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throwaway_6786 Ballot for 2024 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 8, 2024, 12:34 p.m.

Overall Rationale: It's all about the two/three games that the teams have played plus their performance from last year only.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Haven't shown any flaws and they're still getting a boost from their 13-1 2023 season. Texas closed a decent portion of the gap between them, but it's still Georgia on top for now.
2 Texas Longhorns That's the best win of the year so far. Texas dominated in the Big House from start to finish and could've made it worse had they not gotten conservative in the 4th. It's enough to jump the Buckeyes, but considering how much Michigan struggled against Fresno State last week, it's not quite enough to vault over the Bulldogs.
3 Ohio State Buckeyes OSU had no problem taking care of WMU. It won't move the needle too much for them, but it's still better than the performances that a lot of other teams put on this week.
4 Ole Miss Rebels It's a little tenuous for Ole Miss here because they've beaten up on two bad teams, but they've still looked mighty impressive so far. Problem is that the Rebels don't face any serious challengers until October, so they're really just trying to tune everything up this month and avoid any trap games before LSU, Oklahoma, and Georgia come along down the line.
5 Oregon Ducks I didn't like how Oregon looked last week, but they just went up against a tough Boise State team and won (it wasn't pretty, but it's a win). There's still a lot for Oregon to work on, but considering how Alabama looked (and considering that their 2023 seasons were very comparable), it's just enough for me to put the Ducks ahead of the Tide this week.
6 Alabama Crimson Tide They finally turned it on in the 4th, but it's a little worrying to watch Bama struggle against USF at home for as long as they did. They still had a great season last year, so they only fall one spot, but the Tide have to figure things out soon, because that titanic Georgia game is fast approaching.
7 Utah Utes Obviously, the focus for the Utes is on Cam Rising and his health moving forward, but they still looked solid while he was in the game. With Bryson Barnes now gone, it'll be interesting to see what Utah does if Rising doesn't come back right away. Utah moves up to #7, but they'll need to shape up and start playing more effectively to stay there. They have an interesting game in front of them: @Utah State, with their new starting QB Bryson Barnes. Ain't life funny like that?
8 Penn State Nittany Lions First half was a defensive disaster for PSU, though their offense looked great. Second half was much, much better on defense, and the offense continued to look great whenever they weren't shooting themselves in the foot with unforced errors. Overall, a mediocre performance that costs them one spot, though it could've been worse if ND, Michigan, Arizona, and others hadn't looked so bad themselves. The Lions also still have the WVU win and a solid 2023 campaign that's cushioning them slightly, but another performance like that will drop them much further.
9 Kansas State Wildcats A nice win for K-State on the road against a solid Tulane team, though it did come down to the wire. Lots of things to clean up for the Wildcats, but they're still rife with playmakers and steady coaching (plus a pretty good 2023 season to boost them for this week). Still, I want to see more from their defense, and they have a chance to do so next week with Arizona coming to town.
10 Tennessee Volunteers Fantastic showing by the Volunteers. Heupel has this offense firing on all cylinders and the defense appears to have improved dramatically from last year. It felt like NC State was sticking with Tennessee until that pick-6, and Tennessee ran away with the game from that point on. Well done to seize the opportunity to not let your opponent up when you've got them down. Look out above, the Vols are rising quickly.
11 Missouri Tigers Two games against easier competition, so this is a bit of a tenuous ranking, but the Tigers have been crushing it so far. An interesting challenge awaits them this week: A relative unknown in Boston College. I'm curious to see how the running games of these two teams will fare against each other.
12 Arizona Wildcats Not the best look to trail against an FCS team at home in the 2nd half. They did manage to turn it around, but I'm sure at least a few Wildcat fans were having flashbacks to their 2021 loss to NAU. The good news is that Arizona has a chance to redeem themselves this week against K-State, where a win would surely put most (not all) of the concerns from this game in the rearview mirror.
13 USC Trojans They're still getting held down a bit by their 2023 campaign (that'll go away after next week), but they've got a nice win over LSU and looked rock solid against USU last night. Lots of reason for optimism as they head into an early bye week, but Michigan will want to get the stench of that Texas loss off of them by taking down the Trojans, so USC must be ready for a battle.
