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TheJeemTeam Ballot for 2019 Week 7

Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Oct. 7, 2019, 6:12 p.m.

Overall Rationale: My poll is a hybrid. I take the results of a computer poll of my own creation and split the teams into tiers based on where it makes sense to break the values. I then look at just the teams within the tiers and re-rank within them based on my observations and feelings of the teams.Computer poll has a preseason component and a performance-based component. I phase the preseason component out as the season goes along. For this week, the preseason component is still over 20% of the overall calculation.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes 1/1 in Tier Aa: Ohio State is by far the best team according to my computer. Still expect them to get that head-scratching loss though.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide 1/1 in Tier Ab: Bama keeps rolling along.
3 Clemson Tigers 1/1 in Tier Ac: Clemson is still undefeated and high in my poll despite not looking nearly as dominant as expected after starting the season #1. 
4 Georgia Bulldogs 1/1 in Tier Ad
5 Wisconsin Badgers 1/4 in Tier B: A couple of Big 10 teams get the nods ahead of LSU and Oklahoma in this tier due to having superior defenses while still having potent, un-Big10-like offenses. Wisconsin gets the edge over PSU for having a dominant win over Michigan.
6 Penn State Nittany Lions 2/4 in Tier B: See Wisconsin above. Close win over Pitt is best win and doesn't compare to Wisconsin's best win.
7 LSU Tigers 3/4 in Tier B: See Wisconsin above. Edge over Oklahoma for their win over Texas.
8 Oklahoma Sooners 4/4 in Tier B: See Wisconsin above. Have chance to join LSU in the "Teams that have beaten Texas Club" this weekend.
9 Florida Gators 1/4 in Tier C: Couple of Head-to-Head's in this tier and no other complicating losses made this a relatively easy tier to sort out. Florida gets top space after win over Auburn.
10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2/4 in Tier C: Only team in tier not to have played against another team within it. Win over UVA is a quality result. Close loss to UGA as only loss puts them ahead of Auburn and Oregon, but keeps them behind Florida.
11 Auburn Tigers 3/4 in Tier C: Head-to-head win over Oregon keeps them ahead of them.
12 Oregon Ducks 4/4 in Tier C
13 Michigan Wolverines 1/4 in Tier D: Not sure what that was against Iowa. Offense is obviously still a work in progress. Dominant defensive performance and only 1 loss to Wisconsin puts them atop this tier.
14 Baylor Bears 2/4 in Tier D: Surprisingly undefeated with a comfortable win over Kansas State. One score wins over Rice and Iowa State keep them below Michigan.
15 Memphis Tigers 3/4 in Tier D: Not sure what to make of undefeated Memphis. Haven't really played anyone too difficult, but Ole Miss played them close, keeping them below Baylor.
16 Michigan State Spartans 4/4 in Tier D: Don't even feel they should be ranked, so straight to the bottom of this tier they go. No shame in getting blown out by Ohio State though.
17 Texas Longhorns 1/3 in Tier E: My computer has always seemed to hate Texas. Think they're a better team than this, so here they are at the top of the tier. Big opportunity against Oklahoma this weekend.
18 Iowa Hawkeyes 2/3 in Tier E: Only loss was in whatever that game was against Michigan this past weekend.
19 Boise State Broncos 3/3 in Tier E: Can't put them ahead of either Texas or Iowa despite being undefeated. They nearly lost to a bad Florida State team and barely beat Marshall at home.
20 SMU Mustangs 1/3 in Tier F: Still undefeated. Will be fun to see how long this lasts.
21 Missouri Tigers 2/3 in Tier F: Have looked dominant since a Week 1 loss to a decent Wyoming team. That loss keeps them behind SMU though.
22 UCF Knights 3/3 in Tier F: This placement is probably going to garner the most hate on my ballot. They lost a close game to Cincinnati and they are obviously not the same team with Gabriel at QB. Can't put them beneath Cincinnati based on my methodology.
23 Cincinnati Bearcats 1/5 in Tier G: See UCF above. Do give them position at top of tier. Unfortunately the optics of having UCF right above them are admittedly not great. Truth be told though, it was a 3 point game that was basically a coin flip according to the post-game win expectancy and Cincy got to play it at home (Home team generally has 3-pt. edge on average), so I honestly don't feel too bad putting UCF ahead of them anyways.
24 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 2/5 in Tier G: Wake is undefeated, but the best team they've played is UNC. Can't put them ahead of Cincy, when their only loss was to Ohio State.
25 Utah Utes 3/5 in Tier G: they get the edge and the final spot in my rankings over the other teams in this tier (Iowa State and Oklahoma State) as they have looked pretty good other than their loss to USC, while the other teams have two losses each.

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