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YellowSkarmory Ballot for 2021 Week 12

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 15, 2021, 6:10 p.m.

Overall Rationale: I try to rank based on resume, which can create some weird results. 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.
2 Cincinnati Bearcats Okay, Cincinnati is undefeated with a great win at Notre Dame. The problem is their resume really drops off after that; their game against SMU next week will be major, even though SMU did drop a game to Memphis which isn't great for that win's quality. However, being undefeated with a great win at ND (one of the best in the country) is enough for them to be above every 1 loss team.
3 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama's top win against Ole Miss looks a lot better after Ole Miss beat Texas A&M, though their loss to A&M does look worse too. Alabama has some decent depth wins in there too, against Mississippi State, Miami and Tennessee, which are all not pushovers (Mississippi State has been really dangerous overall this year too).
4 Oklahoma State Cowboys Oklahoma State has a great win at home against Baylor, and they certainly have the depth to back up that win as well, with wins vs. Kansas State and at Boise being solid. Their one loss isn't bad either (at Iowa State), and they really aren't getting enough attention for their resume, which looks pretty good.
5 Oregon Ducks Oregon's win at Ohio State keeps looking better and better, and they have some decent depth with wins vs. Fresno and at UCLA, and to an extent Wazzu at home though that's more iffy, but yikes, that Stanford loss is BAD. I don't care that it was in OT or if the refs screwed them or whatever, that is a bad loss. However, it's not bad enough to keep them below Notre Dame.
6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame's one loss is to an undefeated Cincinnati team, albeit it was at home, but it's still not a bad loss. They have some pretty solid wins at Wisconsin and vs. Purdue, and a home win against UNC helps the resume for sure, while they killed UVA on the road, albeit UVA kinda sucks without their QB. Overall, their resume is pretty solid, with no truly bad points; the one knock I have on it is the lack of a great win.
7 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State finally is picking up some quality wins, and while PSU & Purdue may not be the most impressive wins, they are solid teams, and with a road win at Minnesota that also helps out the resume. They lost at home to Oregon, though, which really holds them back; with MSU and Michigan to close out the year, they have an opportunity to overcome the H2H loss to Oregon by the end of the year, but as of now, they don't even beat out ND for me.
8 UTSA Roadrunners MEEP MEEP! UTSA just keeps chugging along, and while Southern Miss did keep it close for a while, UTSA managed to pull away by the end. Wins at Illinois and Memphis, and in conference at WKU/Utep aren't necessarily great, but they are worth something, and they have not lost yet; I can't put them below Baylor with Baylor's two losses and rough loss to TCU while still feeling like my rankings are good. Gotta give credit to them for staying undefeated.
9 Baylor Bears Well, Oklahoma finally played a solid team in Baylor, and about what I expected to happen happened; Baylor pretty easily took them down. Baylor has three solid wins, though all are at home; Oklahoma, BYU and Iowa State. However, they haven't been able to do much on the road, with their best road win coming at Kansas, and they have a rough road loss to TCU.
10 Michigan State Spartans Michigan State's resume is basically we beat Michigan! After that, they beat Miami on the road who is decent, and then...yeah. Next best win is probably Rutgers or Maryland, and they lost at Purdue. The game against Ohio State next week is big for both teams. However, them only having 1 loss and a solid win against Michigan is enough for me to put them above them by H2H, though I could make a case for Michigan being above despite the H2H.
11 Michigan Wolverines Michigan has a couple of decent wins at Wisconsin and Penn State, but that's it; their next best win is at home against NIU, who is a decent G5 team. However, they don't have a bad loss, with their one loss being a close game against MSU. The H2H with MSU keeps them below, though it's close after picking up the good win at Penn State.
12 Ole Miss Rebels I really wasn't expecting Ole Miss to play that well against Texas A&M, but they proved me completely wrong. That Texas A&M win adds to their Arkansas win at the top of their resume, and they have some decent depth as well. Losses at Alabama and Auburn are not bad either.
