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nw____ Ballot for 2023 Week 15 & Bowls

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Dec. 3, 2023, 10:37 a.m.

Overall Rationale: This week, it is all about deservingness.

Rank Team Reason
1 Washington Huskies Undefeated. Two great wins over Oregon, road wins over Arizona, Oregon State, and USC, and home wins over Wazzu and Boise State. In my mind, that's the best resume.
2 Michigan Wolverines Undefeated. Two great wins over Ohio State and Penn State. A good win over Iowa. Outside of that, though, the resume is pretty light. That said, they would be my pick to win it all if my top four teams make the playoff.
3 Texas Longhorns Not undefeated. They do have one of the best wins of the season over Bama, though. I put them at #3 because I think the win over Bama is > than FSU's win over LSU. Both teams have pretty light resumes after that--not many massive wins like the first two teams. They are the perfect example of why teams should schedule big OOC games rather than cupcakes because I don't think they'd be in without the win over Bama.
4 Florida State Seminoles People are upset about Bama and Georgia's strength of schedule. How could they get left out in favor of Florida State? Well, this is me knocking FSU for their schedule (which isn't as atrocious as people make it out to be). They deserve to be in, though. While they don't have a ton of tier 1 wins (what, maybe LSU?), they--and this is important--have **no** losses. That has to matter, imo.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide Saban is right: this team has gotten better as the season has gone on. That doesn't make up for the H2H loss against Texas, though. If they'd beaten Texas, they'd be in. Unfortunately, if they'd played The Citadel that week instead of Texas, I think they'd also be in, so they're kind of the anti-Texas: a perfect case of why teams should *not* schedule tough OOC games. I hope teams continue to do so, though.
6 Georgia Bulldogs They may still be the best team in the country but they're not one of the five most deserving. There's honestly some argument that they're not even the 6th most deserving, but I couldn't quite rank a team quarterbacked by Honda McCord over UGA.
7 Ohio State Buckeyes Not much to say about them--they're an 11-1 B1G team.
8 Oregon Ducks Ouch. Is their best win a road victory over a beaten up Utah team? Either that or a home win over Oregon State, I'd think. Neither are *amazing* wins but I think Oregon's resume is still better than other two-loss teams b/c of the extra win... though, on paper, it's closer than some Ducks fans would likely care to acknowledge (I'd definitely give the "eye-test" to Oregon, though).
9 Missouri Tigers What is their best win? Kansas State? Tennessee? ... Memphis? Losses to Georgia and LSU are, I suppose, quality ones. But the wins matter and I don't quite see them here, though I think they have the best mix overall of quality wins + quality losses.
10 Oklahoma Sooners I think the #8-12 section is tougher to rank than the top 6. OU has one of, if not *the* best win of the season over Texas. Outside of that, there aren't many to write home about. SMU? ... Iowa State? OU is above Penn State because I'd say OU's home win over WVU (59-20) is more impressive than Penn State's home win over WVU (38-15).
11 Penn State Nittany Lions Again, where are the quality *wins*? You can have Iowa as a nice tier-2 win. What else?
12 Ole Miss Rebels I have thought all season that this team is not great. The fact is, though, that they're 10-2. And the win over LSU is at least a good one.
13 Arizona Wildcats I wanted to put Arizona in front of Ole Miss but I just couldn't quite pull the trigger. I think they're the better team but that early season loss to Mississippi State really sinks them. They should've won if they wanted to be ranked higher.
14 LSU Tigers
15 SMU Mustangs
16 Liberty Flames
17 Troy Trojans
18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
19 James Madison Dukes
20 NC State Wolfpack
21 Miami (OH) RedHawks
22 Louisville Cardinals
23 Iowa Hawkeyes
24 Boise State Broncos
25 Clemson Tigers

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