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_TGT7 Ballot for 2023 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 8, 2023, 10:45 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Trying to make the rankings more resume-based now that we are almost halfway through the season, also rebalanced the rankings a bit, will make explanations shorter than last week.

Rank Team Reason
1 Michigan Wolverines Michigan looked dominant against a Minnesota team that seems to be losing their bearings, Michigan has looked dominant all season, but hasn’t played anyone good, so I’m interested to see what happens against Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State
2 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia looked more true to form in a dominant victory over a solid Kentucky squad, Carson Beck played great. I believe Ole Miss and Tennessee are the only games where Georgia has a possibility of losing.
3 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State beat a Maryland team I had ranked in my top 25, while Ohio State didn’t take control of the game until the fourth quarter, they did win by multiple possessions, and I don’t want to simultaneously punish Ohio State for not beating Maryland by enough while believing Maryland should be ranked. I just hope Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State don’t form some sort of circle of suck that takes them out of the playoffs
4 Penn State Nittany Lions +2, Penn State didn’t play this week, but a Texas loss and USC looking bad put them in my top four, the Iowa and West Virginia wins (somehow) keep looking better, and Penn State has yet to struggle.
5 Washington Huskies +2, Washington didn’t play this week, and the shakiness against Arizona is more excusable after what USC did, so they move up in the rankings, Oregon vs Washington could determine a playoff spot
6 Oklahoma Sooners +5, Oklahoma gets revenge over Texas in the Red River rivalry. I see no reason they can’t run the table into the Big 12 championship
7 USC Trojans -2, USC without Caleb Williams is probably 3-3 with people calling for Lincoln Riley to be fired, but with him they can still beat anybody. Arizona isn’t a bad team, but USC’s defense has been particularly abysmal the last three games, and everyone knows how Lincoln Riley has done in the postseason. Notre Dame and Utah have really good defenses, which will be a challenge to USC.
8 Oregon Ducks +1, Oregon is on a bye week, and if they had the schedule of Georgia, Texas, or Oklahoma would probably make the playoffs, but instead they have five currently ranked teams scheduled and probably finish 10-3. Oregon is a very good team on both sides of the ball, however.
9 Texas Longhorns -5, even though Oklahoma is a very good team, I believe that Texas blew a golden opportunity to make the cfp, they can definitely get in with a Big 12 championship victory over Oklahoma, but the margin of error is gone, good team, but needs to be less sloppy
10 Alabama Crimson Tide Didn’t move Alabama at all because they beat a Texas A&M team on the road by one possession, and were in control for most of the game. Alabama seems to have fixed most of their woes, and should be discussed more.
11 Florida State Seminoles -3, Florida State was fine this week, but outside of the LSU game, they’ve played more like James Madison or Marshall, who aren’t bad teams but aren’t close to being ranked, wouldn’t shock me if a Syracuse team that got destroyed by North Carolina puts up a fight. Not sure what people are seeing to put this team in the top 3
12 North Carolina Tar Heels +1, North Carolina destroys Syracuse 40-7 to give themselves more legitimacy, and they go up against a Miami team that decided to go back to the 1970’s and ignore fancy plays such as the kneel-down, I expect a close game.
13 Oregon State Beavers +2, Oregon State has proven that they can win games in many ways, their usually stout defense let California score 40 points, and while some of that was garbage time, you would hope that in a Pac-12 where teams such as Colorado and USC have bad defenses but good offenses, that your defense would perform better.
14 Utah Utes +2, Utah didn’t play this week. Utah with Cam Rising is one of the best teams in the country, but without him, their offense lacks any sort of punch that could be used to overcome early deficits. Not knowing when Rising comes back makes this team difficult to evaluate.
15 Louisville Cardinals +8, Louisville gets a statement win over Notre Dame, which should put them on every top 25 ballot once the AP Poll comes out. I was skeptical of Jeff Brohm at first, but he seems to have given Louisville that extra edge they were missing when Satterfield was coach
16 Ole Miss Rebels Lane Train barely beats a struggling Arkansas team, and has looked inconsistent all season, but they have nice wins over Tulane and LSU, keeping them on the rankings, they could finish 11-1 or 6-6, and neither would shock me.
17 LSU Tigers +1, Keeping LSU ranked last week was a unpopular choice, but they beat Missouri, and the teams LSU lost to are a combined 10-1, so raising them slightly makes complete sense. LSU enters the easier part of their schedule, however.
18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish -6, #18 is probably generous for Notre Dame, who keeps running into issues with a bad offense (a blue blood issue this season). They have a defensive unit that is good enough to keep them in games, but their offense has likely taken them out of CFP consideration. Notre Dame also isn’t helped by their tough schedule.
19 Duke Blue Devils The good news for Duke is that the Riley Leonard injury isn’t season-ending, but the bad news is that Duke’s next games are vs NC State, @Florida State, @Louisville, vs Wake Forest, and @North Carolina, Duke going 1-4 in these games is within the realm of possibility, especially given that they will be without their starting QB. Duke is a good team, but they might’ve had a bad injury at a bad time.
20 Washington State Cougars -6, Cameron Ward struggled against UCLA, and Washington State had 17 rushing yards while UCLA had 181. UCLA isn’t a bad loss by any stretch, but Washington State blew a game I believe they should’ve won (even if Vegas disagrees with me). With Arizona and Oregon coming up, Wazzu will need to fire on all cylinders.
21 Air Force Falcons NEW, While Air Force hasn’t played anyone good this season, they are undefeated with no head-scratching games, something I look for when I am ranking the teams on the fringe of the rankings. Air Force vs Wyoming should be a great game, and that could decide a NY6 bowl spot.
22 UCLA Bruins NEW, UCLA getting a win over Wazzu lets me evaluate them more clearly. I think it’s crazy how I have seven Pac-12 teams ranked, have one team I used to have ranked, and have one team that is two possessions away from being ranked. UCLA has one of the more forgiving Pac-12 schedules, but who knows what happens at this point
23 Wisconsin Badgers NEW, Wisconsin fell out of the rankings after the Washington State loss, and hasn’t had any buzz since then, while they definitely haven’t lit any teams up, they have been playing solid football in a division that looks awful this year, and a 10-3 record with a solid bowl appearance is definitely possible.
24 Wyoming Cowboys NEW, Wyoming gets a big man interception to win the game against Fresno State, They’ve kept all their games on interesting, and the Air Force game could decide a G5 bowl spot, they have away games at Air Force and at Boise State, which will steer the course of their season
25 Maryland Terrapins -4, I debated whether to take Maryland out of my rankings or not, but decided to just barely keep them in, for about 45 minutes, Maryland proved that they were legitimately good unlike previous seasons, and kept it interesting in a game at Ohio State. The rest of their schedule will prove whether I am right about this team or not.

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