Back to poll results >>

PerfectZeroKnowledge Ballot for 2023 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 9, 2023, 2:51 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Washington Huskies Still the team I'm most impressed with overall. If they beat Oregon, they'll own this spot, if they lose, Oregon will probably take it.
2 Georgia Bulldogs I don't know if I trust them still, but that beatdown of Kentucky was terrifying enough to bring them back up a couple spots. They'll need to destroy more teams like that to take 1 again.
3 Michigan Wolverines They look really good - I was probably underrating them because of the garbage schedule so far (why is so much of the Big 10 so bad?) but as of right now they look the best out of the three actually good Big 10 teams.
4 Oregon Ducks Similarly to Washington, they've had mostly insane blowout wins with one kind of meh win against a good-but-not-great opponent mixed in. Oregon's was a little bit more meh since Texas Tech had to choke to lose while Washington's Arizona win was never in doubt, so I favor Washington in this poll, but if Oregon can beat them they'll get number 1.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes I don't really know what to think about them. Maryland is a good win, but something just doesn't seem quite right about the Buckeyes right now, and the Notre Dame win (already a very lucky one) looks worse now. Still, they're pretty darn intimidating as always, and the defense actually looks pretty darn good this year.
6 Oklahoma Sooners Since they beat Texas, it's only logical that they take their spot. Computer rankings love them, and so far they haven't been wrong to. The run game still looks spotty, but if they can clear that up they can easily move up.
7 Florida State Seminoles LSU win is fluctuating wildly in terms of how impressive it looks. Clemson win is also ???. Like most of the teams here, still has plenty of chances to reaffirm their ranking or be exposed.
8 Penn State Nittany Lions Defense looks extremely legit, offense maybe not so much, but the West Virginia win is actually looking pretty respectable now.
9 Texas Longhorns The close loss to OU shouldn't impact their rank that much. The win over Alabama is still looking good, though Alabama is a bit hard to make sense of.
10 Louisville Cardinals Beating Notre Dame like that makes them look a lot more legit. I still don't trust them after that NC State game but at least for now they deserve to be up here.
11 North Carolina Tar Heels I didn't really trust them before, but the Syracuse blowout was good enough to restore a lot of that.
12 USC Trojans Every week I think they'll actually not look fraudulent for once, and every week they just look MORE fraudulent. The offense is still absolutely obscene when it's working, but the last few weeks are showing cracks even there. But if they can keep winning against the coming gauntlet, they'll be able to move right back up.
13 Alabama Crimson Tide There's something missing with them still. They're undoubtedly still very good, but they need to put all the pieces together to avoid taking another loss somewhere down the line.
14 UCLA Bruins The win over Washington State basically forced the following cluster of teams.
15 Washington State Cougars The loss to UCLA isn't too embarrassing since UCLA is really good. Keeping them above Oregon State since they beat them.
16 Oregon State Beavers Pretty much interchangeable with the two above teams with current ordering based on head to head results.
17 Duke Blue Devils Didn't play, but moves up because teams ahead of them dropped.
18 Air Force Falcons Yeah, they started slow against an atrocious schedule, but they've been absolutely spanking their opponents for the past few weeks to a terrifying degree. Am I a biased option enthusiast? Yes. But if they can beat Wyoming, that will boost their legitimacy tremendously.
19 Utah Utes Didn't play, but moves up because teams ahead of them lost.
20 Ole Miss Rebels LSU beating Missouri indirectly boosted Ole Miss back up. The Arkansas performance wasn't that inspiring though.
21 Kansas Jayhawks Kansas seems to have a ton of variance, but if I take them at their average performance they're good enough to be here.
22 Maryland Terrapins Lost to Ohio State, but it wasn't nearly bad enough to get them off the rankings entirely like with Kentucky's loss to Georgia.
23 Wyoming Cowboys They've pulled out wins against Texas Tech, Fresno State, and App State, so plenty of respect for the schedule here. However, they seem to be getting very lucky and that's often unsustainable. Maybe they can show they aren't a fluke with a win against Air Force.
24 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Louisville performance was an ouch but otherwise they've played very well.
25 LSU Tigers Either them, Miami, or Missouri could go here.

Back to poll results >>