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bretticus33 Ballot for 2021 Week 15 & Bowls

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Dec. 5, 2021, 1:40 a.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama stunned the world by doing what they always do and blow out a team in a big game.  They destroyed Georgia's heralded defense and stonewalled their offense for most of the game.  Bryce Young likely cemented himself as the 2021 Heisman winner as well.  Alabama gets top nod over Michigan because, although I think their loss is the worst between the two, the Tide still have a better overall resume of wins despite the inconsistency.
2 Michigan Wolverines Michigan and Jim Harbaugh finally won the B1G and in the process cemented their spot in the CFP.  I almost had Michigan and Alabama as 1A and 1B, but all that really matters is being in the top 4.  Michigan has a good chance of playing a team that can stifle their offense, so it'll be interesting to see if they can diversify the O enough to stay in a CFP game.
3 Cincinnati Bearcats Barring something shady, Cincinnati SHOULD be the first G5 team to make the CFP, something that probably wouldn't have happened if there weren't so much chaos surrounding them this season.  However, the Bearcats have earned it.  They've still got one of the single best wins of the season and have stepped up their game against the better teams they've played, Houston included.
4 Baylor Bears Here's where the controversy really starts.  I've held steadfast for a handful of years that the CFP teams should all be conference champions; otherwise letting in teams that don't win their conference or even division really reduces the meaningfulness of conference champions if you can still get rewarded for failure there.  Baylor won the Big 12 by inches with their backup QB and while a Sugar Bowl likely awaits the Bears, they should be the 4th CFP team.
5 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia got unexpectedly blown out and as a result, they fall out of my top 4 even though they'll still be a CFP team.  The loss showcased the two big concerns I had about the Dawgs.  First off, Stetson Bennett just isn't the guy for Georgia.  The defense and run game kept Bennett from really having to do more than be a game manager, but Alabama forced Bennett to step up and he wiltered.  Also, Georgia's schedule hasn't aged well.  Clemson was bad the first half of the season, Arkansas and Kentucky are both 4 loss teams, and Auburn and Florida both collapsed down the stretch.  Georgia hadn't faced a true elite team yet and got whipped.
6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
7 Oklahoma State Cowboys
8 Ohio State Buckeyes
9 Utah Utes Utah, the program that's had one of the roughest years I can remember, is now one of the hottest teams in the country.  Their defense and physical ground game won't be an easy stop, but their QB Rising has been up-and-down.  Congrats on the first Rose Bowl in program history Utah.
10 Ole Miss Rebels
11 Michigan State Spartans
12 Pittsburgh Panthers Pitt completed the dream season and won their first ACC title.  Kenny Pickett was a star again and should get invited to NYC for the Heisman ceremony.  The Panthers are experienced and explosive and they'll make for an interesting matchup in their NY6 bowl.
13 Oklahoma Sooners
14 BYU Cougars
15 NC State Wolfpack
16 Clemson Tigers
17 Minnesota Golden Gophers
18 Arkansas Razorbacks
19 Oregon Ducks I considered dropping Oregon more.  For all the talent Cristobal has acquired, he's wasted a year of it by refusing to address the QB position beyond Anthony Brown.  I've explained in past polls that Brown will kill the Ducks in a game or two and that's exactly what happened against Utah.  The problems went beyond Brown though, as they were dominated in the trenches and were outscored 76-17 over 8 quarters against Utah.
20 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Billy Napier ended his Louisiana tenure with a Sun Belt Championship over App State and now he's off to Florida.  It's unfortunate for the Cajuns who have to now play their bowl game (which BTW the Sun Belt has really bad bowl ties) without their head coach.  
21 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Wake Forest has a top 15 offense but a bottom 15 defense.  They can score on just about anybody but the defense is so bad that it puts the pressure on the offense to score 42 per game.  That's what happened against Pitt and in their 3 losses over the last 5 games.
22 Wisconsin Badgers
23 Houston Cougars Houston fell to Cincinnati and thus ended the nation's 2nd longest winning streak.  Houston is still a good team though.  Cincinnati is likely heading to the CFP and losing to them, especially in just a 2 possession game, is nothing to hang their head over.  Holgerson has the Cougars trending in the right direction.
24 Kentucky Wildcats
25 UTSA Roadrunners UTSA continued one of the best stories of the season in CFB with a C-USA title game victory.  They nearly blew a big lead to Bailey Zappe and WKU, but their offense did just enough.  Sincere McCormick is one of the best RBs in the nation so watch their bowl game if you can.

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