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nw____ Ballot for 2023 Week 12

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 12, 2023, 10:56 a.m.

Overall Rationale: I'd say my rankings are about 60% resume, 20% trajectory and how well they're playing, and 10% vibes. I usually try to rank teams based on what I think they deserve and let the rankings work themselves out over the weeks.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes If I were to rank teams based on who I thought was actually best, I'd go: *1a) Georgia *1b) Michigan (and it is *close* right now) -- big gap -- *2) Oregon *3) Alabama *4) Florida State -- small gap-- *5) Ohio State *6) Washington -- even smaller gap -- *7) Texas But I think it is important to consider what teams have done on the field--who they've played and especially who they've beaten. Imo, Ohio State has the best resume. I still don't particularly trust their offense and Honda McCord, but the results are the results and they've not lost a game. I often take the approach of letting the rankings work themselves out and that's what I'm going to do here: if tOSU isn't the best team in the country, I'll let them prove it in the loss column. For now, I think they deserve to be here.
2 Florida State Seminoles See above. I would've liked to see them beat Miami by a bit more, but it's not like Miami is a *bad* team. A win is a win.
3 Washington Huskies I think the defense deserves more credit for how it has played this year... or at least I did before the last three games (not that USC is a bad offense). I've got questions. Until they drop one somewhere, though, I think this is about where they deserve to be.
4 Georgia Bulldogs They're entering death star mode and the rest of us are screwed. The good news for people who are upset about the Michigan cheating thing is that UGA is evolving and at just the right time. I think they're playing like the best team in the country now. By the end of the season--after potential wins against Tennessee (who is, imo, overrated), Georgia Tech, and Alabama-- their resume will be good enough that they'll probably be locked in my top four. They cannot afford a loss, though.
5 Michigan Wolverines Thoroughly convincing win against Penn "Perennial Second Tier B1G Ten Turtle" State. Rumor has it that they just called another run and gained seven more yards. I think they're either the best or second best team in the country. If they win out, they'll move up accordingly--the resume just isn't strong enough yet.
6 Oregon Ducks I think they played very sloppily and still handled USC pretty comfortably (they didn't cover but I don't think the game was as close as the score suggested). It says something that they can make some mistakes and still basically cruise through a game against Caleb Williams. Imo, they're the 3rd best team right now, but I can't put them above Washington because of the H2H loss--and the rest of the resume is alright but nothing incredible as far as strength of schedule.
7 Texas Longhorns They aren't playing like a top-7 team at the moment. They barely escaped Purple Baylor, and Purple Baylor is probably pretty upset at the refs right now. But a win is a win and they have the H2H win against Bama. That's the only thing saving them this week, and it won't matter if they drop one in Ames next week.
8 Alabama Crimson Tide I said it last week. Mom, they're doing it again! And the rest of us are letting them. Watch out.
9 Missouri Tigers Still one of the biggest surprises of the season for me. Now idea how they were underdogs against Tennessee.
10 Oregon State Beavers Do I have to talk about the Stanford game?
11 Louisville Cardinals Keeping an eye on them with games against Kentucky and Miami coming up. They're vulnerable.
12 James Madison Dukes They keep rolling, but I won't pretend I watched them massacre UConn. Even I have some standards.
13 Penn State Nittany Lions Here they are again: thoroughly better than every team in the B1G* *Except for Michigan and Ohio State who they are thoroughly worse than.
14 Arizona Wildcats Kind of survived a scare against Colorado. I expected the defense to limit Colorado more than they did. This team is white hot, though. And how about Jonah Coleman yesterday??
15 Utah Utes I did not expect them to be able to score as much as they did against Washington. I also expected them to hold Washington under 30, which may have been over zealous on my part. They looked about as good on the road as they have all season... and they'd love it if the rest of CFB slept on them.
16 Oklahoma Sooners If the team that showed up yesterday shows up in the final two weeks, they could play for one last Big-12 Championship. I am not sure what to do with them, though. They looked like a top-4/5 team against Texas and at least a top-15 team against Iowa State, but against Kansas and Oklahoma State, they looked totally average--like no better than the 35th - 45th best team. If they can get it together and be consistent, they'll rise up the rankings. But if my grandma had wheels, she'd be a bike so
17 Ole Miss Rebels I am just not buying them. I'd move them lower if I felt I could, but their record is what it is. They'll probably win out but I am not sure this team is any better than about this: the 17th best in the country.
18 Kansas State Wildcats I am not sure what to do with this team either. When they're on, they look lethal. I wonder if they put the nail in the coffin of the Aranda Era yesterday.
19 LSU Tigers This team gives me flashbacks to the Lincoln Riley OU teams.
20 SMU Mustangs Sneakily looking better and better every week. And don't sleep on their defense: this is not just an offensive team by any means. Hoping to see them play Tulane in the American Championship.
21 Troy Trojans Troy is back. Defense good.
22 Iowa Hawkeyes The rest of CFB has forced me to rank the Iowa Hawkeyes. I'd like to say something bad about Brian Ferentz but after the offensive explosion against Rutgers, I can't. They basically looked like the Burrow-era LSU offense. Unstoppable.
23 UNLV Rebels Speaking of offense.
24 Toledo Rockets And speaking of offense.
25 Tulane Green Wave Liberty is the next team out for me and it is by a razor-thin margin (they're schedule is just SO weak that I have a hard time putting them over teams with better wins). Tulane really seems like they're trying to lose another game, but one could also say that they're gritty and keep finding ways to win. Other teams that were close to being ranked: Notre Dame, Oklahoma State (what was that against UCF, btw?!), Memphis, and North Carolina.

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