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hurricaneatx Ballot for 2023 Final

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Jan. 8, 2024, 10:34 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Blend of power/resume-thinking. I don't really care if a team moves drastically week-to-week. I am a fan of the Texas Longhorns.

Rank Team Reason
1 Michigan Wolverines (15-0)
2 Washington Huskies (14-1)
3 Alabama Crimson Tide (12-2) - I think Alabama's performances against exceptionally strong Georgia and Michigan squads to close out the season pushes them ahead of Texas, with the week 2 loss being far enough back to give Alabama the nod at #3.
4 Texas Longhorns (12-2) - The Sugar Bowl was a bit odd in that Texas looked distinctly outmatched but managed to keep it close where it counted, nearly sneaking away with a win against the FBS runner-ups at the last second.
5 Georgia Bulldogs (13-1) - I thought about placing Georgia higher, but it's hard to read a whole lot into that deflating Orange Bowl blowout. By power rating alone, Georgia is probably one of the top 3 teams in the country.
6 Florida State Seminoles (13-1) - The Seminoles had one of the saddest endings to the football season of any team in the country. With so many players opting out, the remaining team was eviscerated by a much better-stocked Georgia. Still, Florida State's undefeated regular season and conference championship places them squarely among the top teams in the country in my rankings of the year's best teams.
7 Missouri Tigers (11-2)
8 Oregon Ducks (12-2)
9 Ole Miss Rebels (11-2)
10 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-2)
11 LSU Tigers (11-2)
12 Penn State Nittany Lions (10-3) - Penn State continues to fall in that region of clearly losing to good/great competition and clearly beating bad/okay competition.
13 Arizona Wildcats (10-3) - I kind of like Fifita for the Heisman next year.
14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
15 Oklahoma Sooners (10-3)
16 Oklahoma State Cowboys (10-4)
17 Kansas State Wildcats (9-4)
18 Tennessee Volunteers (10-4)
19 Louisville Cardinals (10-4)
20 Clemson Tigers (9-4)
21 NC State Wolfpack (9-4)
22 Liberty Flames (13-1) - Liberty got trucked by Oregon in a 6-45 loss which largely validated suspicions untested by Liberty's weak regular season schedule. Still, winning 13 games against an FBS slate is still pretty tricky, and that includes two outings against a respectable NMSU.
23 Iowa Hawkeyes (10-4) - Iowa is a... team of some sort. They might have the best defense in the country paired with the worst offense.
24 Kansas Jayhawks (9-4) -
25 SMU Mustangs (11-3) - I was expecting more from SMU to end the year; a 14-23 loss to Boston College was definitely pretty disappointing. With decent wins against Memphis and Tulane, I have SMU narrowly leading a pack of 11-win G5 teams that lost their bowl games (JMU, Tulane, Miami OH, Toledo) to round out the top 25.

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