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crownebeach Ballot for 2019 Week 6

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 29, 2019, 2:41 p.m.

Overall Rationale: I'm still mostly concerned with 1. yards per play margin (objective measure), 2. team talent (mix of objective and subjective measures), and 3. balance (subjective, both offense/defense and pass/run). I move the teams from last week's ballot based on how they performed this week, then reference the result against FPI & Sagarin to catch any biases toward early-season game results that I might still need to address.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Really just good at everything. I'm excited to see them face a top defense this week.
3 Clemson Tigers I'm not going to overreact to this game. Clemson outgained UNC overall & per play, on top of losing a fumble at their own 42. The Tigers weren't the worse football team even for a moment. But they look lazy. The simple fact that it wasn't a blowout tells you Clemson's not all there right now.
4 LSU Tigers
5 Georgia Bulldogs
6 Oklahoma Sooners
7 Auburn Tigers Six touchdowns on their first seven drives. 8.4 yards per play, and *15* yards per pass. This was just a delicious beating on both sides of the ball, and every remaining question I had was answered. If the Playoff rankings were released this week, Auburn would be No. 1 by a mile.
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
9 Oregon Ducks
10 Florida Gators
11 Wisconsin Badgers Had a bit of a letdown this week. If you want to be a playoff team, you can't let this Northwestern team hang around into the fourth quarter.
12 Texas Longhorns
13 Washington Huskies Washington won most phases of the game and stifled the pass, but the Huskies actually lost the line of scrimmage pretty decisively. They couldn't get any push against USC's interior DL, and the Trojans largely ran the ball at will. Oregon is the only team left on their schedule who might be good enough to boss them around like that, but it bears watching.
14 Penn State Nittany Lions I don't think Maryland is actually very good, but this was a head-turning performance anyway. Sean Clifford looked electric after struggling for several weeks, and if that's him taking the next step, then the Lions getting to 10-0 looks super manageable.
15 Oklahoma State Cowboys Played well in all aspects of the game. Still some freshman learning moments for Sanders, but the Pokes will be a factor in the conference race.
16 Utah Utes Totally embarrassed Wazzu. A look at the team stats shows 5.1 yards allowed per pass, and 4.4 per rush; the Utes learned their lesson from USC and totally committed to stopping the pass, with outstanding results.
17 Boise State Broncos
18 Michigan State Spartans I don't understand you, Sparty. Every time I praise your defense, you get into a shootout. Every time I praise your offense, you get into a rock fight.
19 UCF Knights UConn technically covered, but only in garbage time. Good get-right game.
20 Baylor Bears Did their absolute best to blow a healthy lead with dumb penalties, but Charlie Brewer was accurate and composed when he needed to be and the defense looks legit. Definite conference title game sleeper here.
21 Memphis Tigers
22 Iowa Hawkeyes
23 Arizona State Sun Devils In a night road game against a top-15 defense, ASU looked totally prepared and rushed for almost 200 yards. Depth is a major concern on defense, but the DL group in particular has really risen to the occasion so far. Head-to-head notwithstanding, I like their body of work over Colorado's for now.
24 Texas A&M Aggies I'm doing my absolute best to give the Aggies the benefit of the doubt against a very difficult schedule, and certainly hanging in there against Auburn looks better after this week, but they looked flat and unmotivated against Arkansas and Mond has clearly regressed.
25 Virginia Cavaliers Notre Dame doesn't really blow anybody out, but I'll be real, I didn't expect UVA to hang with them at all. Having the lead at halftime on the road was a really pleasant surprise heading into the bye.

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