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Our-Gardian-Angel Ballot for 2022 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 12, 2022, 10:15 p.m.

Overall Rationale: My ballot uses metrics like SP+ and FPI as a reference point and places an emphasis on factors such as strength of victory, margin of victory and vibes. All wins aren't created equal and head-to-head isn't the be-all, end-all when filling out a ballot.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Through two chaotic weeks of the college football season, Georgia's excellence is about the only thing I'm sure of at this point. (Week 2: Georgia 33, Samford 0; Record: 2-0)
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Perhaps the declarations of Ohio State's defense being back were premature given how bad Notre Dame looked against Marshall, but the unit still looks improved already from last year. (Week 2: Ohio State 45, Arkansas State 12; Record: 2-0)
3 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama is still Alabama and I'm sure they'll be just fine and do no worse than 11-1 during the regular season, but I would not want to be one of their players at practice this week. (Week 2: Alabama 20, Texas 19; Record: 2-0)
4 Michigan Wolverines Hawai'i is going to be in for a brutal year, so it's hard to take too much from this game, but J.J. McCarthy as clear starter under center is a good development for the Wolverines. (Week 2: Michigan 56, Hawai'i 10; Record: 2-0)
5 Clemson Tigers Clemson feels a bit rough around the edges yet, but they're obviously really talented and top 5 still feels right given the chaos across the country. The upcoming games against Wake Forest and NC State later this month should be excellent tests. (Week 2: Clemson 35, Furman 12; Record: 2-0)
6 Oklahoma Sooners Leading a MAC team 7-3 at halftime obviously isn't great, but Kent State is a MAC title contender and having merely a poor half isn't too bad for September 10, 2022. (Week 2: Oklahoma 33, Kent State 3; Record: 2-0)
7 USC Trojans Exciting offense that builds up a big lead? Shaky defense? Teams clawing back into it due to conservative play calling while nursing said big lead? The Lincoln Riley era is truly underway in Los Angeles. (Week 2: USC 41, Stanford 28; Record: 2-0)
8 Tennessee Volunteers The advanced metrics were bullish on Tennessee coming into this season and the Vols provided some proof of concept with a really good OT win at Pitt. I'll admit that I thought the Josh Heupel hire was weird (and obviously we're a long way from a final verdict on it) but so far, so good for him in Knoxville. (Week 2: Tennessee 34, Pittsburgh 27 OT; Record: 2-0)
9 Kentucky Wildcats It will never stop being amazing to me what Mark Stoops has turned Kentucky football into. Going into The Swamp, beating Florida and having it not be a surprise is a perfect testament to where the program is and a perfect way for Stoops to pass Bear Bryant as UK's all-time wins leader. (Week 2: Kentucky 26, Florida 16; Record: 2-0)
10 Arkansas Razorbacks Even if the Arkansas secondary could cause some complications, there's so much to love about this Arkansas team. They're great in the trenches. KJ Jefferson rules. Sam Pittman rules. Go Hogs. (Week 2: Arkansas 44, South Carolina 30; Record: 2-0)
11 Miami Hurricanes Much like Oklahoma, Miami had a lackluster first half against a team they should've blown out. But again, merely one bad half — especially against a Sun Belt team — isn't so bad for September 10, 2022. (Week 2: Miami 30, Southern Miss 7; Record: 2-0)
12 BYU Cougars What a fun game to watch and a great win for BYU against a Baylor team that should absolutely be among the Big 12's best again. The Cougars have an early leg up in the race for the G5 NY6 bowl bid. (Week 2: BYU 26, Baylor 20 2OT; Record: 2-0)
13 Mississippi State Bulldogs Mike Leach made his return to Pac-12 After Dark and the Bulldogs emerged unscathed against an Arizona team that looks ahead of schedule in their rebuild under Jedd Fisch. That's about all you can ask for. (Week 2: Mississippi State 39, Arizona 17; Record: 2-0)