14 Miami Hurricanes A win over FAMU won't do much for the Hurricanes on its own, but Miami, like many teams around this area, is the beneficiary of losses and poor performances from teams that were ahead of them last week. The schedule is fairly light for Cristobal and crew, so they'll have to continue to dominate in order to move up the rankings.
15 Oklahoma State Cowboys How can a team be so good and so bad at the same time? I'm not entirely sure how to rank Oklahoma State after that 2OT win, but it's still a win against a half-decent SEC team, so it does merit a little praise. That being said, maybe run Ollie Gordon to the outside next time, yeah? The Pokes have one more tune-up game against Tulsa before facing Utah and K-State back-to-back.
16 Louisville Cardinals It's a little tenuous for Louisville with two wins over cupcakes, but they've looked the part so far and have a solid 2023 season to boot. A bye week for now, but Georgia Tech and Notre Dame back-to-back is a short yet fairly daunting gauntlet, with Miami waiting not far beyond that. Louisville has to clean up a few things on defense, but they've got a young 3-headed monster at RB that should scare most teams in their way.
17 Oklahoma Sooners Rough performance from the Sooners, who needed a safety, an onsides punt recovery, and a late stop with less than two minutes left in the game to finally put this game away. The defense continues to be a force, but the offense will have to clean up the mistakes if they're going to put up serious points. There's no respite either as Tulane and Tennessee are next up, so Venables and Co. better get on their horse and fast or else they're in big trouble.
18 Northern Illinois Huskies How could you not be romantic about college football? NIU, a fairly small G5 program with a coach that went to said school faces a top-10 team that's also one of the most recognizable programs in all of sports, in their house, as a near 30-point underdog, and wins. Make no mistake though, this wasn't just a magical moment for the Huskies; they looked really solid and took advantage of ND weaknesses to make plays and put up points. As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best wins for any team so far this season, so NIU has earned the #18 rank for now. Of course, if ND struggles from here, NIU will have to find other ways to stay in the rankings (namely, winning games).
19 Oregon State Beavers They were in a rockfight with SDSU for a long time there and they don't have their 2022 season to boost them anymore, so they slip a couple spots. Their offense has been the main concern, but there's still a lot of talent on this team, and I still think they're solid and being overlooked by a lot of people. They've got a chance to prove themselves this week against an Oregon team that doesn't look like they've hit their full potential yet.
20 Washington Huskies They still have their 2023 season to prop them up, but when that goes away next week, they'll need to really dominate the teams on their schedule to continue moving up the rankings. An early Apple Cup matchup comes to Seattle, but the schedule is light for the Huskies until they host Michigan next month.
21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish They've still got a decent win over Texas A&M to fall back on, but a lot of the offensive issues that showed up last week were magnified against NIU. The Irish still lost at the very end, but if NIU struggles, ND will go down with them to some degree. I wonder if ND has enough to make it back into the CFP conversation, but I suppose we'll have to wait and see on that front.
22 Michigan Wolverines The Longhorns just embarrassed Michigan in their own house, and the only reason they don't fall further is because they still have 2023 boosting them this week and Texas looks to be a serious national championship contender. They've got to get their offense going soon, because the losses of McCarthy, Corum, and a decent portion of their offensive line are deeply felt right now, and the schedule won't get too much easier for UM.
23 Iowa State Cyclones So maybe Iowa hasn't figured out their offense after all. Then again, maybe Iowa State was just that good on defense (and how about that kicker? That last kick would've been good from 60). I suppose there's no way to know for sure yet, so we'll wait and see what the Cyclones do against a fairly weak schedule moving forward. Some reason for optimism to win a rivalry game like this on the road.
24 Boise State Broncos I know they lost, but I was left so impressed by what Boise State could do against a team as tough as Oregon in their house that I decided they deserved a spot in the rankings for it. It's hard to justify how Oregon could be #5 and the team that just gave them all they could handle shouldn't be ranked at all.
25 LSU Tigers LSU looked good, not great against FCS Nicholls. Considering that USC also looked great, I'm willing to hold LSU at #25, right where they were last week. The Tigers have three games to improve before they host a dangerous-looking Ole Miss. I considered Boston College, Clemson, Memphis, Nebraska, Arkansas, Tulane, Syracuse, North Carolina, South Carolina, and a few others, but none of them were quite good enough.

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