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PrimalCookie Ballot for 2023 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 10, 2023, 4:33 p.m.

Overall Rationale: My computer is completely unusable right now (it has a 33 way tie for 22nd, among other things) and will be until around week 6 at the earliest, so instead y’all get my bad human rankings. Hooray!

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Two blowouts vs cupcakes. We’ll get a better idea of who this year’s Georgia is next week, but right now they’re #1 by default.
2 Florida State Seminoles Massive win vs LSU and then a blowout vs Southern Miss - FSU looks like the real deal. I’d have them #1 on resume, but it’s hard to unseat the two-time defending champs after just two weeks.
3 Texas Longhorns Texas is back, folks. No, for real this time. They just went into Tuscaloosa and handed Saban his first home OOC loss since 2007. Their win vs Rice last week also looks a bit more impressive now that Rice beat Houston.
4 USC Trojans Holy crap 49-3 at half? Over Stanford? Alright USC, I see you. They’ve looked incredible so far and so they earn a top 5 ranking.
5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame having a good QB is *scary.* They’ve easily taken care of their opponents so far and they now have an away P5 win. That’s enough for me to put them in the top 5.
6 Ohio State Buckeyes Both wins were blowouts, but the offense seems slightly uninspiring. Ahead of Michigan because Indiana is technically a P5.
7 Michigan Wolverines Two blowouts vs cupcakes. Michigan looks really good so far, but I’m dropping them down here because everyone above (except Georgia) has looked just as good and has a P5 win.
8 Washington Huskies After absolutely demolishing Boise State last week, Washington were just as good vs Tulsa. From what we’ve seen so far I’m a big believer, and I think Washington will be USC’s top competition for the final Pac-12 crown.
9 Penn State Nittany Lions After beating WVU last week, PSU absolutely crushes Delaware as expected. Cool, moving on.
10 Tennessee Volunteers The good: Huge win over Virginia (although that might not be worth *too* much considering UVA just lost to James Madison). The bad: Struggling in the first half vs Austin Peay. I still think the Vols are really good, obviously since they’re in the top 10, but that’s not what you want to see in those games.
11 Kansas State Wildcats KSU just crushed the defending Sun Belt champions. Who knows if Troy is as good as they were last year, but that’s still pretty impressive now.
12 Oklahoma Sooners Well, they didn’t put up 73 again, but they won comfortably against an SMU team that I think will be pretty good this year. This is probably a bit high, but I’m really liking what I’m seeing from Oklahoma so far.
13 Utah Utes Utah’s here because they beat two P5 teams. They cut it really close against Baylor, but a win’s a win and they still dominated Florida last week.
14 Ole Miss Rebels Blew out a cupcake and then beat Tulane on the road. As always, Ole Miss looks really good early in the season - we’ll see if that lasts.
15 Colorado Buffaloes Yeah, I’ll admit it. I was a doubter preseason and I was still a doubter after week 1. “It’s just a fluke” I said, like an idiot. I’m bought in now. Two P5 games, two wins. Colorado looks damn good, and despite the tough schedule the rest of the way I’m confident they can at least make a bowl, if not more.
16 Oregon Ducks Much like Utah, a road P5 win is a road P5 win, even if it was ugly. They’ll get another test in two weeks vs Colorado.
17 Oregon State Beavers It’s against cupcakes, sure, but holy crap. Winning 45-17 on the road and then following it up with an even bigger 55-7 is eyecatching for sure. We’ll see pretty soon if the Beavs are for real, but right now I’m very high on them.
18 Miami Hurricanes God why are literally all of our rivals good now. Miami made a big statement vs A&M that they’re to be taken seriously, and don’t have another big test until week 6 at UNC. If they’re still undefeated after that, the hype train will be full steam.
19 Alabama Crimson Tide Something something SEC bias. They're 1-1, lost a home OOC game for the first time since 2007, and don't look incredible in general... but they're still Alabama. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being. Saban is still the GOAT, I'm sure he can pull something out.
20 LSU Tigers See above. LSU is LSU, they lost bad to FSU but I still believe until proven otherwise. Putting up 72 on Grambling State was probably fun stress relief for the players and fans.
21 Duke Blue Devils Duke followed up their big win over Clemson by demolishing Lafayette. Not much else to say, they stay just outside the top 20 for now.
22 North Carolina Tar Heels I'm also willing to give UNC the benefit of the doubt for their performance this week because the last 4 seasons they've always done that against App State. The SC win is a bit less impressive now than it seemed last week, but still big.
23 Washington State Cougars A big win over Wisconsin means Wazzu jumps into the top 25. They also put up 50 on the road last week.
24 Kansas Jayhawks They beat Illinois in a game that wasn’t as close as the score suggested. Granted, it seems like Illinois kinda sucks this year after just barely squeaking out a win vs Toledo, but it’s still noteworthy.
25 Auburn Tigers Not really sure who to put here, I’m sure there’s someone I’m forgetting, but Auburn’s good enough. They blew out UMass and now won at Cal. Going out west and coming back with a W isn’t easy… ask me how I know 🙃

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