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woakley Ballot for 2021 Week 5

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 26, 2021, 10:40 a.m.

Overall Rationale: See below for rationale behind each team. I started with last weeks poll and moved teams based on results. Poll will start to stabilize a little now that we're getting more results. Dropping Out: North Carolina, Liberty, Kansas StateComing In: Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Another week another win. If I could rank Bama as 1, 2, 3, and 4 I probably would. 
2 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia with an absolute demolition of Vandy this week. If Georgia can get that offense going they will be a team to be reckoned with. 
3 Oregon Ducks Oregon struggled more than expected with Arizona, but I just don't see anyone behind them that should hop them as of now. Oregon has to clean some things up, but they're still a top 5 team for now. 
4 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State beat Villanova this week, so not too tough of an opponent. It appears they didn't struggle with the same hangover that Auburn did from their matchup last week though. 
5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame seems to be playing to their competition some this season. They've had close games with opponents they shouldn't have, but then they looked good against Wisconsin. Since they still haven't lost they take a big hop up for me. Really big test against Cincinnati this week 
6 Cincinnati Bearcats Cincinnati was off this week, big game against Notre Dame coming up this weekend which should tell us a ton about how good this team actually is. 
7 Arkansas Razorbacks Arkansas beat Texas A&M this weekend and looked good doing it. Arkansas has an absolutely brutal schedule coming up (Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn) but if they can make it through that stretch it will be incredibly impressive. 
8 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma needed a late FG to get past West Virginia, and well I think WV is good, that shouldn't be happening. Oklahoma is undefeated and benefits from having a weaker schedule in the Big 12, but it's getting difficult to justify them as a top 10 team as they continue to struggle. 
9 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa dropped this week after struggling with Colorado State. Iowa hasn't lost, but as the season has gone on the signature wins that Iowa has had in Iowa State and Indiana have looked worse and worse. This has hurt them in my mind
10 Florida Gators Florida put away Tennessee, and they only dropped this week because Notre Dame and Arkansas moved above them. They have a game against Kentucky this week who is right on the fringes of being ranked, so we'll see if they can keep it up. 
11 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State beat up Akron as they should have. Their performance has been pretty uneven this year (seems to be a theme with many of these top 10-15 teams) but they still belong up here for now.
12 BYU Cougars BYU was a little closer to USF than expected, but they've still played better than many expected this season
13 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss didn't play this weekend, but they have Bama this weekend. Will be interesting to see how they handle that challenge. 
14 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Coastal Carolina returned to their dominant ways this weekend. They beat up on UMass. Not a lot to say, they play in an easier conference so as long as they keep winning they'll stay firmly in this top 25.
15 Michigan Wolverines Michigan gutted out a win against Rutgers. Usually that would be a cause for concern, but Rutgers is much improved this year so that was a solid win for Michigan. Maybe they've turned a corner.
16 Texas A&M Aggies Hard to say where Texas A&M really belongs. Arkansas is a very good team, but Texas A&M has really been up and down this year will be interesting to see how they rebound from this loss. 
17 Fresno State Bulldogs I think Fresno had a little bit of a UCLA hangover this week, they really had to gut it out against UNLV which was not expected. But at the end of the day they won and that's what matters. 
18 Michigan State Spartans Michigan State struggled against Nebraska, who has been kind of a weird team this year. Not sure if that was just a hangover from a big Miami win or what, but just like Fresno at least they still won. 
19 UCLA Bruins UCLA pulled away from Stanford late to lock up another win. No reason to drop them, but no real reason to move them up either.
20 Maryland Terrapins Maryland hasn't played the toughest schedule so far, but they do have a nice win over West Virginia, and they haven't lost yet. Kinda tough to sort out these bottom 5 in the top 25. 
21 Baylor Bears Baylor is 4-0 and they beat Iowa State this week. Iowa State wasn't ranked for me but it is still a solid win. The Big 12 is shaping up to be a little tougher this season than expected, so we'll see how Baylor navigates through their schedule.
22 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin has two losses already, and they just can't seem to get their offense 100% clicking. They played good games against both Penn State and Notre Dame, but just couldn't quite finish either one. 
23 Oklahoma State Cowboys Oklahoma State had an impressive win over KSU this week. As I said with Baylor above, it may be a surprisingly tough Big 12 so we'll see how OSU can handle it. 
24 Texas Longhorns Texas's only loss is Arkansas so far, and that looks better and better each week. After Texas took Texas Tech to the woodshed this weekend I think they belong back in the top 25. 
25 Clemson Tigers Maybe me dropping Clemson all the way down to 25 is an overreaction, but when I was making this poll I struggled to see what they've done to deserve a good ranking this season. They beat South Carolina State, and barely beat Georgia Tech. Their biggest achievement has been keeping it close with Georgia, but I honestly wouldn't even be surprised to see Clemson lose another one this year. They just don't have any offensive firepower this year it seems. So all that to say they stay ranked for me, but just barely. 

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