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Due_Connection179 Ballot for 2022 Week 4

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 19, 2022, 7:38 a.m.

Overall Rationale: With it being Week 4 now, the top 15 or so is starting to round into shape. Pre-Season Poll for the most part is rounded out, but my #17-33 are pretty jumbled right now. I'm a big believer in head-to-head (especially if they win on the road), so you'll see a lot of that influence my draft now and in the future. Other than that my rationale going forward is your record, schedule (who you played), and game tape (how well you played). Sometimes I look at advanced metrics for close calls, but generally speaking college football sorts itself out.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia had two really good things happen for them this weekend. First, they blew out South Carolina by 41 and did it on the road. Second, Oregon beat BYU (my #8 last week) by 21. I know last week I said I wouldn't change my top 3, but I did change the order. Oregon looking very good against BYU after looking god-awful vs Georgia sent Georgia over the top for me this past week.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide Nothing much here, beat Louisiana-Monroe by 8 touchdowns.
3 Ohio State Buckeyes See Alabama, just replace "Louisiana-Monroe" with "Toledo".
4 USC Trojans My first change to my pre-season top 4. USC dominated the Mountain West-favorites Fresno State from beginning-to-end and that combined with Oklahoma State's shaky defensive start has prompted be to swap the two in my rankings this week. USC can solidify this ranking with a good win at Oregon State this upcoming week.
5 Oklahoma State Cowboys See Ohio State, just replace "Toledo" with "Arkansas-Pine Bluff".
6 Michigan Wolverines See Oklahoma State, just replace "Arkansas-Pine Bluff" with "UConn".
7 Kentucky Wildcats Struggled offensively (outside of the 2nd quarter) against Youngstown State. Looks bad on paper, but I'm going to chalk this one up as "coming off a high" from beating Florida.
8 Clemson Tigers Went for #9 to #8 for the sole reason of BYU losing this week. Looked very flat again on offense to start the game and outside of the 3rd quarter only outscored Louisiana Tech 27-20, so once again this is a red-flag for Clemson. They are my upset pick this week going to my #25 Wake Forest.
9 Arkansas Razorbacks Scary win vs Missouri State. Didn't take the lead until 9:16 left in the 4th quarter. Was outplayed the entire game outside of two plays in the 4th (73 yard TD pass & 82 yard punt return TD). I'm going to chalk this up as looking ahead to Texas A&M, but this is a huge red flag for the early season.
10 Penn State Nittany Lions I'm 100% on the Penn State train now. Went into Auburn, kicked them in the mouth, and left with a 30 point win. Very excited about this team going foward. They have a couple of sneaky tough games vs Central Michigan (9/24) & vs Northwestern (10/1) before their 1st truly big game of the year @ (my #6) Michigan on 10/15.
11 Ole Miss Rebels Shut out Georgia Tech while dropping 42 pts on them. Solid showing for both sides of the ball.
12 Oklahoma Sooners First truly good showing for the "new-era" Sooners. Looking forward to seeing if it continues into conference play.
13 Tennessee Volunteers See Michigan, just replace "UConn" with "Akron".
14 Utah Utes Decent win over San Diego State. Currently my top 1-loss team, but let's see how that changes over the next month with games vs Oregon State & USC.
15 Baylor Bears Fell a little bit in my poll because of a combination of BYU losing and not looking truly great vs Texas State.
16 Texas Longhorns Followed up the Alabama nail-biter with a slow-start win over UTSA. Personally went back-and-forth a lot with Utah, Baylor, and Texas but I just felt like going with Texas last of the 3 for right now felt right.
17 Oregon Ducks This is my weekly "give credit where it's due, but I don't actually believe in you" pick. Absolutely boat-raced in the opening week, but a nice turn around win vs a solid BYU team.
18 BYU Cougars A little disappointed here. Put a lot of faith in them and gave them #8 last week. Hopefully this loss doesn't carry over to next week vs Wyoming.
19 Texas A&M Aggies Looks like Texas A&M is suffering from a lot of what Clemson has. An Elite defense trying to carry a mediocre offense. Already saw it fail once vs Appalachian State, so let's see what happens this week vs #9 Arkansas.
20 Miami Hurricanes Disappointing loss, but we're onto Middle Tennessee State then conference play.
21 Pittsburgh Panthers Not much to say about last week or this upcoming week (vs Rhode Island).
22 Florida Gators With their 3-pt win over USF, I'm guessing Florida's goal is to be the "new Nebraska" and just play every team close. We'll see how well that works out this week at #13 Tennessee, but they are my "lock of the week" to lose.
23 Oregon State Beavers Beat a top 5 FCS team last week in Montana State by 40 to set up a top-25 match up with #4 USC. I have a lot of faith in Oregon State this year, but it will be tested this week.
24 Washington Huskies Just an absolute domiant win for Washington vs Michigan State last week. The final score (39-28) is a lot closer than what the actual game was because Michael Penix Jr (favorite college QB currently) and Washington dominated the first half (29-8) then just put on the cruise control for the 2nd half. Really wanted to put them higher, but Michigan State was one of my "I don't believe in you at all" teams going into the season.
25 Wake Forest Demon Deacons This was basically a 3-way tie between Wake Forest, Florida State, and NC State for me. None of them have looked particually impressive to me this season (and I know I still have the AP's #12 NC State still not ranked but they aren't good so I will continue to not rank them), but the tie-breaker for me here is I have Wake Forest beating #8 Clemson this week.

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