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ttsci Ballot for 2019 Week 10

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 27, 2019, 5:37 p.m.

Overall Rationale: nan

Rank Team Reason
1 LSU Tigers At the moment I feel like LSU and OSU have unquestionably played the best against the strongest schedules thus far.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes At the moment I feel like LSU and OSU have unquestionably played the best against the strongest schedules thus far.
3 Penn State Nittany Lions I am not convinced that Penn State can maintain their current run of success for the rest of the year given the team's relative youth, but I do believe that their wins (@Iowa, vs Mich) are better than those that Bama and Clemson currently have.
4 Florida Gators The inclusion of Florida at #4 may be controversial. I feel that Florida's performance against LSU was better than the final score (14 pt margin) indicates, especially given the fact that they did move the ball 71 yards on the last drive and LSU's defense came up huge to get a 4th-and-goal stop to preserve the lead and get the win. UF will either prove me wrong or solidify their resume against Georgia.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide Some people may think I have Alabama too low. This will all shake out in a week or two as it is because Alabama plays LSU in a game that finally gives the Tide a marquee opponent.
6 Oregon Ducks Scary game against Wazzu but got the win. I'm on the fence about Oregon but thus far they have managed to keep winning.
7 Utah Utes The loss to USC is inexplicable. Utah has looked great in basically every other game. Without that loss they'd probably be in my top four.
8 Clemson Tigers The complete lack of any decent competition makes it really, really difficult to judge the Tigers. The game against UNC seemed to expose some weaknesses but I'm not really sure Clemson has anyone on their schedule who can actually take advantage of that. I expect them to make it to the playoffs, but I wish we got some better matchups to really test them before that point.
9 Minnesota Golden Gophers I thought Minnesota would be better this year. I did not think they would be 8-0 and leading the B1G West by two games. Great work, Gophers.
10 Michigan Wolverines Michigan has appeared to finally find something that works for them on offense and has put together six straight quarters of exceptional football, earning them a rather high ranking in comparison to where I've previously placed them.
11 Baylor Bears 11 may be too high for Baylor. I think we probably won't see how good this team is until at least TCU or @OU. With that said, they are undefeated and wins over ISU/KSU/OkSt aren't shabby.
12 SMU Mustangs The win over TCU looks even better after the Horned Frogs knocked off Texas this week. I'd like to see the Mustangs win a few more of their games by comfortable margins instead of single scores, but undefeated is undefeated.
13 Auburn Tigers Honestly I don't even know anymore with Auburn. Are they good? I think they're at least pretty decent. Playing LSU very close helped, and the win against Oregon is nice. I can't help but wish for more consistency from the Tigers.
14 Georgia Bulldogs After Michigan absolutely dismantled the Irish, that win looks a little more suspect for Georgia. However, a win over Florida would certainly help the resume and set some minds at ease that the South Carolina game was an aberration.
15 Oklahoma Sooners Ouch. Bad loss, but not a season-ender. Sooners can get back in it with some decent opponents (ISU, Baylor, TCU, OkSt) still remaining on their schedule. Win out and they'll be in a fine position.
16 Appalachian State Mountaineers App State just keeps winning. Not as big of a "comeback story" as SMU overcoming the death penalty, but the Mountaineers are quietly putting together an excellent season and have to be considered for top G5 contention.
17 Cincinnati Bearcats I was skeptical about Cincinnati after the blowout loss to OSU, but as the season goes on, it appears that OSU is really, really good. I'm sure that stings but aside from that one blemish, the Bearcats have looked solid.
18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame looked absolutely inept against Michigan, and have therefore found themselves down among Teams That Don't Offense Good with Iowa. Two losses and no ranked teams remaining on their schedule seems to mean the Irish are out of the picture for the playoff.
19 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa's defense is likely a top-5 unit. Iowa's offense is definitely not. If this were a complete team, they would be favorites in the West. They haven't given up more than 20 points to an opponent all year, have pitched two shutouts, and are holding opponents to an average of 10 points per game. The only problem is that the Hawkeyes haven't managed the offensive production to take advantage of that.
20 Wisconsin Badgers Bye week comes at a good time for the Badgers. The game against Iowa is winnable but they'll need to produce more on offense against the Hawkeyes' rather good defense. Iowa lacks offense but is nothing if not opportunistic.
21 Memphis Tigers Memphis has a great offense. Memphis also needs to improve a bit on defense. If they can hold SMU under 30, I think Memphis can get a big win.
22 Wake Forest Demon Deacons I don't even know. The ACC is weird. The fact that Wake Forest put up 59 points at all is surprising. The fact that they have managed to grit out tight wins against Utah State, Boston College, UNC, and Florida State says good things for the direction of the program, but I'd like to see the Demon Deacons reach a level where they can win games comfortably.
23 Boise State Broncos The bottom of the rankings are weird and I don't really know. BYU is a hot-and-cold inconsistent team this year and the fact that Boise State lost to them is both completely expected and utterly baffling at the same time. I don't think this team is bad, but they've got at least three or four good G5 teams to compete with when you look at SMU, Cinci, Memphis, and App St.
24 Navy Midshipmen Navy has really been under the radar this year, but aside from a loss to Memphis they have had a solid resume. The real tests will be against Notre Dame and SMU.
25 Kansas State Wildcats I've been a bit skeptical about Kansas State this year, especially given the two tight wins against competition I had been unsure of (Miss St, TCU) and losses to OkSt and Baylor. However, the win over Oklahoma is huge and this is the Wildcats' chance to turn the corner on their season. Every game remaining on their schedule is winnable.

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