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Muffinnnnnnn Ballot for 2022 Week 12

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 15, 2022, 12:32 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Wins and losses matter, head-to-head matters. If you have the same record as a team and beat them head-to-head, you have to go above, with the exception of circles of suck scenarios among teams with equal records, like the Pac-12 mass. USC may seem strange as the bottom of that mass of Pac-12. After all, everyone else has 2 losses. Here's what it comes down to for me: I understand wins and losses matter, but USC truly has not had a single impressive performance. 9 wins vs basically no one amazing, with the best of the bunch being a 3 point win over Oregon State. Most of these games against 3/4 win teams are close. A loss to the ONLY high-level Pac-12 team they've played in Utah. All USC needs to do is beat UCLA and all will be forgiven. A Notre Dame win the following week would also boost them some, although Notre Dame showing up vs not is literally like flipping a coin. A tier break exists between the top 5 and everyone else (and arguably the top 3, and top 1 as well). Penn State may be judged by some as a little high, but they dominated everyone other than the #2 and #3 best teams in the country, so I think they're still pretty good. Ole Miss is still a fraud team and arguably Alabama is too, but Alabama does have a very large inconsistency pattern so it's hard to place them. Some teams like Kansas State are drifting along and very hard to figure out. Thankfully, the Pac-12 will offer some clarity this week, as well as some other teams where I'm not 100% on where to put them, but next week's result will solidify it better.

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