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throwaway_6786 Ballot for 2024 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 6, 2024, 4:48 p.m.

Overall Rationale: It's all about the games on the field.

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns It's a close call between these guys and OSU, but I gave it to Texas because they beat up on Michigan and there's no opponent that OSU has played so far that is as good as the Wolverines. A wild game in the RRS awaits, and you know Oklahoma wants nothing more than to take the Longhorns down just like last year.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Another solid win for the Bucks as they cruised past Iowa in the 2nd half. They've looked dominant all year, but now they face an Oregon team in Autzen that will easily be their biggest challenge of the year so far. Win this one, and Ohio State is almost certain to be #1 next week (and same goes for Oregon if they win).
3 Oregon Ducks No problem shutting down the Spartans from start to finish. Now comes the Ohio State showdown; we're going to learn a lot about the Ducks against a team that has talent all over the field.
4 Penn State Nittany Lions A nondescript win over UCLA that looks a touch closer than it was thanks to a TD in the final 20 seconds from UCLA. Most people expected PSU to get to 5-0, but now comes the hard part of the schedule as they go to California to face USC (they've never beaten USC in California before). Win this one, however, and Penn State has a bye and an interesting matchup against Wisconsin before they host Ohio State.
5 BYU Cougars On bye this week, but with all the chaos in front of them, the Cougars jump all the way to #5. Two ranked wins and a perfect record is more than a lot of teams can say. Let's see if the Cougars can keep it up against Arizona and Oklahoma State, two teams who have been rather Jekyll-and-Hyde this season.
6 Alabama Crimson Tide Who had that result on their bingo card? The Tide fall to Vandy in what has to be the most shocking loss they've suffered probably since ULM in 2007. Bama still has the Georgia win (and a less impressive Wisconsin win) to cushion their fall, but what really saved them from falling further was the other chaos that occurred below them.
7 Miami Hurricanes This makes two straight weeks of Miami needing a huge 4th quarter comeback and some fairly ridiculous refball to just barely escape with victory over an inferior team. Without any marquee wins to fall back on, the only thing that saved them from a small drop was teams around them losing. Miami will have to figure things out quickly too as they go to Louisville to face a Cardinals team that's talented but reeling from two close losses.
8 Iowa State Cyclones It's a tenuous #8 for Iowa State as they don't have any wins that really pop, so they're really going to have to keep dominating with Farmageddon looming at the end of the year (that game might be critical for the Big 12 Championship hopes of both teams).
9 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia took down Auburn in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, but Alabama's loss takes the Bulldogs down a notch. Still, Georgia looked much better this week after struggling through the first few weeks of the season (besides Clemson), so maybe this game is just what they needed to turn the corner and start playing like the monster they've been in years past.
10 Ole Miss Rebels Still don't really have any marquee wins, but their nice showing against South Carolina plus a ton of chaos right above them allows the Rebels to fill the vacuum and take a shaky #10. Now comes a matchup against an LSU team that's still trying to find a marquee win themselves, so both of these teams could really use this win to bolster their resume and keep pace in the SEC race.
11 Boise State Broncos The Washington State thrashing and the super-close loss against a top-flight Oregon team are pulling a lot of weight for Boise State, but they've earned their spot with solid play overall as well. The Broncos also got a small boost from beating Georgia Southern, who beat Vanderbilt a few weeks ago.
12 Indiana Hoosiers The beat goes on for the 6-0 Hoosiers, who continue to crush everyone in their path. Next is a bye week followed by a home game against Nebraska, and if Indiana wins that one, look out. There's no telling just how far Cignetti can take this team.
13 Tennessee Volunteers Yikes, not good. Arkansas isn't all that bad, but with the Oklahoma win not quite as impressive as it initially was (and the NC State win looking less and less impressive by the week) it ends up being a serious tumble for the Vols. They'll have a nice tune-up game against their rival Florida before hosting Alabama in the TSIO, which would shoot Tennessee right back up if they win it.
