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YellowSkarmory Ballot for 2021 Week 14

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 29, 2021, 2:57 a.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's resume actually doesn't look quite as good as I imagined it, but it's still by far the best in the country; wins at a neutral site against Clemson and at home against Arkansas and Kentucky are all solid, and wins at Auburn/Tennessee are worth noting as well.
2 Cincinnati Bearcats Cincinnati got some much needed depth to their resume with wins at home against SMU (which is actually looking worse) and on the road against a 7-5 East Carolina. Obviously, the key part is their road win against Notre Dame, and they also have a home win against UCF in there, but the depth is very helpful, and they have not lost yet. With UTSA losing (F), the final two undefeated teams are my top two.
3 Michigan Wolverines Michigan looked like the better team by far against Ohio State, and their win against them is great for their resume; they also still have road wins against Wisconsin and Penn State, and I guess a win over MAC West winner Northern Illinois. They did lose at Michigan State, however, which keeps them below the undefeated teams. (Worth noting I'm not excluding 1 loss teams from being above undefeated teams, but Cincinnati's resume is close enough where I feel like they deserve to be ahead.)
4 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama pulled out the ugliest win possible at Auburn in 4OT, but a win is still a win. Their resume is still headlined by a great home win against Ole Miss and some decent depth wins at home against Arkansas, at MSST, against Miami on a neutral site, and at home against Tennessee, with the Auburn win I guess slotting in too? They did lose at Texas A&M, which does not look great, but their resume is solid enough to have them at #4.
5 Oklahoma State Cowboys I did not get to see Oklahoma State's win over Oklahoma (messed up my sleep schedule badly), but from what I have heard about it, it was a pretty sloppy game. However, a win is a win, and the home win against OU adds to their home win against Baylor; those are two very solid wins, and they also do have wins at home against Kansas State and at Boise State. They did lose at a 7-5 Iowa State team, but that's the only blemish on their resume; however, it's big enough to keep them below Michigan and Alabama.
6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish There's a pretty significant gap between OKST and Notre Dame in my opinion by now; ND's resume has two decent wins at Wisconsin and vs. Purdue, but when your best two wins are against 4 loss teams, it usually does not have a particularly good top win. They did beat a few 6-6 ACC teams as well, but that doesn't help much; they also lost at home to Cinci.
7 Ohio State Buckeyes Well, I was never too convinced by Ohio State; I was starting to believe they were good after they dominated MSU, but they promptly got shut down by Michigan. Still, that home win against MSU is good for their resume, and they have decent depth wins against Purdue and Penn State at home and at Minnesota. In addition to that Michigan loss, they also lost at home to Oregon, which does not help.
8 Baylor Bears Baylor still sits on a resume headlined by two very good wins, at home against BYU and Oklahoma, and they have some decent depth wins at home against Iowa State and at Kansas State. One of their losses, at Oklahoma State, isn't too bad, but the other...yikes. Losing at TCU really brings down Baylor, as they would easily be in the CFP conversation if they won that game.
9 Oregon Ducks Oregon's resume is still headlined by their great road win at Ohio State, but they do have surprisingly good depth; a home win against Fresno State, a road win at UCLA and home wins against Wazzu/Oregon State are there too. They actually looked like a pretty good candidate for the playoffs until they got killed by Utah, and their road loss to Stanford in OT looks worse by the week.
10 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss has just been quietly running through this season, at least from what I've heard; they've picked up home wins against Arkansas and Texas A&M, and road wins at MSST & Tennessee which are solid (along with some other okay wins against Liberty & Louisville). They lost at Alabama, which isn't a bad loss, but they did lose at a very inconsistent Auburn team, which isn't great.
11 Michigan State Spartans If you see this, I fell asleep before finishing explanations and forgot to complete them.
12 BYU Cougars
13 Iowa Hawkeyes
14 San Diego State Aztecs
15 Utah Utes
16 Oklahoma Sooners
17 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
18 Pittsburgh Panthers
19 Wake Forest Demon Deacons
20 Houston Cougars
21 Wisconsin Badgers
22 Purdue Boilermakers
23 Arkansas Razorbacks
24 Clemson Tigers
25 Fresno State Bulldogs First 5 out: UTSA, Appalachian State, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, NC State

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