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bretticus33 Ballot for 2021 Week 9

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 24, 2021, 2:08 a.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Bye week, but nothing changed.  The best team in the country through October.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Might be a bit controversial, but at the moment only Georgia is playing better football than Ohio State.  They're rolling on all fronts and they're a much much better team than the one that lost to Oregon.
3 Cincinnati Bearcats That's the kind of game that'll hurt Cincinnati.  The triple option is much more difficult to stop than many people realize, but they should have beaten 1-win Navy by more so they move down a spot.  Still the top G5 team and they remain in a playoff spot for me.
4 Michigan Wolverines Michigan started a bit slow but exploded to destroy Northwestern.  They're set up for an undefeated clash with Michigan State that could solidify their spot among the CFP teams.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama took used a 4th quarter outburst to separate themselves from Tennessee and they notched a 2nd straight big win.  It's a bye now for Alabama.
6 Oklahoma Sooners New QB, but the same problems.  Team looked lethargic coming out of the gate and had to use a huge second half aided by some questionable calls to get past arguably the worst P5 team.  They don't have the benefit of the doubt like Cincinnati has because they hadn't been dominating weaker teams and they don't have a marquee win like Notre Dame.  Thus the Sooners drop.
7 Michigan State Spartans Bye week, set up for a big home game against Michigan that could and should put them firmly in the top 4
8 Iowa Hawkeyes Bye week, loss to Purdue looks worse after seeing them get pummeled by Wisconsin.  A win over Wisconsin would go help Iowa out a lot.
9 Oregon Ducks Oregon still has an Anthony Brown problem.  They beat a good UCLA team on the road and deserve credit for it, but Brown nearly sabotaged it for the Ducks.  It's hard for a coach to pull a QB when they're winning, but the best move for them might be to make a change at QB.
10 Kentucky Wildcats Bye week so nothing new for the Wildcats.
11 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Again, the triple option is much more difficult to stop than people realize.  They allowed an alarming amount of points but they also scored 63 points on offense with just 17 minutes of possession.  That's an incredible 3.7 points per minute.  Wake Forest continues rolling their way towards an improbable ACC title.
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Got the win over rival USC.  I normally don't expect rivalry games to be completely one-sided, especially since USC is still a talented (but severely underperforming) team.  They'll have another tougher test with UNC coming in.
13 Oklahoma State Cowboys The Cowboys' bubble finally burst.  They were likely overachieving, but they were still rolling out wins and avoiding losses.  They finally lost but it was to a good Iowa State team on the road.  Their defense is still very good but their offense needs to continue working on itself.
14 Texas A&M Aggies Aggies are rolling after a rough start to the season.  Jimbo Fisher has his team playing some of the best ball in the country.  Calzada is looking more comfortable and the defense is ferocious.
15 Ole Miss Rebels This was IMO the best defensive performance of the season from Ole Miss.  With a banged up Corral not being very effective, the defense stepped up and shut down LSU until garbage time.  
16 Baylor Bears Bye week, so nothing new here for Baylor.
17 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State's defense is a top 10 unit in the country.  Their offense is nowhere near it and is the biggest reason for their loss to Illinois.  It's a bad loss for PSU but a win over Ohio State would make up for it.
18 SMU Mustangs SMU is quietly tied with Cincinnati atop the AAC standings.  Mordecai is showing the Sooners what they were missing and the offense is rolling.  They have a big road test at Houston coming up.
19 Auburn Tigers Bye week, so nothing new for Auburn.  They have Ole Miss coming up next.
20 San Diego State Aztecs San Diego State picked up a huge, difficult win.  Air Force is the best of the service academies and was a borderline top 25 team, and they run that dreaded triple option.  The game was also at one of the highest elevation stadiums in the country, and that is no joke either.  SDSU is well positioned to take the NY6 G5 spot should Cincy or SMU falter.
21 Pittsburgh Panthers While this isn't the same dominating Clemson, it's still a big win for Pitt.  Kenny Pickett is making himself a Heisman case and Pat Narduzzi is making a case for coach of the year too.
22 UTSA Roadrunners Meep
23 Iowa State Cyclones Welcome back to the Top 25 Iowa State.  Ended Oklahoma State's undefeated season and beat a solid K-State team before that.  They won't live up to the preseason expectations but they can still have themselves a strong season.
24 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns After getting beat up by Texas in Week 1, all the Ragin Cajuns have done is win. 
25 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers I had been giving Coastal Carolina the benefit of the doubt all season.  I still think they're a good team but they badly blew their chance to impress with a win over an App State team that just got rocked by Louisiana.  They're living on the edge in the rankings right now.

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