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YellowSkarmory Ballot for 2021 Week 11

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 8, 2021, 11:45 a.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 I've said I want to skip #2 before - now I want to skip #2 AND #3. Georgia is so obviously the best team in the country by resume and by seeing how they play, it really should be a unanimous #1 spot for them even in the r/CFB poll.
2 Cincinnati Bearcats The committee really screwed Cinci, but they still have one of the best wins in the country, at Notre Dame. They haven't exactly looked impressive as of late, and their resume really falls off after the ND win (they beat UCF at home and that's about it), but they've stayed undefeated. SMU losing again will not help their chances, as that game won't be quite as good of a win when it comes around assuming they do win.
3 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma possibly had their best performance of the season on this bye week, and they have their chance to prove they're actually the 2nd best team in the country, with 3 games coming up against teams ranked in my poll: at Baylor, vs. Iowa State and at Oklahoma State. As of now, the lack of a true top win (no top 25 wins, best wins are at KSU and Texas on a neutral site) keeps them below Cinci.
4 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama managed to hold off LSU, though not in the most impressive fashion; to be fair, I don't think any top team outside of Georgia has looked particularly impressive overall. Anyway, in my opinion, Bama has the best resume of the 1 loss teams; a win against a solid Ole Miss and some decent depth wins against Mississippi State and Miami on the road and Tennessee at home help their case.
5 Oregon Ducks Oregon has better wins than Alabama in my opinion, but that Stanford loss is BAD. Still, they also have one of the best wins in the country, a win at Ohio State, but Fresno State losing does not help their resume. Still, their resume does look pretty solid, and the Stanford game did go to OT.
6 Oklahoma State Cowboys I've always been high on OKST's resume this season, though I've been low on most teams' resumes this season overall. Anyway, they have a solid win at home against Baylor, and some wins at home against KSU and at Texas/Boise help add depth. They did lose at Iowa State though, and Baylor isn't an awe-inspiring top win. It's close between them and Oregon, but I think Oregon's road win against Ohio State creates a big enough gap for Oregon to be above.
7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame has a couple solid wins in a road win against Wisconsin and a home win against Purdue, and their depth isn't too bad. Their one loss is to a good Cincinnati team, but it was at home. I don't think their resume is good enough to jump above OKST, personally.
8 Ohio State Buckeyes There's a fairly significant gap between ND and Ohio State in my opinion in terms of resume; OSU has a win at home against Penn State as their top win, and a road win against Minny and a home win against Maryland aren't bad, but they really have not looked good against a truly solid team. The best team they've dominated is Maryland, who is decent, but not awe-inspiring. They lost at home to Oregon, and the PSU/Minny/Nebraska games were all close.
9 Michigan State Spartans I was never too impressed with MSU, even after their win against Michigan, and their loss at Purdue reinforces that in my mind. The Michigan win is still solid, and they do have a decent win at Miami, but past that their resume falls off a cliff. The games against Ohio State and Penn State will be significant for their resume, but as of now, I'm not impressed enough to shift them above Ohio State.
10 UTSA Roadrunners MEEP MEEP! UTSA is still undefeated, and dominated UTEP! Illinois and Memphis also pulled off upsets, and UTSA's resume looks a lot better than last week, good enough for them to jump into my top 10.
11 Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M picked up their much needed second best win against Auburn in dominant fashion, which reinforces their resume, as just beating Alabama as the only point on their resume didn't make it great. They did lose at Arkansas and at home to Mississippi State, and those don't look great, but they do have two great wins which put them at #11. I couldn't put them above undefeated UTSA because their losses were pretty mediocre and UTSA had decent enough wins.
12 Michigan Wolverines Michigan has a solid win at Wisconsin, but not much outside of that. They did lose at Michigan State, but that's not a bad loss. Not much to note here, I have them directly above Iowa due to the common opponent.
13 Iowa Hawkeyes I have no idea what happened to Iowa, but they do not look the same now. They do have some solid wins at ISU and vs. PSU, but since that PSU game, they've looked awful. They lost at home to Purdue and on the road to Wisconsin, and while they did beat Northwestern this week, it was not in impressive fashion. Still, those are solid wins, enough to have them this high.
