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Bill3ffinMurray Ballot for 2021 Week 4

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 20, 2021, 10:58 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Oregon Ducks I think Oregon has two solid wins and perhaps arguably the two best wins in the country with a win at home over a pesky Fresno State team and on the road at Ohio State. Fresno State > Miami, Ohio State > Florida. That's why I have the Ducks at #1.
2 Penn State Nittany Lions I think Penn State's two wins are probably the best, better than Alabama's wins. However, I have Oregon ranked ahead of them because of the Duck's road win at Ohio State. 
3 Alabama Crimson Tide The win at Florida is impressive, but it's the only impressive win on the Tide's schedule so far. I think it's more impressive than Georgia's win against Clemson and that's why I have them ahead of the Dawgs.
4 Georgia Bulldogs Struggled between Iowa and Georgia here. Iowa has two "better" wins, but, like Oregon, I think the quality of Georgia's best win is enough over Iowa's two quality wins.
5 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa has wins against Indiana and Iowa State, which are better wins than other teams around this can claim. Cincinnati can actually claim the same win, but they don't have another win like the Hawkeyes have against the Cyclones. 
6 BYU Cougars The Utah win looks less good, and we'll see about the quality of that Arizona State win in a few weeks. But BYU owns 2 wins over Power 5 teams and early on, in a human poll that tries to resist inertia, that's extremely valuable. So to #6 they go.
7 Oklahoma Sooners Sorry, Cincinnati, but this is where my bias comes in. I think Nebraska (despite the loss to Illinois) is a better win than Indiana. After that, Tulane > the Redhawks. So, Boomer Sooner it is at #6.
8 Cincinnati Bearcats Although Indiana is not a better team than Nebraska, they are a better team than Colorado. The same Colorado team that took A&M to the wire just got mollywhopped by Minnesota. 63 yards of offense in a 30-0 loss, and that team took the Aggies to the brink? No other win that bolsters A&M's resume, so for now, Bearcats take #7.
9 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State has the same amount of P5 wins as Texas A&M. Yes they have a loss, but it is to the #1 ranked team in my poll, which I value over not losing. That's why both the Buckeyes and Clemson are ranked over Texas A&M.
10 Clemson Tigers Like Ohio State and like the Aggies, the Tigers have a win over a P5 team. Unlike the Aggies, the Tigers have played stiffer opposition #4 Georgia, and came up a little bit short. I'll value tougher scheduling over not losing every day of the week and for that reason, the Tigers are ahead of Aggie.
11 Arkansas Razorbacks I try to be consistent with my reasoning, but will likely fail from time to time. I debated these next three spots between Arkansas, Notre Dame, and Michigan State. All three are undefeated. Arkansas owns the best win, but has only played 1 Power 5 team. Notre Dame has two Power 5 wins but doesn't have a win against a ranked opponent. Like Oregon having the best win, Arkansas has a better win than Notre Dame and so, the Hogs claim #11.
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame's two P5 wins are better than Texas A&M's 1.
13 Michigan State Spartans Michigan State has two P5 wins. Granted, they might not be the best P5 wins, but they are P5 wins. And that counts for something.
14 Ole Miss Rebels The win over Louisville looks more impressive in the context of the Cardinal's win over UCF. That 1 P5 win is more impressive than A&M's and for that reason, the Rebels are ranked higher than the Aggies.
15 Texas A&M Aggies
16 Florida Gators Florida gets credit for playing #3 Alabama close, but they don't get credit for having 0 other P5 wins.
17 Fresno State Bulldogs Fresno State has played a solid schedule, with games against both Oregon and UCLA, of which they are just 7 points away from having 2 very strong wins. For that reason, they land at #17 as one of the better 1-loss teams in the country resume wise.
18 Maryland Terrapins Maryland sneakliy has 2 P5 wins. Albeit those wins have come against West Virginia (which is looking better) and Illinois (which is looking worse), but that is 1 more P5 win than Michigan can claim.
19 Michigan Wolverines Fresno has the same amount of P5 wins, but the win @UCLA is better than the win versus Washington. And Fresno also played the Ducks close.
20 UCLA Bruins The win over LSU still holds value, and a loss to what could be a very solid Fresno State side means that UCLA holds their spot in the Top 20.
21 Kansas State Wildcats Kansas State has a win over Stanford, who had a huge win over USC. Being undefeated and having the same amount of P5 wins that others in this area have, that's why the Wildcats find themselves here. 
22 Auburn Tigers
23 Iowa State Cyclones
24 North Carolina Tar Heels
25 Wisconsin Badgers

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