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Temporary-Profit-643 Ballot for 2022 Week 15 & Bowls

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Dec. 5, 2022, 5:49 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Judging the season as a whole this far. Who beat who, relevant wins, circumstances for wins and losses. Also playing well is huge, but at the end of the day a win is a win and a loss is a loss. Head to head is given heavy weight. Rivalry games are judged on a case to case basis, as emotions run high and sometimes a team can pull a win out of nowhere against a much better team. Honorable mentions are Southern Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi St, Maryland, Wahington St, and Fresno St. USA went 10-2 with losses to only Troy by 4 points and a 1 point loss to UCLA. They however did not post anytruly impressive wins, played 7 teams with losing records, and had 5 one score games. Ole Miss lost every game to ranked opponents except for Troy, and lost to Miss St, but looked solid otherwise. Miss St's most impressive win is Ole Miss, but lacks quality wins outside this. Their next best won is against a not at all good Auburn team. Fresno St lost to USC, close to Oregon St, and Boise St. Which they avenged in their conference championship game. But that loss to UCONN came be ignored. Washington St lost to the 5 best teams in their conference, all of whom happen to be ranked in the top 15(!), keeping close in 3 of them. The rest of their wins were almost all convincing except for a week 1 win against a rival team that made the FCS playoffs. What a strange team. Maryland payed the 4 best teams in their conference, 3 in their division, of which 2 will be playing in the playoffs and 1 in a New Years 6 bowl. Against Michigan the lost by a touchdown, Purdue by 2 points, and had their way with Ohio St for the entire game minus a fumble return for a TD with 9 seconds to go. Teams 5-11 can be ranked in almost any order outside of 4 tiebreakers: Tennessee over Alabama, Tulane over Kansas St, Utah over USC, and USC over Clemson(due to the common game against Notre Dame). Winning a conference championship gives a nod over other teams where things aren't as clear, such as Clemson over Alabama.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs This is the best team in the nation based on the regular season. No contest, but the CFP will reveal all
2 Michigan Wolverines The second best team based on the regular season. Their nonconference schedule is weak, and they haven't looked as dominant as Georgia.
3 TCU Horned Frogs Generally they have looked very solid, but a lot of close wins, and a loss in the conference championship game does keep them back a bit. They get the nod over Ohio St because they played an extra game and still finished with a better record.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes Very good team, played a good season with solid ranked wins,
5 Tulane Green Wave I had to think twice when I looked at this placement. They lost by a TD to UCF midseason, and 3 points at home against rival USM a weekend after beating Kansas St at Kansas State. Wins against Cincinati and UCF to end the season are about on par with Alabama's wins against the Mississippi Schools, but the Kansas St win is better than anything Alabama and Clemson have, and was done on the road to boot.
6 Kansas State Wildcats The weird thing about Kansas St. Their only losses came to top ranked teams, two by 7 points, and the other by 10, which they got revenge on in their conference championship game. All but two of their wins, however are by more than 1 score, and the 2 weren't were in the conference championship game against TCU and at Oklahoma. They did lose to Tulane, at home, which is why they rank below them.
7 Utah Utes Two wins against USC may have hurt the PAC12 playoff attendance yet again, but for Utah, this year was a rousing success. Their loss to Florida does hurt them, but their wins against USC, Washington St, and Oregon St are really impressive.
8 USC Trojans Solid wins against UCLA, Washington St and Notre Dame, but the losses against Utah put a real damper on an almost playoff team.
9 Clemson Tigers Beating Florida St and UNC, is impressive, undefeated in conference play. Their only losses are to their rival and the incredibly up and down Notre Dame that did in fact manhandle them. Winning the ACC.
10 Tennessee Volunteers The loss to South Carolina hurts them quite a bit, but the wins against LSU and Alabama were really impressice.
11 Alabama Crimson Tide Beat Texas and both Mississippi Schools, which are indeed solid wins but losses to LSU and Tennessee bring this down. The close wins against Texas (who they beat through some lucky calls and Quinn Ewers getting knocked out in the first half) and Texas A&M bring them down.
12 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State ranking this is not meant to be a knock against the Nittany Lions. In fact, they are likely a top 10 caliber team. But everyone ranked ahead of them
13 Washington Huskies Solid season, wins against Oregon, Oregon St and Washington St are all impressive but that lose to ASU really hurts them.
14 Oregon State Beavers Beat Washington St and Oregon, narrow loss to Washington and USC. Great season
15 Oregon Ducks A giant what if season. Blown out by Georgia. Losing to Washington and and Oregon St by 3 and 4 points respectively. But they beat Utah, UCLA and Washington St, with an emphatic win against BYU that sent their season spiraling.
16 Florida State Seminoles Win against LSU
17 UCLA Bruins Beating Utah and Washington is fantastic, a solid win against Southern Alabama, a really close loss to a top 10 rival USC, and losing by 15 to Oregon on the road are nothing to scoff at. But losing to 5-7 Arizona at home is pretty bad.
18 Texas Longhorns Played 3 top 11 teams and went 1-2 in them, all close 1 score games. Beat UTSA as well. Losses to Texas Tech and Oklahoma St keep this season from being better so far.
19 UTSA Roadrunners Great season, only losses are to Texas and a triple overtime loss to Houston, but won their conference, ending their year on a 10 game win streak.
20 South Carolina Gamecocks Amazing wins against Tennessee and Clemson to cap the season is marred by losses to Missouri, Arkansas and Florida bring them down. But their red hot performances against those 2 teams to end the season leave this team very, very good.
21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish If Notre Dame had only lost to USC and Ohio St, they'd be close to, if not, a top 10 team, almost no questions asked. But those losses to Marshall and Stanford at home really hurt them.
22 Troy Trojans Only losses are to Ole Miss and a 4 point loss to App St. Winning their conference offsets their close wins slightly.
23 UCF Knights Southern Alabama and Miss St could easily be switched in here, but wins against UCF and Cincinnati are really good,
24 Cincinnati Bearcats Only 3 losses on the season, all by one score, two to the top 2 teams in their conference. The Arkansas loss somewhat drags them down, but it was a road game to open the season.
25 LSU Tigers Wins against Alabama and the Mississippi schools are why they're ranked. Their lopsided losses to Texas A&M, Georgia, and Tennesse are why they are why they are not ranked higher.

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