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throwaway_6786 Ballot for 2023 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 10, 2023, 2:58 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Still too early to use just the games on the field so far, but the picture became a little clearer. Every team has played at least one game coming into this week, so no mulligans.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs A little tiny bit of a slow start, but still dominant overall. At this point, I'm just waiting to see if they show any serious flaws or struggle badly in any game.
2 Michigan Wolverines More or less the same as Georgia. Still very little to criticize about this team as they show virtually no weaknesses.
3 Florida State Seminoles Still have the best win in my opinion (but only by just a little), which is why they remain at #3 above Texas. On paper, they should destroy BC, and if they do, we'll see what happens in Death Valley against Clemson.
4 Texas Longhorns TEXAS IS... a great team this year so far. Solid win over Alabama, though to be fair, they were losing entering the 4th quarter. Still, Ewers lived up to the hype and the Longhorns proved that they are, for now, the top dog in the Big 12 as well as the #4 team in the country.
5 USC Trojans Who can stop this offense? The only reason they're not higher is because the teams above them all have better wins and/or more complete teams in all three units of the game. If USC can start racking up some wins against tougher competition, they'll go up for sure.
6 Washington Huskies Take what I wrote about USC and just change USC to Washington and that pretty much sums it up. Boise State did lose to UCF at home though, so that does hurt the Huskies just enough so that the Trojans force them down a spot. Still, there's little to criticize for the Huskies themselves, so at #6 they stay.
7 Ohio State Buckeyes It was a good win, don't get me wrong, but it still didn't have that dominant feeling to it (and Indiana beating Larry Bird's alma mater doesn't help OSU much), so they slip one more spot. McCord did look a little better though, so that should be encouraging for the Buckeye faithful.
8 Penn State Nittany Lions Dominant win against FCS team. PSU holds at #8 for now, but they'll need to do well against Illinois to stay that way given how Kansas beat up on them.
9 Kansas State Wildcats Solid win over one of the best G5 teams in Troy. Not enough to move them any higher than this, but definitely encouraging for K-State is that Will Howard looks like the real deal.
10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish A bit of an ugly win in a delayed rainstorm against NC State. Still don't know exactly what to make of Notre Dame, but they benefit from some iffy play from teams in front of them and move up to #10. Only two weeks away from the Buckeyes and Irish facing off in South Bend.
11 Tennessee Volunteers Struggled for a half against an FCS team. Tennessee will have to do better than that to stay in the Top 10. They have a chance to get back in, but they'll have to do something they haven't done in 22 years: Beat the Gators in the Swamp. Good luck, Volunteers.
12 Colorado Buffaloes First half was ok, second half was domination. They're one of only two teams to have a win over a ranked opponent on the road so far this season (Texas is the other), so I do think they deserve to be this high. I'm still a little wary of their OL/DL, but their skill positions are loaded with talent and Shedeur Sanders is looking like a superstar QB so far.
13 Oregon State Beavers Beat up an FCS team. They benefit from chaos around them, but their resume didn't improve much at all. Can't wait for their trip to Pullman in a couple weeks.
14 Ole Miss Rebels Impressive win for the Rebels on the road. Tulane did have their backup QB in, but Ole Miss still made plays when they had to and absorbed a tough 1st half, then made adjustments to win in the 2nd half. They've earned their place in the Top 25 after a disappointing 2022 finish.
15 Utah Utes That was really shaky from the Utes, but they did at least manage to win. They drop 5 spots, but this could've been so much worse. Credit to Whittingham and the staff to recognize that Johnson was the QB to get the win late in the game and gave him the full reigns. Still, Utah is on thin ice after this, and if Florida gets crushed by Tennessee, that will make the ice even thinner.
16 Oregon Ducks Speaking of shaky wins, the Ducks needed to pull out all the stops to get out of Lubbock with a win. This win would've been better-looking if TTU hadn't lost to Wyoming last week, but still, it's encouraging to see that the Ducks haven't lost their comeback charm (or their dynamic offense). Buffs vs. Ducks is just two weeks away.
17 North Carolina Tar Heels Still speaking of shaky wins, how you feeling Tar Heel fans? I honestly wonder why any P5 team still schedules App State at this point, they are the harbingers of CFB chaos. Still, Drake Maye looked fantastic, the coaching was solid down the stretch, and UNC did just enough to escape with a win. The South Carolina win is still fairly impressive, so they stick at #17.
18 Duke Blue Devils Beat up on an FCS team and so did Clemson, so not much changes for Duke this week.
19 Alabama Crimson Tide This might seem like too much, but since their only other game was against Middle Tennessee, there's not much else for me to rank them on except the loss last night and last year's success, which carries less and less weight with every passing week (and especially so for the Tide as Bryce Young ain't running out of that tunnel anytime soon). It's a steep drop, but if Saban is still Saban, they should be back in the Top 10 before long ('should' being the operative word).
20 Washington State Cougars They did exactly what they did last year by beating Wisconsin. The Cougars impressed me with their defense last night, which is important as defense has been their Achilles' heel for a long time. They're at #20 for now, but they have a gauntlet yet ahead of them.
21 Iowa Hawkeyes A road win over a P5 team is certainly nice, but I left this game with more questions then answers about the Hawkeyes. Are McNamara and All really going to cure the ills of a Brian Ferentz-led offense? Can the defense continue to score enough to keep Iowa in the win column? Is this one of those Iowa teams that will have to live and die by one-score games? This much is for sure: They're 2-0 and they have a great defense and special teams. For now, that's enough for #21.
22 LSU Tigers They weren't able to gain much by beating up on Grambling, but it's better than nothing. Teams around them had some better wins this week, so LSU slips another two spots. There's still plenty of time left for the Tigers, so it's not too bad yet, but LSU will need to pull a nice win soon to avoid dropping out of the Top 25 entirely.
23 UCLA Bruins Solid win on the road over SDSU and Coastal Carolina won a good game over Jacksonville State, so UCLA moves up a couple spots.
24 TCU Horned Frogs TCU crushed an FCS team and the Colorado loss looks a little better, but that's only enough to keep them from falling out of the Top 25. They'll need to do some damage against their next few opponents because right now, their schedule doesn't look too tough until K-State.
25 Louisville Cardinals Again, someone had to be #25 and there's really not an obvious pick, so I'm putting Louisville here for now. I would've put Cincinnati here, but the 4th quarter against Pitt shook my confidence in them just enough to put Louisville ahead for now.

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