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Muffinnnnnnn Ballot for 2023 Week 14

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 27, 2023, 11:17 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Wins and losses matter most, as always! If you beat a team and have the same or better record, you have to be ahead of that team. Transitive property doesn't apply in college football as people say, but I tend to break ties between otherwise even teams with it, if applicable. This is the first week I've mentioned this, but it's something that's always sorta been there. Now that teams have all played at least 12 games, it tends to come up more. Anyway, another week, another lack of a massive upset of a top team. I moved Michigan to #1 to due their win over Ohio State, but it's neck-and-neck between them and Washington. Washington definitely has the better overall résumé, but that win for Michigan is hard to ignore. Most of the jostling at the top will be resolved after the conference championship games, though, so in practice it won't end up mattering a huge amount. Ohio State only drops to #5 for me due to a close loss to my #1 team being their first loss, but don't misunderstand; Oregon, Texas, and Alabama can absolutely still pass them with a good showing in their conference championship games, while Ohio State stays at home. Liberty has slid themselves up the rankings the entire year. Are they perhaps overrated compared to how they would fair on the field vs the teams around them? Very possibly. However, I reward teams for not losing, and until they lose, there's no way to know for sure that they couldn't compete with the top. Louisville takes a big tumble after their home loss to Kentucky, and part of how far down I moved them revolved around how other teams near them faired vs Kentucky, hence my transitive property comment at the beginning. That wasn't the only factor of course, but I spent a lot of time unsure of how much to punish them. Oregon State also fell a fairly large amount, larger than most teams would by losing to a top 6 team. However, when comparing résumés, with their fourth loss, including one to Wazzu, it became hard to justify them staying ahead of some teams. Kansas State was the only team to fall out of my rankings this week after their loss to Iowa State. Kansas State had a decent résumé by avoiding the bad loss, but being taken down by Iowa State messed up that statline, and they fell all the way out. I don't even think Iowa State is some awful team, but once you're talking about 4 losses for K-State, you need a great win to balance out the Iowa State loss, and they just don't have it, other than their win over Troy. Still not quite enough for me. Replacing them is Notre Dame, who has been bouncing in and out of my rankings all year. Still, they definitely aren't awful, and that win over NC State looks better now than it did before. NC State would be the first team out behind Notre Dame after their blowout of UNC. Not much movement is gonna be needed next week, as only 13 of these 25 teams will be in action. I can't wait! As always, feel free to yell at me and tell me these are the worst rankings you've ever seen <3

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