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bretticus33 Ballot for 2021 Week 11

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 7, 2021, 2:05 a.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Another week where Georgia shows they're the best team.  Biggest question will be how long or short Stetson Bennett's leash is with JT Daniels back
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State became the first team in the top 25 to beat Nebraska by more than one score.  Their defense is much improved, CJ Stroud looks comfortable, and things seem to be clicking.
3 Cincinnati Bearcats For the 3rd straight week, Cincinnati failed to really impress.  We know they're a good team but they ain't showing it.  The biggest issue is the offense is struggling without a ground game and potentially losing Jerome Ford will hurt.  Luckily for them, a lot of the teams around them also looked unimpressive or outright lost.
4 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama had a chance to impress against a struggling LSU team but failed to seize the moment.  Alabama is still a playoff-caliber team setting themselves up for an SECCG showdown with Georgia.
5 Oklahoma Sooners It was a bye week for Oklahoma but MSU losing helped them out.  However, Baylor losing hurt a bit.  Baylor is still a top 25 but a win over the Bears won't be as helpful.
6 Oregon Ducks Oregon won behind the legs of Travis Dye who had a monster game.  I still have reservations over Anthony Brown but this is a playoff-caliber team around him.  They're a bit lower though because that loss to Stanford is looking worse and worse by the week.
7 Michigan State Spartans MSU's dream start to the season took a hit when they lost to Purdue, who has ruined a couple seasons now.  Walker still had a nice game but lost some ground in the Heisman race.  I don't expect MSU to lose much more from here-on-out.
8 Michigan Wolverines Michigan rebounded with a nice, easy win over Indiana.  The Wolverines look their best when relying on the ground game and not using JJ McCarthy, who should remain on the bench for the time being.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish It took a while to get going, but the Fighting Irish finished with a dominant win over Navy and remain the lone-team boosting up Cincinnati's resume.  The Irish have a very strong defense and Jack Coan is playing smart and efficient.
10 Oklahoma State Cowboys OSU won pretty easily over WVU behind yet another strong defensive performance.  Spencer Sanders isn't lighting it up but he's leading the offense well enough that the defense is more than capable of picking up the slack for them.
11 Texas A&M Aggies A&M pulled away for a 3-score win over Auburn behind their talented defense.  The offense struggled more than expected and the QB-injury situation is a bit concerning.
12 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss' defense is looking better the last couple weeks and they dominated a potential 1st round NFL pick.  The offense is lacking the same explosiveness lately but I don't know if that's attributed to injury or not.
13 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Wake Forest's porous defense ended the undefeated and CFP dream.  Their offense is the only unit in the nation to score at least 35 points every game and Sam Hartman has been playing like a Heisman candidate.  However, their defense has given up 35 in 4 of their last 5 games and over 50 in 2 of their last 3.  The UNC loss didn't affect their conference standings, but a loss to visiting NC State will hurt them.
14 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin is high but they're playing some of the best ball in the country right now after a 49 point MOV over Rutgers.  Wisconsin is also leading their division in the Big 10.
15 UTSA Roadrunners UTSA's dream season continued with a big road win over UTEP and hopefully will enter the CFP's top 25 disaster.  If you get a chance to, watch Sincere McCormick as he's possibly the best G5 RB in the country.
16 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Louisiana feels forgotten after their Week 1 loss to Texas but all they've done since is win and win some more.  Louisiana still has a problem with pulling away and is letting too many opponents hang around with their own sloppy play.
17 Houston Cougars A week after beating SMU, Houston hung on to beat USF behind another big game from their offense.  They remain on a collision course with Cincinnati for the AAC title and their NY6 hopes are still alive as well.
18 Baylor Bears Maybe they got caught peeking towards Oklahoma next week, but Baylor's defense looked bad against TCU in their first game post-Patterson.  Gerry Bohanon was also uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball and all-around it was a bad loss to take.
19 Purdue Boilermakers Purdue yet again came up with a big win at home over top Big 10 team when they beat Sparty.  They have wins over Iowa and MSU now and their worst loss appears to be Minnesota.  Can Purdue continue their Big 10 giant destruction tour in Columbus?
20 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa is the inverse-Wake Forest.  Their defense is maybe 2nd in the country behind Georgia's, but their offense is really bad.  It looks to me like Iowa's best days of the season are behind them and they'll be watching the Big 10 championship from home.
21 BYU Cougars It was pretty easy day as it should have been against the 2nd best team in the state of Idaho.  The Cougars re-enter the top 25 after a couple weeks but I still have major questions about their defense and QB.
22 Auburn Tigers Auburn's super tough stretch ends with a loss to A&M on the road, but the Tigers are still a very good team.  They just need more consistency but the talent and players are definitely there.
23 NC State Wolfpack NC State is back in the top 25 after a win over Florida State and they get a chance to make a big jump up the ranks with a trip to Wake Forest.  Devin Leary is playing some really nice ball right now setting up an exciting QB matchup.
24 Pittsburgh Panthers Pitt rebounded from their loss to Miami by beating up on Duke.  Kenny Pickett continued his Heisman campaign with another nice performance and the offense overall is clicking and entertaining.
25 San Diego State Aztecs SDSU rebounded from their loss to Fresno State with a hard-fought win over Hawaii.  Their defense is still very good but the offense needs to show a bit more firepower.  SDSU is right in there for the NY6 bid should a couple other G5 teams falter.

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