Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Oct. 10, 2023, 2:52 a.m.

• Ballot
• Analysis

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Ohio State Buckeyes
2	USC Trojans
3	Washington Huskies
4	Florida State Seminoles
5	Michigan Wolverines
6	Oklahoma Sooners
7	Texas Longhorns
8	Georgia Bulldogs
9	Penn State Nittany Lions
10	Oregon Ducks
11	Alabama Crimson Tide
12	Ole Miss Rebels
13	Oregon State Beavers
14	Utah Utes
15	LSU Tigers	I have a general rule of thumb that I will not rank a team ahead of teams that have two fewer losses (e.g. a 3-loss team ahead of a 1-loss team). However, I continue to make an exception for LSU this week. They are ranked ahead of 0-loss #18 North Carolina, #22 Louisville, #23 Air Force, and #25 James Madison. My rationale: a) their Week 0 loss to Florida State was closer than the score indicates, it was a de facto away game in a tough environment, and FSU is very highly ranked (#4 in my poll); and b) LSU's loss to Mississippi was a close game, it was an away game in a tough environment, and Mississippi is highly ranked (#12 in my poll).
16	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	I have a general rule of thumb that I will not rank a team ahead of teams that have two fewer losses (e.g. a 3-loss team ahead of a 1-loss team). However, I am making an exception for Notre Dame this week. They are ranked ahead of 0-loss #18 North Carolina, #22 Louisville, #23 Air Force, and #25 James Madison. My rationale: 1) their Week 4 loss to Ohio State came down to the last play and OSU is very highly ranked (#1 in my poll); 2) I could not justify a reason to drop Notre Dame more than five spots for their loss last week to then-unranked Louisville (from 11th last week to 17th this week) because I felt LOU is a good-enough team to warrant a smaller drop in ranking (LOU is now ranked #22); and 3) I could not justify a reason to rank 3a) UNC ahead of #17 Duke 3b) LOU and AF ahead of Duke, UCLA (#19), Washington State (#20), and Tennessee (#21); and 3c) JMU ahead of Duke, UCLA, Washington State, Tennessee, and Kansas (#24).
17	Duke Blue Devils
18	North Carolina Tar Heels
19	UCLA Bruins
20	Washington State Cougars
21	Tennessee Volunteers
22	Louisville Cardinals
23	Air Force Falcons
24	Kansas Jayhawks
25	James Madison Dukes

Teams Ranked:

Rank	Team	Unusualness
1	Ohio State Buckeyes	0.63
2	USC Trojans	1.85
3	Washington Huskies	0.25
4	Florida State Seminoles	0.00
5	Michigan Wolverines	-0.04
6	Oklahoma Sooners	0.00
7	Texas Longhorns	0.13
8	Georgia Bulldogs	-1.12
9	Penn State Nittany Lions	-0.55
10	Oregon Ducks	-0.25
11	Alabama Crimson Tide	0.00
12	Ole Miss Rebels	0.43
13	Oregon State Beavers	0.21
14	Utah Utes	0.49
15	LSU Tigers	2.10
16	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	0.61
17	Duke Blue Devils	0.00
18	North Carolina Tar Heels	-1.70
19	UCLA Bruins	0.00
20	Washington State Cougars	0.00
21	Tennessee Volunteers	0.00
22	Louisville Cardinals	-2.16
23	Air Force Falcons	0.00
24	Kansas Jayhawks	0.00
25	James Madison Dukes	0.00

Omissions:

Team	Unusualness
Kentucky Wildcats	0.12

Total Score: 12.63