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throwaway_6786 Ballot for 2023 Week 6

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 1, 2023, 11:24 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Same as last week, it's all about the resume that each team has put together so far through their 2023 games. As we hit five games for most teams, the picture begins to stabilize.

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns Two solid wins over Alabama and Kansas. There's nothing at this point to suggest that they're not the #1 team based on their play so far in all facets. The Longhorns look awesome this year, but now they face their nemesis in the RRS. It should be a blast as a neutral fan to watch.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes On bye, but their win over Notre Dame is now clearly one of the best two wins in all of CFB. It's hard for me to drop them when they've looked great so far with a major marquee win on the resume.
3 Michigan Wolverines Michigan continues to look amazing (albeit against a middling schedule), so this is a shaky #3 that they're at, but they've shown very few signs of struggle at any point. We'll see how they fare against a fairly weak October slate.
4 Washington Huskies Bit of a tough game for Washington, but it was never really in doubt in the second half and Arizona put up a late TD to make it look closer than it was. A massive top-10 matchup awaits in Seattle against the Ducks.
5 Florida State Seminoles On bye; their win against Clemson looks better, their win over LSU looks worse. They drop a spot because the BC win still looks iffy at best.
6 Oregon Ducks A slow first quarter against Stanford was followed by Duck domination for the last three quarters. Oregon rises a spot thanks to Georgia's struggles, but now they go to Seattle to face the Huskies in a battle of early CFP contenders.
7 Georgia Bulldogs True, this was a rivalry game and the Bulldogs were on the road. However, they were trailing for most of that game and it took almost 59 minutes to finish off the Tigers, which is enough for Georgia to slip down a couple more spots. Not having any notable wins is hurting Georgia's stability in the top 10.
8 Penn State Nittany Lions That was a poor first half, but Penn State did dominate the second half against a bad Northwestern team. Penn State is saved from dropping by one thing: WVU and Iowa are both 4-1, and few teams in CFB can say they've given two P5 teams their only loss by this point. Still, the Lions will have to play better if they want to take down OSU/Michigan.
9 Washington State Cougars There's no reason why the Cougars don't deserve it at this point. Even with the bye this week, they have one of the better wins in CFB by beating #13 Oregon State + a solid win over 3-1 Wisconsin and Wazzu has shown solid offensive and defensive units. We'll see how long they can keep it up in a tough Pac-12 conference.
10 USC Trojans USC continues to be hurt by a weak schedule. Colorado was the first team they played with a pulse so far, and while USC dominated the early stages, their poor defensive showing in the second half made this game a little too close for comfort. Tougher games where the Trojans can prove themselves are coming soon, but I still question their defense against what has been one of the worst schedules of any Top 25 team.
11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Great bounceback win for the Irish, and one they needed badly to right the ship and keep their CFP hopes alive. I'm starting to grow a little skeptical of the offense, but that last TD drive to win the game erased some of my doubts.
12 Oklahoma Sooners Another dominant win, but still not a terribly tough opponent in Iowa State. Oklahoma now has the chance to really prove themselves in a heavyweight fight against the Longhorns in the RRS.
13 Oregon State Beavers Similar to ND, a bounceback win over a pretty good Utah team shoots Oregon State back up to #13. It's a little shaky given that they have a loss and that Utah is struggling badly with injuries at QB, but the loss was by 3 on the road against #9, so I can't fault the Beavers too much for that.
14 Missouri Tigers Who would have guessed Mizzou would be 5-0? This team continues to surprise me with an explosive offense and a pretty tough defense. Their struggles against MTSU don't look good, but that is more than made up for with close, but still solid, wins over K-State and Memphis. I'm excited to see what Mizzou can do against LSU next week.
15 Miami Hurricanes On bye, but their wins over TA&M and Miami OH are looking better and better with each passing week. Georgia Tech could be tricky, but the following week @ UNC will show what this Miami team can do against another high-powered offense.
16 Alabama Crimson Tide A good win over Miss. State, but what helps Alabama here is the Ole Miss and Texas wins, which make Alabama look better. Still, that loss does keep them down a little bit, so they'll have to keep fighting to get back into the CFP conversation.
17 North Carolina Tar Heels On bye, so the reason they drop four spots is because South Carolina lost again, Pitt lost again, and Minnesota has struggled against rough competition. UNC will have more chances to prove themselves, but not having a marquee win is holding them back at the moment.
18 Louisville Cardinals It hasn't always been pretty for the Cardinals, but they're 5-0 and they've looked alright doing it. Now comes a big test as ND comes to town, so we'll see if Louisville can continue their newfound success under Brohm.
19 Duke Blue Devils That was a brutal loss for the Blue Devils just when it looked like they might pull out a huge victory. Praying for Riley Leonard, he's a good kid and I hope he's back out there as soon as possible. Duke's win over Clemson looks a little better, so they don't drop any further than #19.
20 Kentucky Wildcats I'm actually shocked to see 5-0 Kentucky after the departure of Will Levis. That was a big-time win over Florida and it shoots the Wildcats into the Top 25 for the first time this year. However, their biggest test is now front and center: A trip to Athens to face Georgia.
21 Maryland Terrapins I'm a little leery of Maryland (especially with some of their slow starts and their weak schedule), but they are 5-0 with pretty dominant finishes, so they're a shaky #21. They'll have to muster all their strength and good luck to beat OSU in Columbus, but who knows, maybe Taulia has a few tricks up his sleeve.
22 Utah Utes A bad loss for the Utes + a bad Florida loss means Utah drops considerably even with the UCLA win in their back pocket. They need Cam Rising back in the worst way because this is a solid Utah team top to bottom.
23 Ole Miss Rebels It wasn't the prettiest win you'll ever see, but wow was it ever exciting. 55-49 over LSU in a barn-burner that was decided in the final minute. The Tulane win has also looked better for Ole Miss as time goes on, so we'll see where the Rebels go after this in a wild SEC West.
24 Fresno State Bulldogs It still hasn't been the best schedule, but the Bulldogs are 5-0 and are improving with a new QB at the helm (what a job by Jeff Tedford, btw). I'm waiting to see what they look like against a pretty tough Wyoming team before I go too crazy, but they're in the Top 25 for now.
25 Texas A&M Aggies I'm still a little wary of the Aggies because they have no marquee wins, but they've looked so dominant in those wins that it's hard to ignore them (plus, Auburn taking Georgia deep into the fourth quarter helped the Aggies considerably). We'll see what this team is really made of against a tough-as-nails Alabama defense. I considered Air Force, K-State, WVU, JMU, Tennessee, UCLA, and a few others for these last few spots, but they just missed the cut.

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