14 Michigan State Spartans Michigan State did what they should have done to a MAC basement dweller. Not much to see here. A primetime game at Washington next week is obviously a much better measuring stick. (Week 2: Michigan State 52, Akron 0; Record: 2-0)
15 Utah Utes The first quarter wasn't great, but Utah sure took out some frustrations from that loss to Florida out on poor Southern Utah. I'm still all aboard the Utes to win the Pac-12 again, so this was nice to see. (Week 2: Utah 73, Southern Utah 7; Record: 1-1)
16 Baylor Bears Heartbreaking double OT loss for the Bears, but credit to them for going on the road and facing BYU. Those kind of games are great for us neutral fans and Baylor shouldn't be dinged much for the loss. (Week 2: BYU 26, Baylor 20 2OT: Record: 1-1)
17 NC State Wolfpack After narrowly escaping with a win against East Carolina in Week 1, NC State looked a lot more like expected in a blowout win over Charleston Southern in Week 2. A home game against Texas Tech and a road game at Clemson over the next two weeks will tell us a lot. (Week 2: NC State 55, Charleston Southern 3; Record: 2-0)
18 Oklahoma State Cowboys Oklahoma State's running game looked great and the defense was shaky at times, but improved from Week 1. Looking like another really solid team for one of the country's more consistent programs. (Week 2: Oklahoma State 34, Arizona State 17; Record: 2-0)
19 Penn State Nittany Lions Can't say I caught a single second of this game, but Penn State did what they were supposed to at home against a MAC team. Also, the stat of 17 different PSU players having a reception is hard to wrap one's head around. (Week 2: Penn State 46, Ohio 10; Record: 2-0)
20 Ole Miss Rebels Not a whole lot you can take away from this type of game. Ole Miss didn't make a mess of it, so that's always a positive. A road game at Georgia Tech next week also shouldn't give them much trouble, which says a lot about where Geoff Collins has the Yellow Jackets. (Week 2: Ole Miss 59, Central Arkansas 3; Record: 2-0)
21 Florida Gators As some expected, Florida got a bit too much hype from its Week 1 win against Utah. Kentucky brought them back down to earth, but the pendulum shouldn't swing too far the other way. The Wildcats have legit top-10 potential and the Gators are surely happy to be sitting at 1-1 given how tough a start to their schedule they've had. (Week 2: Kentucky 26, Florida 16; Record: 1-1)
22 Cincinnati Bearcats Cincinnati took out some frustration from the Week 1 Arkansas loss out on an overmatched opponent, and the Razorbacks made that loss look better with a win over South Carolina. Nice weekend for the Bearcats, all things considered. (Week 2: Cincinnati 63, Kennesaw State 10; Record: 1-1)
23 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Neutral fans were (understandably) excited about Vanderbilt's 2-0 start under new coach Clark Lea, but probably went a bit far with making them a trendy upset pick against Wake Forest. Dave Clawson and Co. put a halt to that and served a reminder to how far the program has come from what he inherited. (Week 2: Wake Forest 45, Vanderbilt 25; Record: 2-0)
24 Texas Longhorns I'm sure you'll have those who criticize and make dreadfully unfunny "quality loss" jokes for moving Texas into the top 25 after a defeat, but the Longhorns looked excellent against Bama. It's not like they relied on fluky turnovers or anything, either. Texas genuinely hung right within college football's gold standard and nearly won despite losing QB Quinn Ewers. (Week 2: Alabama 20, Texas 19; Record: 1-1)
25 Minnesota Golden Gophers Both SP+ and FPI peg Minnesota as a top-25 team, even if the pollsters don't (yet). Even if they've played a couple cupcakes, the Gophers still don't usually obliterate even inferior teams the way they have thus far. This might be the best team of the PJ Fleck era in the Twin Cities and they don't have Mike Sanford dragging them down as offensive coordinator. No one should be surprised if they emerge as Big Ten West champions this year. (Week 2: Minnesota 62, Western Illinois 10; Record: 2-0)

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