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nw____ Ballot for 2022 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 5, 2022, 11:03 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Defending national champs. Total domination of a (probably) good Oregon team. They have the talent and the best resume so far.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide They’re Alabama. Also totally dominated a Utah State team that is a lot better than many of the “cupcakes” other teams scheduled.
3 Ohio State Buckeyes Impressive win over ND. Showed they could win a slug fest, which they couldn’t have done last year. The offense will start clicking soon.
4 Michigan Wolverines Great performance on both sides of the ball. They say a team with two QBs has no QBs. We’ll see.
5 Baylor Bears Sizable gap between 4 and 5 in my rankings. Can’t really write home about a win over Albany. BU benefits from other teams dropping and because I am a bit worried about OU’s offensive and defensive lines.
6 Arkansas Razorbacks Fantastic win over a tough Cincinnati squad. Love watching KJ Jefferson play. The Defense looked much better than it did last year. I wouldn’t want to play this team in October or November.
7 Oklahoma Sooners Pretty solid showing against UTEP (CAN THE DEFENSE TACKLE NOW???) but some flaws were definitely apparent. I believe the team will improve as the year goes on and they get more time under the new schemes. As of now, they don’t have the offensive or defensive lines needed to go as far as they’d like, but they might at some point this season.
8 Texas A&M Aggies Would’ve liked for them to look more convincing in their win over Sam Houston but I am not sure what we can say about this team with the weather delay. They rise this week because some other teams fell. Not convinced this team has the offense to go as far as they’d like. They could beat anyone in the country but I could see them dropping a few they should’ve won comfortably.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Looked as good as a team can in a loss. It was closer than the score. They looked as tough as I’ve seen them look in years. Once they settle in, they will be even scarier. Still need to see them deliver in a big game, though. Strangely enough, I was really impressed by what they showed despite only putting up 10 and being shut out after halftime. The potential and talent are not the issue.
10 Michigan State Spartans I feel meh about this team. Need to see if the defense has what it takes— and if the offense can still produce without KWIII.
11 Oklahoma State Cowboys Looked as good as they could against Central Michigan for a quarter or two and then looked as bad as they could’ve for the rest of the game. If the defense has regressed to this degree, they’re in rough shape. Can’t give up over 40 to CMU and expect to go far with Spencer Sanders at QB.
12 Penn State Nittany Lions I don’t know if both Purdue and Penn State are going to be very good or very disappointing this year. What a wacky game. Only ahead of Wisconsin because I trust Clifford more than Mertz, which says more about how I feel about Mertz than anything.
13 Wisconsin Badgers Mertz looked good. It was also Illinois State. I’ll believe he is good when I see it but the defense and Allen seem to be in good shape!
14 Clemson Tigers What was that? I am going to need to be convinced that Clemson isn’t just Orange-Cat Iowa. DJU and Spencer Petras have at least one thing in common, and if your QB shares any traits with Petras, you’re not a top-5 team. Somehow left the Clemson and GT game feeling worse about both teams. It was ugly. That said, if they make a change at QB, they might be terrifying— the Clemson we’re more accustomed to seeing over the last decade. Klubnik looked good to close things out. How does Dabo balance loyalty vs. what the tape shows? With DJU, they aren’t a playoff team and, combined with how bad the offensive line looked at times, may not even be a top ten team.
15 Florida Gators This may be a hot take of a ranking but I thought Utah deserved to be ranked and I can’t very well rank them without ranking the team that beat them. Anthony Richardson definitely flashed. With a bit more accuracy, I don’t know if the Heisman is out of the question (also maybe a hot take). Napier looks like he was a great hire. We’ll see if all of this holds in conference play.
16 Utah Utes Gutsy showing, tough performance, bone-headed INT from Rising. They will be back— and they’ll bring their brass knuckles.
17 Pittsburgh Panthers A different kind of gutsy showing. Not sure if the D-line is as good as advertised or if WVU’s offensive line is still bad. Going to need to see more (a LOT more) from the offensive line before they move too much higher.
18 Kentucky Wildcats Meh performance. What’s going on with Rodriguez? Would he have made that game look any better?
19 Houston Cougars Fantastic game and a tough win. They play so tough. Took a while to get going but looked great when they did. Watch out for this team.
20 Texas Longhorns They are here because they are talented. They may not be here next week. Those offensive tackles had better get a lot better real quick. If it comes together, the team can be as good as anyone. I’m not sure it is going to.
21 Wake Forest Demon Deacons No Hartman? No problem (yet). They can still slow mesh you to death. I’ll be keeping an eye on them in a weak ACC.
22 Cincinnati Bearcats As good a loss as you can have. Showed they have not lost their edge. As tough as they come. They have some things to work out after all they lost but they’re ahead of where I expected. They may shock some people who only see the one loss.
23 Mississippi State Bulldogs Sleeper team. This is a Leach year: they’ll beat someone they have no business beating and lose to two teams they should’ve smoked. Just not sure when or what order those things are going to happen in. You hope they aren’t clicking when they play your team.
24 USC Trojans It was Rice. Still, no reason they can’t compete in the PAC-12. Will they be able to survive if a team punches them in the mouth? Several punchers are on the schedule!
25 BYU Cougars BYU benefits from teams like NC State and Oregon laying eggs last week. Still think the Cougars are a solid team, though. We’ll know a lot more about this team in a week. Absolutely can’t wait to watch them play Baylor— like the Spider-Man pointing at the other Spider-Man meme. A good old fashioned rock fight.

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