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nw____ Ballot for 2022 Week 12

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 14, 2022, 10:56 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs What else is there to say? At the moment, it feels like UGA and everybody else.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Looked much more like themselves against Indiana, which was needed after… whatever that was against Northwestern (yes, I know it was really, really windy but come on… Northwestern?!)
3 TCU Horned Frogs Great win over a Texas team that may never know whether it is good, bad, or back. I am extremely impressed by TCU’s ability to win any kind of game, from shootouts to rock fights. This was the kind of performance I have been waiting to see from their defense. They get the edge over Michigan based on simply having a better resume right now (Ohio State only beat them out because of ND’s resurgence).
4 Michigan Wolverines Did exactly what you’d expect them to do against Nebraska. I guess if I were being really nit picky, they could have scored more points. But let’s be real— that game was never close.
5 Tennessee Volunteers Kind of a slow start, but people forget about slow starts (even when they’re against Mizzou) when you score 66.
6 USC Trojans I honestly was *this* close to giving UNC the edge here because of Dye’s injury. I know he isn’t the most important player in their offense but he has had terrific moments and been a steady, possibly even underrated contributor. It’s the kind of loss that might matter against the big boys (but not Colorado).
7 North Carolina Tar Heels A bit of a nail biter but a win is a win. If I had a Heisman ballot, my vote would be for Maye. I have no idea how good he’ll be next year but, even without Josh Downs, we may have a new leader in the ACC given Clemson’s shakiness.
8 LSU Tigers Well, they tried to blow it. They didn’t though. Arkansas is a sneaky tough place to play IMO and the Tigers left with a win.
9 Alabama Crimson Tide Would this team be 6-4 without Bryce Young? I think so. As long as he is their QB, though, you’ll never be able to count them out. Enjoy it while it lasts Bama fans. The swan song is coming up.
10 Penn State Nittany Lions I guess Penn State is just really comfortable occupying 1D territory in the B1G Ten. Here’s how I see it: 1A — Ohio State and Michigan 1B — 1C — 1D — Penn State 2 — 3 — Illinois, I guess? 4 — Iowa (somehow), Minnesota 4B — Wisconsin 5 — Maryland, Purdue … and who really cares about the rest My point is that Penn State is the best of the “good, not great” teams and bodied an unsuspecting Maryland team. Good grief. And, yet, if Penn State played Michigan tomorrow, there is, what, like a 20% chance they’d be shutout? Frustrating team.
11 Clemson Tigers I know no more about this team than I did after watching Notre Dame punch them in the mouth last week. We may never know if they’re actually good.
12 Washington Huskies Epic game. One of the best of the weekend, and HUGE win for UW **IN AUTZEN**. I didn’t even know other teams were still allowed to win there.
13 Oregon Ducks Heartbreaker, but still a great team.
14 Utah Utes They beat Stanford. Do I have to talk about it?
15 Kansas State Wildcats I don’t know what is happening in the meat grinder that is the Big XII this year, but I did not have Kansas State absolutely trashing Baylor on my bingo card. Woof. (Also the scary thing about this team is that they might be better without Martinez… watch out, unsuspecting bowl game opponent— and TCU, too).
16 UCF Knights Great win that I really didn’t expect them to pull off. I thought Tulane would turn this game into a slugfest and pull out a close one in a low-scor
17 UCLA Bruins I don’t know what this team is. You can’t drop one to Arizona, though, even if De Laura is a ton of fun. We’ll see if they bounce back
18 Florida State Seminoles The team that has surprised me the most (in a positive way) this season
19 Oregon State Beavers This ranking is more about how wild this season has been than anything. However, all of Oregon State’s losses are quality ones, and that counts for something *ducks*
20 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers I don’t really think they’re the 20th best team in the country, but they’re 9-1, so I’ve got to give them credit. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
21 Troy Trojans See above, though beating Army by 1pt ain’t gonna get it done in the long run.
22 Ole Miss Rebels How is it that the season is almost over and I still have no idea whether Ole Miss is even decent??
23 Tulane Green Wave I actually feel good about this ranking. This is a good football team coming off a tough loss. I would not want to play them in a bowl game.
24 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Somehow, someway, Green Iowa didn’t blow it against Navy.
25 Sacramento State Hornets Don’t like this ranking? Tough. What would you like me to do?? Rank Texas again since they have another quality loss? Rank NC State, a routinely overrated team coming off a loss to BOSTON COLLEGE? Maybe I’ll rank Oklahoma State here, who has a quarterback struggling to function at the moment and got PANTSED by Kansas State just a few short weeks ago. What about Minnesota, who destroys bad teams but *gets* destroyed by any team that is above average? Oh, I know, I’ll put all of the SEC teams into a hat and randomly draw one for this spot (a tale as old as time, by the way). Here’s the deal: this is an undefeated football team— and a good one. If an FBS team wants to be ranked in the top-25, one of them is going to have to earn it. I have a hard time believing there is a better case for this spot than Sacramento State. In fact, they may even have a better case than Troy, who I put a few spots higher.

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