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goodnames679 Ballot for 2024 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 7, 2024, 6:36 p.m.

Overall Rationale: I attempt to re-review my ballot week by week and rate teams based off of what they've done, not based off how much they deserve to get bumped from x win or loss. Notable changes this week: USC from 21 to unranked. They weren't that good before, and a loss to Minnesota is enough for me to drop them. || Michigan from 10 to unranked. I was very unconvinced their offense was capable of earning them a top 10 spot, but had to give them credit for a very good defense. Unfortunately for the wolverines, they are now a two loss team and I don't believe they've shown that they deserve to be ranked above the many good undefeated or one-loss teams. || Mizzou from 12 to 20. Another team I was unconvinced by that took a loss, but they're still only a one loss team and have a couple decent wins in BC and Vandy. || Iowa State from 15 to 9. Their win over Baylor in and of itself wasn't enough to justify this, but I think they are showing themselves as a disciplined and consistent team. Several teams ranked above them dropping the ball made this look a lot more extreme a change than it actually is. || Pitt from 25 to 19. Another case where the win itself wasn't enough to justify this bump, but they remain one of the last few undefeated P5s left standing and got past a major block the team has historically had against UNC. ||

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State's defense continues to look stifling, and Howard looks good if not elite. The rest of the offense is so loaded to the brim with weapons, however, that I think the team remains incredibly complete. This week will be the first of its true tests this season.
2 Texas Longhorns Copy+paste of last week: Damn, they're actually back. Their defense is good enough to shut down Michigan's awful offense, but I don't necessarily believe that proves much at this point in time.
3 Alabama Crimson Tide I genuinely have no idea where to rank Bama and Georgia after this week. Bama has the much worse loss, but a great win against Georgia. I think they should remain above Georgia as a result, but should they be so high? Honestly, who knows.
4 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia's loss to Bama looks worse as of now, but they end up moving up anyways due to Tennessee dropping.
5 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State's offense is probably not the offense of a top 5 team. Their defense is legit. Some part of me wants to bump them above Bama/Georgia after this week's mess, but I don't actually think they'd beat either team. Jumping Tennessee will have to suffice.
6 BYU Cougars BYU remains undefeated against a good-but-not-elite schedule. I think they have the discipline and talent to beat nearly any team outside the top 10, and they're very consistent, but I wonder how they'd hold up against elite competition.
7 Oregon Ducks Plenty of decent wins, but I'm very curious to see how Oregon performs this week.
8 Tennessee Volunteers I'm starting to question if Tennessee truly has a world-beating offense, or if they just ran up the score against bad opponents. Arkansas isn't the worst loss, they're a decent team, but Tennessee are going to need a signature win to sneak back into the top 5.
9 Iowa State Cyclones Iowa State has quietly done very well for themselves, but I don't think they're dominant enough to be a lock in the B12 championship game quite yet. They'll be hard pressed to win out against WVU, TTU, Cincinnati, Utah, and Kansas State.
10 Ole Miss Rebels South Carolina is a decent win, and while the Kentucky loss wasn't great it also nearly happened to Georgia.
11 Miami Hurricanes Two games in a row where Miami have won off last-second bad officiating against unranked opponents is not a great look for Miami.
12 Kansas State Wildcats They have some solid wins, nothing exceptional, and a loss against one of BYU's best recent teams.
13 Utah Utes Utah manages to slide up one place on a bye due to so many teams above them flopping.
14 Clemson Tigers They've looked okay, but are nothing to write home about. They have little opportunity to prove themselves as elite the rest of the season, but they have a nonzero shot at sneaking a win in the ACC championship. Till then, they have to remain consistent.
15 Boise State Broncos Decent wins, a heisman quality RB, and a loss I can easily excuse. They'll probably climb a lot higher by season's end.
16 Oklahoma Sooners The Tennessee game was nowhere near as close as the score implies. The Tulane win was pretty okay, but they kept it way too close against a bad Auburn and a godawful Houston.
17 Texas A&M Aggies I'm honestly not particularly convinced A&M is that great, they've played down to their opponents repeatedly. They deserve credit for upsetting Mizzou, however.
18 Pittsburgh Panthers Undefeated against an okay schedule, but the close games make me question how long they can keep it up.
19 Missouri Tigers I wasn't very convinced by Mizzou before, and A&M absolutely pantsed them.
20 SMU Mustangs Their loss to BYU doesn't look too bad in my eyes, and they have some other decent-but-not-exceptional wins. They may find their way to the ACC championship game this year, though.
21 Indiana Hoosiers Comfortable win margins against bad opponents mean that IU is at least a better team than most anticipated, but it doesn't prove a lot yet.
22 Illinois Fighting Illini Illinois loses some footing on the bye week due to several teams earning a bump, but they are still far from a bad team as far as I can see.
23 Texas Tech Red Raiders Texas Tech isn't a bad team at all, and may well compete for a spot in the B12 championship game.
24 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The A&M win looks a bit better this week, but the Louisville win looks even more meh in my eyes.
25 Navy Midshipmen They've played some okay opponents and won comfortably each time, but faced no true tests as of now.

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