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jthomas694 Ballot for 2023 Week 12

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 12, 2023, 7:04 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Rankings should primarily be reflective of resume, what the team has accomplished on the field, and secondarily be a power ranking of what to expect from the future.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia spent the last two weeks beating top 15 teams, and with Brock Bowers back look once again like the top team in the country
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State continues to have the best strength of record in the country and an elite defense. There are elite playmakers on offense and McCord is a very good, but not great QB. Is the OL good enough to beat Michigan on the road? That remains to be seen
3 Michigan Wolverines Michigan is the most dominant team in the country. The SOS is still light, but to go on the road and beat Penn State like that showed how elite they are.
4 Florida State Seminoles Florida State dominated everyone between Clemson and Miami. Tough win on the road this week, but Michigan and Georgia jump them by what they have done recently
5 Washington Huskies Washington has been an elite offense with a strong strength of schedule. That said over the last 6 games their largest margin of victory is 10 and on average they're winning by 7.3 points per game. The defense is far from elite and at this point I believe they are the weakest of the undefeated teams
6 Texas Longhorns Texas is strong on both sides of the ball and beat Alabama solidly early in the year. Very close loss to Oklahoma.
7 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama has recently played themselves to be higher than Oregon. They have played a tougher schedule than Oregon and are starting to play really well offensively. They are much better than they were in September
8 Oregon Ducks Oregon has been one of the most dominant teams in the country, but they haven't played a tough schedule
9 Louisville Cardinals Louisville is still somehow a one loss team. SP+ and FPI have their efficiencies closer to 20th and they have played the 84th ranked SOS. If all of their one score games flipped results, they'd be 5-5. They deserve this spot, as they did win those games, but they are the weakest one loss team and they are probably a two or three loss team with a tougher schedule
10 Missouri Tigers The efficiencies see Mizzou similarly to Louisville. Right around 20th. They've played a much tougher schedule and done very well in it and they've gotten better as the season goes on. Can they stay locked in against UF and Arkansas? They deserve a top ten spot
11 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State is a better version of Iowa, they are an elite defense with a lackluster offense. Franklin has to get his OC hire right, because the talent is there to be much better offensively
12 Oregon State Beavers Oregon State is very good on both sides of the ball. There's nothing really pushing them to an elite status, but they are very good
13 Ole Miss Rebels For a brief minute it looked like Ole Miss was going to get into a shootout with UGA. Ole Miss has played some close games with teams they're better than and in my opinion, would have lost to Tulane had Pratt been healthy, but at the end of the day, they're an 8-2 team with a great offense and wins over Tulane and LSU
14 Oklahoma Sooners Is Oklahoma the team that was highly thought of by computers and who beat Texas or the team that got beat in consecutive weeks by Kansas and Oklahoma State?
15 James Madison Dukes James Madison is a top 30 team by both FPI and SP+. They are 11th in Strength of Record. They are a very very good team and it's insane that they aren't eligible for the postseason
16 Tulane Green Wave Tulane is probably the best eligible G5 team for the NY6 and if Pratt had been healthy they might be an undefeated team right now
17 LSU Tigers Jayden Daniels probably deserves the Heisman and he's been teh best player in the country. LSU is nowhere near where they are without him
18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame needs to do a better job showing up week to week. They are a good team that should be in the CFP conversation, but is 7-3 because they don't show up week to week
19 North Carolina Tar Heels UNC has two really bad losses, but overall is a very strong team.
20 Utah Utes Utah has managed to be a very strong team despite not having Rising all year long. Elite defensively and they play every week. Hard to not appreciate a team like this who always seems to outperform talent level
21 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee is interesting. On one hand they have a good run game and elite pass rush. On the other hand they've been dominated up front in three games this year and Milton is good, but not good enough to elevate this team. How do they look against UGA a week removed from getting dominated by Mizzou? I don't think it's going to be good, but I imagine they'll be the best four loss team in the country this time next week
22 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa has an elite defense and a strong strength of record. Offensively terrible, but they are 8-2 and a win away from clinching the B1G West
23 Kansas State Wildcats Teams considered for this spot: Kansas State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, NC State and Arizona. Kansas State ultimately was first in Game Control, FPI Efficiency and SP+ of the five teams and second in Strength of Record.
24 Liberty Flames Undefeated CUSA team. Did not play and will not play any P5 teams
25 Toledo Rockets MAC team who's only loss is a P5 team. Has dominated their conference

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