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_TGT7 Ballot for 2023 Week 6

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 1, 2023, 1:35 a.m.

Overall Rationale: This week AP ranked teams such as Kansas and Florida lost, and I didn’t have either of those teams ranked, so I believe I’m getting better at ranking.I try to keep some poll inertia so early rankings don’t go completely haywire, but I also try to disregard previous rankings when evaluating teams (for example, I don’t think Colorado should get any credit for beating a ranked TCU, because TCU isn’t currently ranked and doesn’t look that great this season). I also try not to move teams down a ton after losses or super high up because of wins, but in these earlier ballots I’ll do that simply because it is harder to evaluate teams.

Rank Team Reason
1 Michigan Wolverines With a 45-7 win over Nebraska, Michigan has looked dominant in every game they’ve played so far, even if Rutgers and UNLV are their best wins at the moment.
2 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia looked shaky against a Auburn team that I don’t think is very good, I wouldn’t be shocked if Kentucky managed to upset Georgia next week. I have Georgia ranked #2 more out of respect of what I know they can be, and not because of what they have done this season.
3 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State didn’t play this weekend, so they remain the #3 team in these rankings. Ohio State I believe has a better offensive situation than Georgia and Alabama, but Kyle McCord isn’t as strong as Ohio State QBs in previous seasons
4 Texas Longhorns Texas dismantled a good Kansas squad, and if they can beat Oklahoma next week, they should cruise to a 12-0 season and a appearance in their final Big 12 championship. I believe at worst Texas finishes 10-2, so it is safe to say that Texas is back.
5 USC Trojans USC’s terrible defense I believe is going to cost them games in the future, but Caleb Williams should keep USC competitive against any team in the country. Schedule for USC is a murderers row with Notre Dame, Utah, Oregon, Washington, and UCLA all left on the schedule, so a playoff birth is unlikely.
6 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State has looked good this season, with a offense and a defense that both are elite. If Penn State didn’t deal with playing both Ohio State and Michigan every year, they would’ve made the playoffs by now.
7 Washington Huskies Washington didn’t look amazing against Arizona, but three power five wins and a win against Boise State is impressive. Their game against Oregon should help determine which team is better
8 Florida State Seminoles Florida State after a dominant win over LSU (who doesn’t seem to be as good as we thought at the start of the season) has looked shaky since, with a two point win over a Boston College team that might be one of the worst P5 teams in the country, and a overtime win against a decent Clemson team. If Florida State struggles against Virginia Tech, I will drop them further
9 Oregon Ducks Stanford is pretty bad, so I don’t give Oregon any boost for beating them. Oregon has played lights out football except for a flukey road game against Texas Tech, and their game against Washington will be must watch TV
10 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama has looked much better since their loss to Texas, and has a good chance to go 11-1, but their lackluster passing game I believe prevents them from being a true playoff contender
11 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma looks vastly improved to start this season, and the Red River Showdown will likely determine which big 12 team goes 12-0, Oklahoma and Texas are giving a strong impression before they join the SEC
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish A gutsy win over Duke brings Notre Dame up in my rankings, but the loss to Ohio State gives Notre Dame little margin for error if they want to make the college football playoff
13 North Carolina Tar Heels North Carolina didn’t play this week, but they move up due to all the chaos going on in this area of the rankings. North Carolina hasn’t played anyone good yet, so their games against Syracuse and Miami should give us a better idea of what this team is.
14 Washington State Cougars Washington State offensively crushing a Oregon State team that performed well against Utah resulted in them moving three spots in my rankings despite not playing this week. Washington State is my personal CFP dark horse.
15 Oregon State Beavers Nice rebound win over Utah for the Beavers, with their defense looking outstanding and a offense that is improved from last season. Oregon State has one of the more forgiving PAC-12 schedules, so 9-1 going into a home game against Washington isn’t out of the question
16 Utah Utes I understand that Utah has dealt with lots of injuries and Cam Rising not playing, so I expect them to be really good once he returns, but I can’t have them hovering near the top 10 with the team the way it is right now.
17 Ole Miss Rebels Another stop on the Lane train, a win over LSU was exactly what Ole Miss needed, and their offense looked elite. Definitely hope the defense can be better the rest of the season
18 LSU Tigers A brutal loss to Ole Miss sends LSU flying down my rankings, only reason I still have them ranked is because Ole Miss and Florida State are good, ranked teams, and because Arkansas and Mississippi State are decent teams in my eyes. While Brian Kelly isn’t going to get fired anytime soon, I expect to see a situation similar to Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M, LSU hired Brian Kelly to win championships, and LSU’s playoff aspirations are over this season.
19 Duke Blue Devils Heartbreaking loss for Duke, and a brutal injury to Riley Leonard that I hope isn’t season ending or career-altering. Duke I believe is more of a defensive team and I believe they should be able to at least go 9-3 even without Leonard, but their season could become tragic very fast.
20 Miami Hurricanes Miami didn’t play this week, but they’ve looked good when they’ve played, and Georgia Tech should be a easy opponent to take them to 5-0 where they go up against North Carolina in a away game
21 Maryland Terrapins Maryland crushed Indiana to go up to 5-0 on the season, Maryland has a game coming up against Ohio State that will determine if this maryland team is different from ones in years past.
22 Missouri Tigers Missouri looked fine against Vanderbilt to move to 5-0, but they go down in my rankings due to more impressive showings from other teams, Missouri vs LSU will be a trajectory-altering game for both teams, where a Missouri win would give them extra credibility
23 Louisville Cardinals Louisville had a ugly win over NC State, but 5-0 is 5-0, and four power five wins gives Louisville enough credibility for me to rank them, even if I doubt they’ll be ranked later in the season. Louisville probably gets smoked by Notre Dame and finishes the regular season 8-4, which isn’t that much better than how Satterfield did.
24 Kansas State Wildcats Kansas State is a hard team to judge right now, but I believe the loss to Missouri was flukey, and I expect Kansas State to get back on track as the season continues. Kansas State is probably 7-1 going into their game against Texas, so I expect that game to have a lot of hype
25 Fresno State Bulldogs Fresno State admittedly has been a team I’ve overlooked this season because of a weird 2OT win against FCS Eastern Washington, but they’ve been outright dominant in their other games, which include two power five teams. Fresno State’s only real tests left are Boise State and Wyoming, but I believe Fresno can beat those teams, so as long as they don’t have any more head-scratchers, they should probably go 12-0

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