14 Kansas State Wildcats One of the big winners of this week as they got to watch the chaos unfold from the safety of the bye week. However, their resume took a double hit with Arizona and Oklahoma State both losing, so they're now on much shakier ground and a lot more dependent on BYU remaining high in the rankings. They've got an interesting matchup against Deion and the Colorado Buffaloes, who are surprisingly 4-1 and half-decent in their own right.
15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Louisville win has lost a good portion of its luster rather quickly, but the Texas A&M just got a lot better for ND. The NIU loss is still weighing them down, but overall, a good resume that gets the Irish to #15 with chaos swirling around them.
16 Texas A&M Aggies This is the first week this season that I've ranked the Aggies as they couldn't really find a marquee win until this week, crushing Mizzou and getting a secondary boost from Arkansas beating Tennessee. ND is still limiting their ability to climb the rankings for the moment, but if A&M can come out of the upcoming bye week swinging, there's no telling how high this team might go (and how awesome that final game of the season against Texas will be).
17 SMU Mustangs Don't look now, but the ponies are 5-1 and they've looked pretty good doing it. Beating the Cardinals in Louisville helps the cause and makes an ACC Championship appearance look like more than a pipe dream (and if SMU can beat Pitt at home, they would have the inside track to get to Charlotte). And speaking of Pitt...
18 Illinois Fighting Illini On bye, but they move up because of Nebraska getting the win over previously undefeated Rutgers and lots of teams losing around them. They've got one more game against Purdue before they face Michigan and Oregon back-to-back. It won't be easy for these Illini in October.
19 Navy Midshipmen Their schedule has been fairly light outside of the Memphis win, but that win, an undefeated record, and all wins being convincing is enough to get them in for the moment. Blake Horvath has been a revelation for the Midshipmen. Next for them is a bye, then Charlotte, and then ND comes to town for what will likely be the most hyped ND-Navy game in a long time.
20 Pittsburgh Panthers Another win, make it 5-0 for the Panthers. It hasn't always looked pretty, but this week was a much more convincing win over a middling UNC. Now, Cal comes to Pittsburgh for the first time in 61 years. You know Cal wants to get the bad taste of the Miami collapse out of their mouth, so Pitt needs to be ready to go. As an aside, what a turnaround from last year's disastrous 3-9 campaign.
21 Missouri Tigers Mizzou, in a week that had tons of chaos, probably got hit the worst (or close to the worst) out of everyone. The offense sputtered and the defense had no answers for Connor Weigman and the Aggies in a blowout loss. With the Boston College win looking worse, the only silver lining for their resume is the much-improved Vanderbilt win. They'll have some time to regroup against UMass and Auburn before they head to Tuscaloosa for a heavyweight battle against Alabama.
22 Nebraska Cornhuskers Nice win over Rutgers to add to their Colorado win. It wasn't easy to move the ball in the swirling winds of Lincoln, but the Huskers got it done all the same. They'll have a bye week to prepare before facing the Hoosiers, another unexpectedly undefeated B1G team. After that, their trip to Columbus to face the Buckeyes.
23 Vanderbilt Commodores I imagine there have to be at least a few Commodore fans thinking: "If this is a dream, don't wake me up." Their first ever win over a #1 team, what a glorious night in Nashville. However, they still have the loss to Georgia Southern weighing them down. The Mizzou loss was incredibly close, so it's not that bad of a knock on their resume (assuming that Mizzou rebounds from their ugly loss). It's one of the best wins this year, so Vandy does (just barely) make the top 25. Congratulations, and Anchor Down!
24 Washington State Cougars Washington State is another one of the big winners on bye this week as their 21-point win over 5-1 Texas Tech has gotten better with every week and their 21-point loss to Boise State isn't as bad with Boise in the top 15. Also boosting the Cougars is the Washington win over Michigan, which pretty definitively puts Wazzu above Washington, Michigan, and USC for the moment.
25 Clemson Tigers The Tigers did well as they had a fast start and buried FSU early, but their resume takes a small hit as NC State lost again and Georgia took a small tumble by virtue of the Alabama loss. Clemson is still searching for that marquee win to boost them up, but at the moment, it seems like the only one they could get is against Pitt, and that game is still over a month away. In the meantime, they'll just have to keep winning and hope for some more chaos to make big moves up the rankings. I considered Oklahoma, LSU, Utah, Texas Tech, Army, Arkansas, Washington, Arizona State, Rutgers, Colorado, and a few others, but none of them were quite good enough.

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