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HHcougar Ballot for 2023 Week 2

Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Sept. 5, 2023, 6:34 p.m.

Overall Rationale: My poll is a hybrid between a computer and a human poll. The formula combines a power ranking (who I think the best teams are), with a resume ranking (who I think has the best case to be ranked), and a computer ranking that calculates rankings based on a team point system (each team has a certain number of points and beating a team takes a portion of their points). Each of the three sub-polls is given equal weight, and the final poll is derived from that. This will be wacko for the first 2-3 weeks, I presume. There's a 45-way tie for 4th place in the computer ranking portion!

Rank Team Reason
1 Florida State Seminoles A whopping 70 (out of a possible 75 points) makes Florida State the clear #1 in my ranking system. A #1 resume, #3 power ranking, and #4 computer ranking have them at the top of the list. FWIW this early in the season the computer ranking is pretty useless, there's a 45-way tie for #4.
2 USC Trojans T-2 with Notre Dame. USC gets the nod simply because I have them one spot higher in my power ranking, which will be the tie breaker. Caleb Williams really do be that dude. If they can get their defense figured out, USC is going to the playoffs.
3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish T-2 with USC. Did ND get better when Brian Kelly left?
4 Washington Huskies Any team that blows out Boise State is a very good team, even if Boise isn't at their peak anymore.
5 Oklahoma Sooners Good lord OU, chill out
6 North Carolina Tar Heels UNC is #6, despite being mediocre in all three prongs of my poll, but it's week one, and I expect this to iron itself out.
7 Colorado Buffaloes I have a feeling that Colorado and TCU are both going to be very mid and we're gonna look back on that game like the 'Texas is Back' game. Still, Shedeur Sanders is nice with it.
8 Ohio State Buckeyes Only Ohio State can blow out a conference rival and have everyone immediately write them off.
9 Tennessee Volunteers T-9 with Texas. Tennessee is going to be good this year. They'll still finish 3rd in the East
10 Texas Longhorns T-9 with Tennessee Texas might, sorta-maybe a little-be kinda back, folks.
11 Michigan Wolverines I'm not sold on the B1G this season, but Michigan should still be pretty good
12 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama should be way higher, my poll will stabilize in 2-3 weeks. Teams get no benefit for playing an FCS team, so Bama's resume is tied for dead last currently. That will change.
13 Duke Blue Devils And there it is. The #2 resume immediately shoots Duke up to #13 in my rankings, despite being unranked in my power rankings. Fun storyline... but Duke is gonna go like 7-5
14 Utah Utes Boo
15 Penn State Nittany Lions I think Penn State breaks through and finally takes that next step. And finishes 2nd in the B1G
16 Louisville Cardinals This early in the season we're scraping the bottom of the barrel for teams with a resume. Louisville beat a P5 team, that's about it. I'm not gonna bother with the rest of the list. These are essentially all the same tier at this point. My model needs more data.
17 Texas A&M Aggies T-17 with Fresno
18 Fresno State Bulldogs T-17 with A&M
19 Wyoming Cowboys
20 Virginia Tech Hokies
21 Northern Illinois Huskies
22 UCF Knights
23 NC State Wolfpack T-23 with Tulane
24 Tulane Green Wave T-23 with NCState
25 Wisconsin Badgers

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