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big_thunder_man Ballot for 2024 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 10, 2024, 1:34 a.m.

Overall Rationale: OK, lots of movement. There will continue to be significant movement until week five or so when things stabilize. The priorities for rankings are looking at the cumulative win quality (P5? good P5? G5? FCS) of wins, along with margin (less so). None of the BS "this team looks good". We reward wins. Teams with terrible opponents and good margins are somewhat penalized (looking at you, Ohio State, Ole Miss), and teams with close wins over OOC P5 opponents, are somewhat rewarded (Nebraska, OSU). Next five out: LSU, Michigan, Illinois, Pitt, and Mich St.

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns Beat the national champions (Mich), and blew the doors off a probably decent G5 (Colorado State).
2 USC Trojans Snuck past a talented LSU team, beat up Utah State (as expected).
3 Miami Hurricanes Win over Florida was great, and looked just as good against Florida A&M.
4 Georgia Bulldogs The Clemson win was impressive, but being penalized for how lame Tennessee Tech is as an opponent. Not even a quality G5 like USC or ASU scheduled.
5 Arizona State Sun Devils Ok. I'll say it. A win over Wyoming (a good G5) and a demolition of Miss St. This is rewarding a win, folks.
6 Tennessee Volunteers Stomped Chattanooga (whatever), but the win over NCSt feels impressive.
7 Penn State Nittany Lions Bowling Green? WVU is easy but Bowling Green keeps it close? Penn State, always the regular season champion.
8 TCU Horned Frogs Stanford win could age well. Handled an FCS team.
9 Vanderbilt Commodores Tech win remains great, but Alcorn State is almost as bad as TCU playing Long Island.
10 Nebraska Cornhuskers UTEP win, and a Colorado win that wasn't as close as the final score indicated.
11 North Carolina Tar Heels Minnesota win was ugly, Charlotte win was easy. Overrated for getting a good OOC opponent.
12 Oregon Ducks Is it more likely that Idaho and Boise State are shockingly good, or that Oregon is overrated? Only reason they're ranked highly is I think Jeanty is a legit Heisman contender).
13 Alabama Crimson Tide They ain't played anyone paw (Western KY and USF)! Coasting on the Saban legacy,
14 Utah Utes I suspect that Baylor is much better defensively than expected, and this will be a win over a 7-8 OOC opponent at the end of the season.
15 South Carolina Gamecocks Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Ripped apart Kentucky. Holy crap. What happened? Is Beamer ball working?
16 Ole Miss Rebels Incredible margins of victory, but TERRIBLE competition (Furman, MTSU). Probably underrated.
17 Ohio State Buckeyes Ditto to Ole'Miss. Great margins of victory, but TERRIBLE competition (Akron, Western Michigan). Underrated.
18 California Golden Bears Great OOC win over Auburn, but odds are Auburn isn't great, and neither is Auburn.
19 Oklahoma State Cowboys Arkansas beat Arkansas, but OSU got the win.
20 Northern Illinois Huskies Notre Dame wasn't great -- but the Huskies got paid and won. Rest of their schedule is soft.
21 Boston College Eagles Should Boston College have fallen so far for taking a week off? Yes. Why? Because the Florida State win continues to look worse, and other teams that beat FSU are looking mediocre as well (Georgia Tech).
22 UNLV Rebels Looked better than Oklahoma against Houston. Hilarious.
23 Iowa State Cyclones North Dakota, meh, Iowa, less meh but partially meh. Tough to tell.
24 Oklahoma Sooners Yikes. But I guess Houston is a P5 win? Right?
25 Washington State Cougars Wild shootouts, and a win over a P5 OOC. Maybe not long for the rankings, but W's deserve to be respected.

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