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throwaway_6786 Ballot for 2024 Week 6

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 1, 2024, 9:34 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Four games have been played by all teams, so all influence from previous years is gone. It's all about the games on the field from now through the rest of the season.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide After defeating the Bulldogs in an instant classic, I don't think there could be another choice for #1 (even though they let it get far too close for comfort at the end there).
2 Texas Longhorns A rather unassuming win over MSST was fine, but Alabama scored a much better win to leapfrog the Longhorns. Texas still looks like a dynamo that will challenge all comers, but I think they would like it better if Quinn Ewers gets back in the saddle sooner rather than later.
3 Tennessee Volunteers Bye week, and no serious movement for Tennessee. Had OU lost, they probably would've dropped 1-2 spots. Instead, the Volunteers stand pat with the Alabama game looming just a few weeks away.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes The Buckeyes had no problem taking care of Michigan State in a 38-7 thrashing. Now, a matchup with Iowa followed by that trip to Autzen to face the Ducks. And speaking of ducks...
5 Oregon Ducks Oregon continues to find their rhythm by smashing an overmatched UCLA. Their struggles early on this year are preventing them from rising any higher (for now), but as long as they keep winning, they'll find their way up.
6 Georgia Bulldogs Tough way to lose, but falling behind 28-0 really does limit what you can do when you face a team as talented as the Tide. Still, Clemson appears to be a solid win, the Kentucky win looks a lot better after the Wildcats upset Ole Miss, and Georgia made it really close at the end, so they only drop a few spots.
7 Penn State Nittany Lions Hard to complain too much about a 14-point win over a top-20 opponent, although the Lions really need to find a better kicker and fast, because that will hurt them moving forward against better competition. I thought the defense would've taken a step back without Manny Diaz, but Tom Allen has that unit flying all over the field.
8 BYU Cougars They're undefeated and they have two very nice wins over K-State and SMU. I know that nobody expected them to be this high, but we've seen teams come out of nowhere to challenge the big dogs. Honestly, I might've even put BYU above Penn State had it not been for Baylor making that game so close at the end.
9 Missouri Tigers A bye week for the Tigers. The BC win looks a little sketchy, but they didn't have Castellanos, so I'm not sure how to look at that game now. Mizzou is standing on shaky ground, especially after the Vanderbilt escape, but for now, they rise to #9 due to chaos around them.
10 Iowa State Cyclones Another undefeated team on shaky ground, but they looked alright (just alright) against Houston and the Hawkeyes continue to look solid. They'll have to win handily over the next few weeks because their schedule is a little light.
11 Miami Hurricanes That wasn't good. I'm sure they're glad that they won, but Miami definitely deserves to drop for that. Miami is still on some shaky ground without any marquee wins, but they have an opportunity coming up soon to make a statement against Louisville.
12 Michigan Wolverines I guess at this point they're #12, although it feels a little icky to have a team that lost by three possessions this high this early in the season. That USC win is pulling serious weight for these Wolverines because they've struggled a lot against everyone they've played. Their showdown with Oregon looms on the horizon.
13 USC Trojans USC is the beneficiary of some chaos in front of them. A terrible first half was followed by a dominant second half, so I can't fault them too bad for their struggles. They'll need to put together a solid 60-minute effort more often though, because tougher competition is coming soon.
14 Ole Miss Rebels It's a serious drop for Ole Miss because they lost without having any good wins to fall back on. The only thing that keeps them from falling further is that Kentucky gave Georgia everything they could handle.
15 Kansas State Wildcats K-State might be the single-toughest team to rank so far. Three nice wins over Tulane, Arizona, and Oklahoma State combined with a horrific 29-point loss to BYU makes gauging this team a serious challenge. One thing that really worked in their favor this week was Arizona's win over Utah, which makes K-State's win over Arizona look a ton better. The run game appears to be one of the best in the country, but after their bye, they'll have to go up against one of the best passing offenses in the country in the Colorado Buffaloes.
16 Boise State Broncos If you're not watching Ashton Jeanty run the ball (and his O-line blocking well for him), you're missing out on greatness. They just took on an undefeated Wazzu team and wore them down all game long. They were fringe top 25 before this week, but that win has convinced me that they deserve to be in the rankings. It also helps that Oregon has looked better and better with each passing week.
17 Indiana Hoosiers Their competition hasn't been great so far, but they're 5-0 and they've looked good doing it. At this point in the season, it's worth a top 25 spot, precarious as it may be. The march to #9Windiana continues.
18 Utah Utes Yikes. Not a good loss for Utah as a lot of the issues that the Utes have dealt with over the past few weeks combined to take them down. Arizona came up with timely passes when they needed to and the Utah offense without Cam Rising struggled badly to do much of anything.
19 LSU Tigers The loss to USC limits their upward motion for now, but they looked much better this week against an average G5 in South Alabama. They've got two weeks to prepare for what should be a high-flying battle against Ole Miss (that game will be telling for both teams).
20 Illinois Fighting Illini They've still got the road win over Nebraska helping them out (which is good for them because that Kansas win isn't pulling any weight anymore), but that wasn't a great performance (particularly on offense) from the Illini. Playing in a whiteout (or quasi-whiteout, or whatever "whiteout energy" is) is never easy, but having less than 50 yards of offense in the entire second half is concerning. A well-timed bye week is followed by a gimme against Purdue and then back-to-back games against the Wolverines and Ducks.
21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish A nice win over Louisville, but the Irish don't get as much of a benefit from it because of NIU losing again. If the Huskies continue to lose, that stain on their resume will only hurt ND that much more. At least Texas A&M is playing better than usual. The ND-Navy game might just be a ranked vs. ranked matchup, which should help the Irish (if they win, of course).
22 Oklahoma Sooners I'll give the Sooners a small reprieve as they were playing a new starting QB (and also, the Tulane win looks better), but that was really sketchy against a mediocre Auburn team. They've got a lot to figure out on this bye week, because a mean-looking Texas team is waiting for them in the RRS.
23 Clemson Tigers The offense has been rolling ever since that 3-point clunker against Georgia, but I'm still waiting to see what Clemson will do against a team that's better than NC State. Still, it's a marked improvement for the Tigers (and how about Phil Mafah? He's like an 18-wheeler when he gets downhill).
24 Louisville Cardinals The only reason why they didn't drop out of the top 25 entirely is because they kept it pretty darn close on the road against ND. Brohm and the coaching staff have to be kicking themselves over that delay of game penalty at about the worst possible time. Now comes an interesting challenge when the Cardinals host an SMU team high off of crushing their rival TCU in the Iron Skillet.
25 Navy Midshipmen Who would've thought the Midshipmen would find it on this ballot at the beginning of the year? Being undefeated and having the win over a solid Memphis team gives Navy a resume that's just good enough to be in the top 25. They've got an air vs. sea battle against Air Force coming up, but the trip to South Bend looms at the end of October. I considered UNLV, Pitt, Arizona, South Carolina, Nebraska, SMU, Iowa, Rutgers, Boston College, Texas A&M, and a few others, but none of them were quite good enough.

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