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Charlemagne42 Ballot for 2022 Preseason

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Aug. 23, 2022, 3:14 p.m.

Overall Rationale: My preseason ballot is a human ballot where I try to guess what the post-bowl poll will look like.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes Last year's team wasn't ready. This year they won't drop The (TM) Game, and they'll beat Bama in an exciting national title game.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide The Tide will roll the SEC West as usual, win a surprisingly close conference title game against the Gamecocks, and then drop the national title game to an unstoppable Buckeye squad.
3 Utah Utes Utah has no excuse to lose a single game this season until they make their playoff debut. Where they will lose in the first round to an Ohio State team that won't be beaten all year, but make it look close enough to give them the #3 spot.
4 North Carolina Tar Heels UNC's early win against an overrated ND team will push them up the rankings fast; the next two weeks against an overrated VT and an overrated Miami (FL) will keep them moving. Their actual toughest regular-season game will be against an underrated Pitt, and they may even drop it. But, they'll cruise past Clemson in the conference title game before being eviscerated by Bama in their first-ever playoff appearance.
5 Michigan Wolverines A season full of "almost". They'll *almost* beat Ohio State. They'll *almost* make the conference title game. They'll *almost* sneak into the playoffs after questions about UNC's strength of schedule and performance against it. But in the end, it'll be a consolation NY6 bowl which the Wolverines will *almost* lose.
6 Oklahoma Sooners After dropping an embarrassing OOC game to Nebraska, Oklahoma's weak strength of schedule will end Venables's first-ever season in a NY6 bowl win following their too-easy conference title.
7 South Carolina Gamecocks Surprise! Shane Beamer and Spencer Rattler will make a gigantic statement, knocking off Georgia early. They'll ride that momentum through the season, finally getting the Clemson monkey off their backs. Then in the conference title game, they will be respectfully shown their place by Saban's squad.
8 Clemson Tigers Strangely, Clemson won't actually lose until the last week of the regular season. DJ Uiagalelei's "hard work beats talent" offense will bail out their "talent doesn't work hard" defense, looking eerily like Oklahoma in the Mike Stoops years. Then will come the soul-crushing loss to South Carolina, followed by a conference title game loss to North Carolina. They'll draw Cincinnati in the NY6 roulette, and remind them why they aren't in a power conference.
9 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia will lose early to Oregon and South Carolina, and then they'll stay infuriatingly one game behind through the entire season. They'll miss the conference title game, miss their shot at the playoff, and get stuck in a frustrating NY6 bowl against a team that they annoyingly won't beat.
10 Pittsburgh Panthers Pitt has their luckiest schedule in a long time. They miss Clemson, they'll catch their stronger opponents right after they play more intimidating foes, and even their two P5 OOC games will look really good at the start of the season. But, they'll drop a couple of inexplicable games and have to settle for a second-tier bowl.
11 Texas A&M Aggies The Aggies won't actually be worthy of the #Top11 ranking, but the BOMC will make sure they're ranked highly to pad Bama's SoS. Which is Texas's fault, somehow. Special thanks to TexAgs, for generously sponsoring this comment and Texas's invitation to the SEC. Anyway, A&M will make a NY6 bowl on a 9-3 record and a whole lotta hype.
12 Wisconsin Badgers They'll do everything right, and still get blown out by Ohio State in the conference title game. They'll also drop their pity NY6 game, as if Badger fans needed any more reason to drink.
13 Cincinnati Bearcats They'll drop the Arkansas game and an early conference game, but claw back to a conference title win and an 11-2 record heading into bowl season. They'll get a NY6 invite, where they'll meet a Clemson team that's mad as hell they just lost to not one, but *two* Carolinas. Nevertheless, their pending conference change will keep their ranking propped up in the low teens.
14 Michigan State Spartans The Spartans will meet expectations. They'll lose to Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin, but beat everyone else and win their second-tier bowl game.
15 Florida Gators Florida will drop 3 to Utah, Georgia, and South Carolina, but beat A&M late in the season to climb the rankings. Still, they'll finish third in their division, and find their way into a second-tier bowl game.
16 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa will beat who they're supposed to beat, but lose to Iowa State, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State. Even so, a mid-tier bowl win against a hapless MAC team will land them at 9-4.
17 Oregon Ducks Although they'll stun Georgia in the season opener, the echoes of last year won't end there. They'll drop a couple of head-scratchers, then get pasted by Utah. Twice. Again.
18 Baylor Bears They'll barely escape the BUTT bowl, and they'll drop the games against Oklahoma, ISU, and KSU, but they'll beat Oklahoma State and Texas. A conference title loss to Oklahoma will precede a respectable second-tier bowl win, for a 10-4 end to the Bears' season.
19 UTSA Roadrunners Even though the Roadrunners won't lose a conference game, they'll drop the Texas game. This will lead to an 11-1 regular season finish for Jeff Traylor's team ahead of the AAC jump next season, as well as a grossly overrated Texas team heading into conference play.
20 Texas Tech Red Raiders Tech will miss the conference title game on wacky tiebreakers. Even so, a 9-3 regular season driven by a dominant defensive front will far outpace expectations for Joey McGuire's first season with the Red Raiders. Expect Tech to rise to 10-3 after a mid-tier bowl win, for their first double-digit season since 2008.
21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Irish's 9-3 finish won't be 100% their fault. After all, their schedule will feature two playoff teams and also Clemson. Maybe they'd have more success playing in (half of) a Pacific conference instead of an Atlantic conference?
22 Iowa State Cyclones Somehow the Cyclones will beat Iowa and Baylor, but also lose 4 conference games. Winning their bowl game will put them back into the rankings after the post-season, with a 9-4 final record.
23 Oklahoma State Cowboys Beat Iowa State and Texas Tech? Check. Lose to Baylor, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Central Michigan? Also check. Luckily for the Cowboys, a lot of chaos will happen this year and an 8-4 regular season finish will be good enough for a ranking.
24 Kansas State Wildcats The Wildcats will lose to Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech. The Big 12 circle of suck will be more of a Parity Puddle. Even so, 8-4 is a very solid record for Chris Klieman's team, and the people of Manhattan should be thrilled if they can keep this performance up.
25 Toledo Rockets I spun a wheel and selected a random MAC team. Nobody in the Mountain West looks good at this point in the off-season, so ol' reliable is a MAC team this time. As for why Toledo, let's say they'll give Ohio State their best fight of the season besides Bama in the natty.

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