14 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss has just kept going, knocking off Liberty this week; their best win is still at home against Arkansas (which was a great game), and they do have a decent win at Tennessee, but nothing too outstanding. Their losses aren't too bad, at Alabama and Auburn, and we'll see if they can get a major resume point in their game against Texas A&M next week.
15 Baylor Bears Baylor...what happened? I thought Baylor looked pretty good, but they lost at TCU this week, which is not good. They still have decent wins against BYU and Iowa State at home, and some depth with wins at home against Texas and WVU, but they have not won a significant game on the road yet. When they go to Kansas State, that game should be interesting, and their home game against OU should be good as well coming up this week. They also lost at Oklahoma State, which is not a bad loss at all, but that TCU loss is rough. If Baylor beats KSU on the road, I think that'll be fairly significant, showing they can beat decent teams away from home.
16 BYU Cougars BYU sits directly below Baylor due to the H2H matchup; they have a bunch of decent wins, but nothing outstanding. I would note all of Utah, Arizona State and Virginia at home and Wazzu/Utah State on the road as decent wins. However, they don't have a true top win, and they have a rough loss at home to Boise. 
17 Purdue Boilermakers Purdue is a team that I would not feel safe playing no matter who I was. They seem to be able to beat anyone, and they have beaten Iowa and MSU, with Iowa being on the road. They do have 3 losses, but none are too bad; at Notre Dame, vs. Wisconsin and vs. Minnesota are not particularly bad, and they also have a decent depth win against Oregon State, though ORST has been collapsing as of late. Purdue really isn't getting enough recognition, and I really hope they knock off Ohio State on the road; that will be an interesting one to watch.
18 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Well, there goes undefeated Wake. They never really had a great win, with their top win being at Virginia, and they finally lost at North Carolina. They still have chances to get some decent wins vs. NC State and at Clemson, but as of now, with no true top win, I only have them at #18.
19 Auburn Tigers Auburn is another 3 loss team, but none of their losses are bad; their worst loss is at Penn State, with their other two being at Texas A&M and vs. Georgia. They also have some solid wins vs. Ole Miss and at Arkansas, but they need another win to really jump higher. Mississippi State at home will definitely be a win worth something, but Mississippi State is so volatile to the point where i wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see Auburn go down against them.
20 Arkansas Razorbacks Arkansas picked up a win against Mississippi State this week, but their H2H loss to Auburn keeps them below them. Wins at home against Texas A&M and Texas are solid, but they have not beaten a solid team on the road, though they did give Ole Miss a fight. They do not have a bad loss either though, with losses at Georgia, at Ole Miss, and vs. Auburn not being bad whatsoever.
21 Iowa State Cyclones Iowa State dominated Texas in the 2nd half, which at this point isn't really that impressive. Anyway, that win adds to their great win vs. Oklahoma State and their solid road win against Kansas State, but their road loss to WVU definitely holds them back, as that is a rough loss. Their other losses, vs. Iowa and at Baylor, aren't bad, but the loss to WVU does keep them behind Auburn and Arkansas.
22 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns UL-Lafayette lost their first game at Texas, but they've gone undefeated outside of that, with a solid win against App State being the focal point of their resume. Not too much to note here, they get an opportunity to add to their resume in two weeks at Liberty and then their conference championship game, but as of now they just kinda sit here.
23 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State really fell apart after Clifford's injury, though they do seem to be finally bouncing back. Before that injury, they looked like one of the best teams in college football, with wins at Wisconsin and vs. Auburn, and they were dominating Iowa before that, but since then they have not looked impressive. They ultimately ended up losing to Iowa, and then they lost at home to Illinois in a 9OT* game (*new overtime rules suck), but they did look more like their previous self at Ohio State. They also looked pretty good at Maryland this week, but that Illinois loss holds them behind ULL. The home game against Michigan next week should be a good test to see if they have fully recovered.
24 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin does have a H2H loss to Penn State at home, and in fact, all three of their losses were at home; Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan. However, since starting 1-3, they've won the rest of their games, including good wins at Purdue and vs. Iowa. However, they're still below PSU due to the H2H and the fact that their wins are somewhat weak.
25 San Diego State Aztecs SDSU barely holds onto a top 25 spot, with their 3OT win against Utah holding together their resume. The road win against Air Force got weaker, and they do have a home loss to Fresno State, but they're hanging on to a top 25 spot for now. First 5 out: Houston, Pittsburgh, Appalachian State, Fresno State, Utah

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