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throwaway_6786 Ballot for 2024 Week 8

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 13, 2024, 10:53 p.m.

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

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns It's a really close call between Texas and Oregon for #1, but in the end, the sheer dominance that Texas has shown week in and week out is just enough to keep them at #1. I particularly like how Ewers was able to shake the rust off to help the Longhorns win a rivalry game at a neutral site. Now comes Georgia, and if Texas wins this one, I'd have to think they'd be the clear odds-on favorite for the title.
2 Oregon Ducks Congratulations, you've just won an instant classic! It's not every day that a team topples Ohio State, so for Oregon to have done it twice in four years is incredibly impressive. The Ducks now have two top 11 (shoutout ESPN) ranked wins, and the only thing that keeps them from #1 is the fact that both of those games were incredibly close home games.
3 BYU Cougars Shades of 1984 are seen in Provo as the BYU Cougars have come from nowhere to be 6-0 with two ranked wins. Had it not been for their struggles against Baylor, there would be a serious argument for the Cougars to be even higher. At this point, the only game left on the schedule that BYU should (and I stress, should) have serious trouble with is that Arizona State game in Tempe. There's a significant chance that BYU could go from a preseason afterthought to Big 12 Champions and CFP contenders.
4 Penn State Nittany Lions At last, Penn State has a field goal kicker they can count on. Not a great win for Penn State over a 3-3 USC on the road (and the Illinois win narrowly avoided losing all its luster), but with OSU losing and struggles abound from some of the teams behind them, Penn State ends up at #4 again. A bye week is followed by a trip to Wisconsin, and then they have their showdown with the Buckeyes in Happy Valley. And speaking of the Buckeyes...
5 Ohio State Buckeyes A super-close loss on the road against the #2 team in the land makes it not such a bad drop for the Buckeyes, especially considering that they were in GW-FG range at the end before an unnecessary offensive PI from Jeremiah Smith took them out of range. The Buckeyes have been a force so far this year, but now their rankings is somewhat tethered to the Ducks, so Ohio State better hope that Oregon doesn't take a bad loss similar to Georgia watching Alabama lose to Vanderbilt.
6 Iowa State Cyclones Solid win for the Cyclones on a weekend that had a decent amount of chaos. Nothing much else to say, except that Iowa State's win over Iowa got better with Iowa pasting Washington. Another unexpected challenger for the Big 12 Championship.
7 Georgia Bulldogs I'll be honest, 7-11 is incredibly tough to rank. Three teams with a quality win and a close loss, and two teams with no quality wins and no losses. The Bulldogs had a bit of an interesting time against the other Bulldogs, but they've looked solid overall and they have the win over Clemson bolstering their resume just enough to make them #7. I can definitely see the argument to have them lower than this though.
8 Miami Hurricanes It's been a wild go of things for the 6-0 Hurricanes. They almost saw Florida and Cal upset Tennessee and Pitt respectively, which would've considerably bolstered Miami's resume. Instead, Miami sits at #8. They're going to need to rack up some wins because the schedule is still a little light, at least until they play GA Tech in Atlanta in a month.
9 Indiana Hoosiers Part of me wants to rank the Hoosiers higher, but when they haven't beaten a single team above .500, it's hard to give them that much credit. Still, the Hoosiers have looked every bit the part of a top 10 team, so as long as they keep winning handily, it's going to be tough to drop them any lower.
10 Alabama Crimson Tide Another rough game for the Tide. To have a game like this, at home, right after a loss to Vanderbilt is not the best look, although their defense stood strong when they absolutely had to at the end. I'm starting to wonder just how great Alabama and Georgia really are this year, because they haven't looked like the death stars of the last few years so far.
11 Boise State Broncos Not the greatest win you'll ever see over a bad Hawai'i team, but they still won by three TDs and their loss to Oregon looks even better. That, plus the win over 5-1 Wazzu, pulls Boise State to #11 for now. They'll have a bye week before facing UNLV in Las Vegas in what will be a huge determinant in the race for the MWC Championship.
12 Kansas State Wildcats A bit of a sketchy win, but over a 4-2 Colorado on the road. No other major changes to their resume occurred this week, so K-State continues to hang around #12. That matchup in Ames at the end of the year is looking like more and more like a massive clash.
13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish A dominant win over Stanford is encouraging and keeps ND from falling. Also, NIU has rebounded to win their last two, so at least ND's loss to the Huskies isn't getting worse (for now, anyway). An interesting challenge awaits the Irish as they host a 5-2 GA Tech and a ranked 5-0 Navy before finishing the season against ranked 6-0 Army and @USC.
