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AllHawkeyesGoToHell Ballot for 2023 Week 11

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 5, 2023, 12:39 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Take the teams with the 25 best records, then holistically consider their resumes on a variety of factors, primarily on quality of wins, conference strength, severity of losses (if applicable), among others. Note: The Missouri Valley and Big Sky are harder conferences than the C-USA, so for all intents and purposes I am not considering anything from that FCS Conference of Theseus.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Undefeated back-to-back national champions. I've had them at No. 1 all year, and now with a legitimate win I feel even more comfortable keeping Uga in his lofty dawghouse
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Best overall resume of an undefeated team with wins over Penn State and (a rapidly declining) Notre Dame, but still relatively unproven compared to top competition. Played a lot of bowl eligible teams, and at week 11, that is a major bolster to a resume.
3 Washington Huskies Arguably has the best win of any undefeated team, and getting the win over USC on the road is enough to entrench them in the top 4. Their defense looks much more suspect than either Ohio State's or Georgia's, alongside their near misses against Arizona State and Stanford, so ultimately they fail the eye test in that regard compared to the two ahead of them.
4 Florida State Seminoles A very complete team, but frankly the ACC is far and away the weakest power conference this year. Florida State's signature win over LSU has lost a lot of shine, leaving Clemson and Duke as the major tentpoles for this resume. Overall, the Noles look complete though, and are deserving of this top spot.
5 Texas Longhorns Simply put, they have the best win in the country, and despite a hiccup in at the State Fair that has looked worse ever since, they continue to get it done in a very tough and physical Big XII.
6 Alabama Crimson Tide Honestly, I had a hard time with the Tide because objectively they look like the best one-loss team in the country, but I have to respect the head-to-head when it's this close. Though the SEC is comparably weaker and LSU isn't quite the signature win that it was in years past, but all in all the Tide have a respectable resume.
7 Michigan Wolverines For most of the season, I have had Michigan at No. 2 or No. 3, but as the season wears on and we have a more complete resume, when we toss out pedigree, Michigan has not played anyone of any significant note this year. They have feasted on a weak schedule, and to me that looks Top 10 good, but not Top 4 good. Very excited to see how things match up against Penn State and if the same pace can be kept up for the Wolverines.
8 Oregon Ducks Probably the team with the least severe loss, and has played a relatively tough schedule, the Ducks are nuts. The resume lacks a true signature win, but we should get something like that next week when USC comes to town, even as the Trojans defenses continue to fail.
9 Ole Miss Rebels Kind of a shocker to me, but seeing as their only loss is to Alabama, that is damn near an undefeated season to me.
10 James Madison Dukes Undefeated in the Sun Belt is not a joke.
11 Penn State Nittany Lions Similar situation as Oregon in regards to resume, but they just fail the test when it comes to offense. This team *looks* terrible, but I cannot deny them their due when they continue to win against everyone but the teams they want to beat the most.
12 Louisville Cardinals Solid team, only one loss, albeit quite a baffling one. Weak ACC keeps them at the bottom of the one loss teams, but #12 is still something to be proud of.
13 Tulane Green Wave A G5 team, coming off of a Cotton Bowl win, whose only loss is to a Top 10 SEC team? Solid resume. The American is considerably weaker than any P5 conference, but the results are inarguable for the Green Wave
14 Oklahoma State Cowboys Major win for the Pokes. Only thing truly holding them back here are the severity of the losses and the fact that there are two of them, one of which is to South Alabama, who is not a bad team but Tulane beat them. They do have a significant head to head over Kansas, the other tentpole for this decent resume. Transitive property doesn't mean anything, but it is the cherry on top for why Oklahoma State is 14th.
15 Missouri Tigers Missouri put up a hell of a fight, but the LSU loss and the way they lost that game really bogs this team down. The Kansas State win doesn't look that impressive, but it's enough to bolster this resume into #15 place
16 Kansas Jayhawks A solid resume filled with wins of a fairly decent caliber. However, the head to head loss to Oklahoma State brings them down a notch, but really only a notch. The Oklahoma win lost some of its shine compared to a week ago as well.
17 Tennessee Volunteers This feels like a very forgettable Tennessee team. Falling short against Alabama, and that Florida loss looks worse and worse with every passing week. I respect the SEC grind, but in general Tennessee needs a statement for what could be one of the most forgettable 10-2 seasons in the SEC in recent memory.
18 Fresno State Bulldogs 8-1 in what has been a much tougher MWC deserves some respect. The Wyoming loss is not amazing, but that's probably as good of a loss as you're going to get in the G5 considering the game was in Laramie.
19 Toledo Rockets Gotta show some love to the MAC here. 8-1 in any conference is solid. Illinois is not a good loss at all, but ultimately they are undefeated against G5 teams. The record is doing some heavy lifting here. A win over two-loss Miami of Ohio also helps.
20 Air Force Falcons AIR FORCE!! WHAT HAPPENED-UH?!?! Army might have been the worst possible loss for Air Force. Worst of the one-loss teams by far here.
21 Oregon State Beavers Solid resume, only two losses in the Pac-12 is impressive, win over Utah helps a lot here. Arizona is a weird loss, but Arizona is not the joke they were previously.
22 Utah Utes Very good wins, and the Utes looked phenomenal against the Sun Devils
23 Oklahoma Sooners What is you doin, Sooners? The win over Texas is pretty much the only thing keeping them in the poll here.
24 North Carolina Tar Heels Those losses to Virginia and Georgia Tech are stanky. Still, two loss team and they've looked good in most of their other games, so I'm keeping them here.
25 Iowa Hawkeyes Two losses brings them into the poll, playing in the Big Ten West makes their schedule even worse than an ACC schedule. Still, I have to be objective and keep them in here. Having Floyd makes this sting a bit less though.

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