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JBonkies Ballot for 2023 Week 10

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 29, 2023, 10:41 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Next 5 26. Toledo 27. Tennessee 28. Utah 29. USC 30. North Carolina Dropped out: #13 Utah #15 North Carolina #25 USC

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes (-) Ohio State has the best resume in the country. They have wins at #18 Notre Dame and at home against #10 Penn State. The offense looked off yesterday thanks to turnovers and 4th down stops by Wisconsin. The game never really felt in doubt even when it was 10-10 out of the half. The defense Ohio State has is one of the best in the country and they will sleepwalk through their next 3 games and be just fine. I would be shocked if they aren't 11-0 heading into Michigan week.
2 Michigan Wolverines (-) I could barely get through the game two weeks ago when I watched Michigan beat the brakes off the Gophers. Michigan has been able to bench their starters for every 4th quarter as they haven't had to bring it against anyone yet. One more snoozer with their big ten title rematch from last year before their season starts on November 11th in Happy Valley.
3 Georgia Bulldogs (-) Losing Bowers obviously hurts Georgia, but that didn't stop them from destroying Florida. The next few games will tell how good Georgia is with them hosting Missouri and Mississippi before traveling to Knoxville. Surprise alert - they're still really really good.
4 Florida State Seminoles (-) Their win against Clemson is aging like milk, but going into death valley 2 with Clemson full of hope is no easy task. Pair that with their week 1 win against the best 2 loss team in the country. Florida State has been very impressive and have 5 good wins on their schedule. Boston College looks to be solid and Virginia Tech has turned their season around. FSU has a great resume and could be argued to be #2 in my opinion. The reason I have them here is due to the dominant look of 2 and 3 even if they opponents have not been as tough.
5 Washington Huskies (-) Even though I have them ranked the lowest of the undefeated teams, Washington is not fake by any means. They have the best win in the country right now with Oregon, and have a top 2 offense in the country (LSU only argument). They have struggled the last 2 weeks and have three tough games coming up. I hope that Washington is able to figure out where their flaws have been and bring it so we can get the rematch of 5 vs 6 for a shot at the playoff.
6 Oregon Ducks (+2) Huge win. Oregon went into Utah and slapped them around for 60 minutes. It's a shame that Rising suffered that injury last year because three of the four units on the field yesterday were good with the exception being the Utah offense. Oregon has a legit defense and I think we are headed for a rematch of the game of the year so far in the Pac 12 championship.
7 Alabama Crimson Tide (+3) Another big win against BYE for the SEC West. Both teams get a rest before playing each other. Good news for Bama is that they get LSU at home this year. Bad news is LSU has an offense that can turn this game into a track meet which is not what Alabama wants.
8 Oklahoma Sooners (-2) I have been low on Oklahoma all year and have been waiting for them to drop a game. They have still impressed me and it looks like Venables has them going in the right direction heading into the SEC. This may have been a look ahead spot to the last ever* bedlam.
9 Texas Longhorns (-2) Dominated BYU, but the Oklahoma loss to Kansas in turn drops Texas this week. There is a drop off after Texas where I think the top 9 are the true CFP contenders this year.
10 Penn State Nittany Lions (-1) Woof. Luckily Penn State didn't drop this game or they would enter a complete freefall in the polls. The only reason I didn't drop them to 12 is because I think this game was an emotional letdown spot after building up their whole season just to lose to Ohio State last week. I've been a big believer in the Penn State team and will see if Aller can turn the ship around the next two weeks against #45 UMD and #2 Michigan.
11 Ole Miss Rebels (-) Jaxson Dart really took a step forward this year and has become a guy that can win games instead of just manage them. Mississippi will need Alabama to drop 2 of their last 4 in order to win the west, and more likely 3 out of 4 with Miss playing UGA in a couple weeks. Mississippi should be the biggest test for UGA this year.
12 Missouri Tigers (+2) Missouri has been a very good team this year. Their only loss is to LSU which was a closer game than the score indicates. Their wins over Kansas State, Memphis, and Kentucky are all good wins and they are the 2nd best team in the East. We'll see if that holds up these next two games against #3 UGA and #27 Tennessee.
13 Louisville Cardinals (+5) Shutouts are hard even if the opposing QB isn't healthy. Louisville should be up there with the undefeated teams but that Pitt loss holds them back for me and puts them at the bottom of my tier 2 teams.
14 Air Force Falcons (+2) Air Force is for real. This is the one undefeated G5 team that I truly believe deserves to be this high. JMU and Liberty are up here because it is hard to go undefeated. Air Force and Tulane are the top teams in the G5 and I think I like Air Force more still.
15 James Madison Dukes (+2) Old dominion was one of my upset picks this week. James Madison has looked great defensively this year but giving up 27 to ODU isn't the best look. I will admit this game wasn't one that made the TVs and I was doing box score watching. Very tough matchup next week against Georgia State.
16 Liberty Flames (+8) I thought Western Kentucky was going to be the team to knock off Liberty, now it looks like Liberty will have a great shot to go 12-0.
17 LSU Tigers (+3) Moving up three spots thanks to their win against BYE. This team is the opposite Notre Dame but I think the explosive offense would help propel them against ND.
18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (+1) I didn't watch any of ND this week, but if they can get their offense back on track they are a very scary team. The defense has been solid this year and will be able to keep them in games.
19 Tulane Green Wave (+2) I feel obligated to put the three undefeated G5 teams ahead of Tulane, but Tulane might be the best of the bunch. Only loss was to #11 Mississippi, but the game this week was a scare for them. They have a couple lighter games coming up that should get them to 9-1 before traveling to a tough Florida Atlantic team.
20 Oregon State Beavers (-8) Tough loss this week that wasn't at all surprising. Arizona is a very good team and up to #33 in my poll. Oregon State has some good wins but the Washington State loss isn't aging as well as previously thought after they dropped one to ASU this week.
21 Oklahoma State Cowboys (NEW) Oklahoma State has really turned it around after their early season woes. Losses to South Alabama and Iowa State make me want to take them out of the poll, but wins over #22 and #23 Kansas schools puts them just ahead of them at #21.
22 Kansas Jayhawks (NEW) Huge win this week to send Oklahoma out of the conference with a loss. They tried to throw it away a couple times but were able to hold on to knock off their biggest kryptonite.
23 Kansas State Wildcats (NEW) Back to back games of domination. It looks like Kansas State has found their footing after losing a pair of games to Oklahoma State and Missouri who are both good teams. Oklahoma State has jumped into my top 25 and Missouri is looking to be a very solid 1 loss team.
24 Fresno State Bulldogs (-2) Great win against UNLV. Dropping due to the three new teams ahead of them that I think are better than Fresno. Still a great season cooking out of the Mountain West contender.
25 UCLA Bruins (-2) I expected UCLA to be able to blow out Colorado. Their offense was struggling for a good part of the game, and with the Kansas schools looking good, I jumped them ahead of UCLA.

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