14 Texas A&M Aggies On bye, and not much to report for the Aggies. Mizzou handled UMass and ND rocked Stanford, so A&M's resume remains largely unchanged from last week. I can't wait for Texas vs. Texas A&M at the end of the season; I have a feeling it's going to be a game to remember in that rivalry for years to come.
15 SMU Mustangs On bye, and BYU's win plus USC's loss keeps SMU up enough that they avoid slipping down. Honestly, this is probably one of the rankings I'm fairly unsure of, but I'm not sure I could put Pitt/Navy with their schedules above them.
16 LSU Tigers LSU finally gets the marquee win they've been searching for, and their rise in the rankings is slightly amplified by a USC quality loss against PSU and a USC quality loss against Alabama. They can't rest on their laurels though, as they'll have to leave the friendly confines of Death Valley and face their nemesis Arkansas in the Battle for the (Golden?) Boot, then go to College Station to face A&M, and then host Alabama in a fierce matchup.
17 Pittsburgh Panthers Another win where I'm left asking: How good is this team, really? 6-0 is hard to argue against, but having to scratch out narrow victories against mid-level opponents doesn't leave me with the same impression as some of the other FBS undefeated teams. And speaking of undefeated teams with sketchy schedules...
18 Navy Midshipmen On bye, and not much to say about Navy this week. Their marquee win over 5-1 Memphis is what's keeping them up here, but they'll need to beat some better opponents to get more respect. Good news on that front: A matchup in Annapolis against ND is just a couple weeks away. If the Midshipmen can handle Charlotte, that will be a ND-Navy matchup you won't want to miss.
19 Clemson Tigers They got crushed by Georgia and have looked totally dominant against sub-.500 competition since. It's hard to say exactly how good the Tigers are, as they haven't played anyone on their skill level yet. Clemson better hope that Pitt doesn't falter over the next few weeks, because that might be their only chance to get a ranked win this season. If they don't get that ranked win, they may have to win the ACC to make it to the 12-team CFP dance.
20 Tennessee Volunteers It's a seven-spot drop for the Volunteers, which seems a bit cruel after a win, but after watching Oklahoma get blown out and NC State lose again, I can't realistically call Tennessee a top 15 team. Without a great win to offset the Arkansas loss, putting them above undefeated teams that do have a solid win just doesn't track. Don't fret, however, because the Vols have a chance to turn it around this week against a struggling Alabama team, and if they beat the Tide, they'll shoot right back up the rankings.
21 Washington State Cougars The Cougars are still hanging around after their bye this week, mainly due to their loss being to #11 Boise State on the road and their dominant win over 5-1 Texas Tech. They did lose some of the shine on their Washington win, but with teams around them struggling a bit as well, it's enough to keep Wazzu at #21.
22 Illinois Fighting Illini I didn't even look at this game after halftime as I thought it was over for sure. You can imagine my surprise when I see "Illinois wins 50-49 in OT" on the ticker a couple hours later. I know that college football can be weird, but seriously, how did Illinois ever let it get that close? They did get the win, but they drop a few spots for how they won (it would've been worse, probably unranked, if Penn State had lost to USC). Now, the Illini get a shot at Michigan in the Big House, followed by a daunting trip to Autzen to face the undefeated Oregon Ducks.
23 Missouri Tigers On bye. Missouri is hanging on by a thread, but Vandy beating Kentucky and the win over 4-2 Boston College does help them enough to keep them around. They host Auburn before taking a trip to Tuscaloosa. They better figure out the defensive woes quickly if they want to stay in the SEC race.
24 Ole Miss Rebels Two super-close losses so far for the Rebels, who take a huge drop (accelerated by Kentucky losing to Vanderbilt) after losing again to LSU. Ole Miss has looked dominant in their wins, which is the only reason why they're still ranked at all. They'll have a bye week to regroup before hosting a reeling Oklahoma, then a road trip to Fayetteville, and then a showdown against Georgia. Ole Miss is still in the SEC race, but they'll have to be perfect from here on out to have a chance, barring insane chaos.
25 Army West Point I don't care who you are, seeing Army and Navy both ranked has got to feel awesome. Make no mistake though, they're not ranked just on good vibes. They've crushed every team they've played so far (a terrible schedule, but still), and with that, they're rocking a 6-0 record. They'll obviously have to play some better teams (could you have imagined a ranked vs. ranked matchup of Army-Navy before the season?), but it's about as good of a first half for the Black Knights as they could've hoped for. I considered Texas Tech, Nebraska, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Syracuse, Iowa, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Liberty, and a few others, but none of them were quite good enough.

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