13 Oklahoma Sooners Wow, Oklahoma finally played a good team and guess what happened? They got killed because they couldn't come back! Oklahoma is no longer undefeated and with only 1 solid win (at Kansas State) and a bunch of decent wins, they can't be any higher than this.
14 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Wake picked up a solid win at home against NC State after dropping their first game last week to UNC. However, the rest of their resume is pretty meh, and the UNC loss is not great. Therefore, I have them just below Oklahoma.
15 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa picked up a win against Minnesota at home, which was important to show they could beat decent teams, but both ISU and PSU losing hurt their best win a decent amount. The two losses where they looked horrible at home against Purdue and at Wisconsin do not help either, and the lack of a true top win despite having 3 solid wins leads to them sitting at #15.
16 BYU Cougars BYU's resume is really just like 3 decent wins (vs. Utah, vs. ASU and at USU) and then 2 okay depth wins (at Wazzu and vs. UVA), with no top win - a pretty extreme case of having no top win but a bunch of decent wins. The loss at Baylor isn't bad, and while they did lose at home to Boise, Boise has been pretty inconsistent this season and when they're playing well I would not want to play them. However, that loss is bad enough to keep them below Iowa.
17 San Diego State Aztecs San Diego State picked up a solid win vs. Nevada this week, to add to their home win against Utah (in 3OT!) and their road win at Air Force. They also only have one loss, at home to a solid Fresno State team, and that in my opinion has them above all the three loss teams.
18 Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M is my top 3 loss team, as they have a great win at home against Alabama and a solid win at home against Auburn, but they do have three losses; none are too bad, being at Ole Miss, at Arkansas and vs. MSST, but they also aren't great. All 3 do break my top 25, however.
19 Arkansas Razorbacks Okay, well, this looks weird - I have Arkansas one spot below A&M, despite them having the head to head there, but let me explain. I really don't see Arkansas as being close to A&M resume wise, as their best wins are against Texas A&M and Mississippi State at home, and while none of their losses are too bad, those wins do not have them close enough with A&M for H2H to kick in. 
20 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin started out the season 1-3 with three home losses, but since then they've looked a lot better, picking up some solid wins at home against Iowa and at a scary Purdue team. However, despite all of ND, Michigan and Penn State being solid teams, losing all three of those at home is not good.
21 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns UL-Lafayette lost their first game at Texas, but have not lost since, picking up a solid win at home against Appalachian State in that timespan. They get Liberty on the road next week, which would also be a decent win, but the lack of a second solid win keeps them below the top three loss teams for now.
22 Houston Cougars Houston's resume is currently based on a home win against SMU, with their second best win being at home in OT against a 6-4 East Carolina team. I actually had no idea ECU was 6-4 before looking at the AAC standings this week for the rankings, but that is not really a special 2nd best win, and they did lose at home to Texas Tech. I have them just behind UL-Lafayette, though it's certainly close.
23 Mississippi State Bulldogs What am I supposed to think about Mississippi State at this point? They've beaten Texas A&M and Auburn on the road, and NC State and Kentucky at home, which are all solid wins, but then they've lost at Memphis and at home to LSU, which are not great. Losses vs. Alabama and at Arkansas don't really sting as much, and their good wins are enough to have them ranked, but I cannot have them above a 1 loss team with them having 4 losses in my eyes.
24 Purdue Boilermakers Purdue being ranked by the committee made their magic run out at Ohio State, but a home win against MSU and a road win against Iowa are still really solid. A home win against Oregon State doesn't hurt either, and they don't really have a truly bad loss, though losing at home to Minnesota isn't great
25 Auburn Tigers Auburn holds onto a spot in the rankings, as wins vs. Ole Miss and at Arkansas are really solid, and they don't really have a bad loss; their worst loss is probably at home against Mississippi State or at Penn State, and neither of those are bad teams. First 5 out: Pittsburgh, Penn State, Fresno State, Utah, Appalachian State

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