tigers
22 Boise State Broncos
23 Iowa Hawkeyes
24 USC Trojans Hey, the Trojans look decent again! The rest of the Pac12 just let out an audible groan, but don't worry guys. Helton can still Helton this. They are definitely the biggest dark horse team so far this season.
25 Maryland Terrapins Maryland, you've started out strong only to break my heart too many times this last decade. This team does look better than the Texas-beating meme teams, but get through PSU and I'll gladly shoot you up the rankings and sing your praise.

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