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goodnames679 Ballot for 2020 Week V

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 5, 2020, 4:57 p.m.

Overall Rationale: My rationale is based off of a combination of recent consistency, momentum, overall talent as I see it. I try and avoid inertia as much as possible and re-check my opinions on every spot weekly. For any choices I think may be significantly controversial or have major swings from my previous poll, I will provide detailed reasoning, but ones that I think speak for themselves will just be ranked as I believe they deserve. Any time that I think two teams are about a wash in where they should be ranked but one has no evidence (for example, Miami and Penn State), I'll give the edge to the team that has actually played games.

Rank Team Reason
1 Clemson Tigers
2 Alabama Crimson Tide
3 Ohio State Buckeyes I think the top 3 are a tossup at this point, but I see no reasonable way to put Ohio State over the other two when they haven't played yet.
4 Florida Gators
5 Georgia Bulldogs
6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
7 Miami Hurricanes
8 Oklahoma State Cowboys Honestly I'm a little nervous about this, but a close game to Tulsa has proven to not be as big a deal as I might have thought and OK State is looking well positioned in the Big 12. They may lose their consistency, or they may be a dark horse for a playoff spot.
9 Penn State Nittany Lions
10 BYU Cougars This could be reactionary, but I think poll inertia is a big part of what's holding BYU back right now. Few teams have wins by margins as impressive as them, and while you might argue against quality of opponents the reality is that almost nobody's really been blowing out their weak opponents so comfortably. Their D line and QB play especially impressed me.
11 Oregon Ducks
12 Cincinnati Bearcats
13 Wisconsin Badgers
14 North Carolina Tar Heels
15 Tennessee Volunteers
16 Minnesota Golden Gophers
17 Auburn Tigers
18 Michigan Wolverines
19 Virginia Tech Hokies
20 Texas Longhorns
21 SMU Mustangs
22 USC Trojans
23 LSU Tigers A big win against Vandy didn't mean much to me. IMO, unless something major changes at LSU, they'll be able to beat bad teams comfortably because of their talent advantages but they'll get absolutely shredded by any legitimately good teams.
24 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
25 Iowa State Cyclones

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