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YellowSkarmory Ballot for 2021 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 11, 2021, 12:36 p.m.

Overall Rationale: I try to rank based on resume, which creates some weird results this early in the season. I do not base my rankings off my previous ones whatsoever, as that just leaves teams with worse resumes higher than they should be. MOV does not play much of a role in my rankings, either.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia picked up a win over a decent Auburn team on the road this week, and despite Arkansas losing, their win over them is still good. Clemson isn't a bad win either, and with Alabama losing, Georgia is clearly the number one team right now.
2 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa beat Penn State, though they were trailing before Clifford got injured. Despite that, it's still a solid win for Iowa, and ISU and Indiana aren't bad either. It's enough for number two for the Hawkeyes.
3 Oklahoma State Cowboys Oklahoma State has decent home wins against Baylor, Nevada and Boise State. That's enough for a #3 ranking, when almost every other undefeated team doesn't have three solid wins.
4 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma sits directly behind in-state rival Oklahoma State, after their major win over Texas at a neutral site. They also have beaten Kansas State on the road, though they have not looked particularly great in games this season.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama took a surprising loss at Texas A&M, but they still have the best resume of the 1 loss teams. A home win against a good Ole Miss team and a road win against a solid Florida team are enough for Alabama to take the #5 spot.
6 Cincinnati Bearcats Cincinnati has a major win at Notre Dame, but outside of that and a win at a decent Indiana team, there's nothing else on their resume worth noting. Still, they haven't lost.
7 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State has three decent wins; two at home against Auburn and Indiana, and one on the road against Wisconsin. None of them are too special however, and while Indiana/Wisconsin are solid, they both have losing records as of this moment. The loss to Iowa isn't bad by any stretch though, especially considering they were winning before Clifford got hurt.
8 Oregon Ducks Oregon had a bye week, during which their loss to Stanford got worse, while their wins at Ohio State and vs. Fresno State stayed about the same. Still, Oregon has a solid resume, which leaves them at number 8. If the Stanford loss was to a better team, they would probably be above Penn State.
9 Kentucky Wildcats Kentucky is just chugging along, having picked up a home win against LSU to add to their home win against Florida. Those two decent wins are enough to put them in 9th.
10 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss just won in what is my opinion the game of the year so far against Arkansas. That is a solid win, and their loss to Alabama isn't bad at all. They also picked up a win against Louisville earlier in the season, which is nice for their depth.
11 Michigan Wolverines Michigan's best win was against Western Michigan. What did they do this week?...oh, they lost to Ball State. That definitely weakens that win, though they do still have a win at Wisconsin that's decent depth wise, and they're still undefeated. The Michigan State game in 3 weeks will be interesting.
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame picked up a decent win at Virginia Tech, which tops their resume so far, though other wins at Wisconsin and vs. Purdue are okay depth wins. Their home loss to Cincinnati isn't bad, but they don't have good enough wins to be any higher.
13 BYU Cougars BYU's win over Arizona State still looks good, and their win over Utah also looks better after this week. However, WHAT ARE YOU DOING LOSING TO BOISE? BYU had a legitimate shot at the playoffs if they went undefeated in my opinion. Their resume is still solid, but that is not a good loss, and it was at home too. The wins are good enough to offset them being any lower, though.
14 Arizona State Sun Devils Without the head-to-head loss to BYU, Arizona State would probably be above them, but their road loss to BYU is the reason they're below them right now. They did pick up a decent win against Stanford, and their road win against UCLA didn't lose any value, so they still look solid.
15 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Wake Forest escaped at Syracuse, having to go to OT, but they are still undefeated. Wins against Louisville at home and Virginia on the road are okay, but they really don't have any standout win.
16 Michigan State Spartans Michigan State is undefeated. What have they done? Escaped Nebraska in OT, beaten some eh teams in Rutgers, Miami and Northwestern, and nothing much else. I can't justify putting them any higher.
17 SMU Mustangs SMU beat TCU on the road a couple weeks ago, which is the major point for their resume. They don't really have anything else on their resume, but they haven't lost yet, so they're this high. The SMU-Baylor-OSU trio is hard to rank for me, and on a different day I might have SMU below both of the others. However, on the day I made my final adjustments, I had SMU above both.
18 Baylor Bears Baylor only has one loss, at a good Oklahoma State team, but they don't really have anything too outstanding in their wins, only one win against Iowa State being their main focal point of their resume. However, they haven't done anything bad yet.
19 Ohio State Buckeyes Ugh, here we go. Ohio State has no real win worth noting. Great, you beat Maryland by 49. It's Maryland, that's not a particularly impressive win. The one loss at home to Oregon isn't that bad, but at least it's not worse. I debated putting them above Baylor, but at least Baylor has a decent win against Iowa State.
20 San Diego State Aztecs San Diego State isn't up with SMU because their win against Utah isn't as good, was at home, and was in OT. Their resumes feel fairly similar otherwise, but that win is weak enough to the point where I have them below OSU.
21 Arkansas Razorbacks I could have easily put Arkansas higher, but I couldn't really justify putting them above an undefeated team that has a decent win in my mind. They'd probably be below SMU otherwise, but Arkansas has lost twice, while SDSU has not yet. Wins over Texas and Texas A&M at home are great, but two losses at Georgia and Ole Miss hold them back, despite those two being top 10 teams for me.
22 Texas Longhorns Texas blew a huge lead against Oklahoma; if they had won that, in my view, they're probably the top one loss team, or at least in contention for that title. Still, wins over TCU, Texas Tech and UL-Lafayette aren't bad. However, two losses against Oklahoma and at Arkansas hold them back, and the head to head puts them behind Arkansas for sure, though they might have been anyway.
23 UTSA Roadrunners Meep Meep! UTSA is still undefeated, and I have to give them props for staying that way, as they snag the #23 spot. Their wins at Illinois and Memphis aren't really that good, but they're still undefeated.
24 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Nice going Coastal, you're undefeated still! Nothing worth noting whatsoever on the resume, but I respect being undefeated in mostly convincing fashion.
25 Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M has the best win of the season so far in my opinion against Alabama, but that's the only good win they have; losses at Arkansas and at home against Mississippi State hold them back to being the last team in my top 25. First 5 out: UCLA, NC State, Pittsburgh, Fresno State, Mississippi State

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