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jthomas694 Ballot for 2024 Week 8

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 13, 2024, 12:58 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Rankings should primarily reflect what has happened on the field this season, with sort of a power ranking for teams that have similar resumes. Teams who win don't deserve to be rewarded, teams who lose don't deserve to punished - but what happened this past week is an additional data point in viewing team resumes.

Rank Team Reason
1 Oregon Ducks Previously 3rd. Oregon has the best strength of record in the country. A close win over Ohio State vaults them here, but another ranked win against Boise State looks better every week.
2 Texas Longhorns Previously 2nd. Texas looks like a complete football team. The schedule gets tougher on the back half so we'll find out a lot more about them
3 Penn State Nittany Lions Previously 8th. Road wins over West Virginia and Southern Cal and a home win over Illinois, with zero losses puts them second in SOR per ESPN. I don't know that I completely agree that resume is better than some others, but they did a good job winning a tough game on Saturday and I can't continue justifying keeping them behind one loss teams after that
4 Miami Hurricanes Previously 9th. Similar to Penn State, I ultimately had a hard time continuing to keep them behind one loss teams. Explosive offense, but they aren't a complete team.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide Previously 5th. I have very little separation between Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State and Tennessee and will explain why in bits through this section. All of these teams are contenders at some level with flaws. I believe the national champion is likely one of these teams when they start to click. Alabama has the best win of the bunch and so they are in first here. The offense is one of the best in the country, if not the best, but the defense does not slam the door shut
6 Georgia Bulldogs Previously 4th. Georgia played with it's food yesterday. Mississippi State has one of the worst run defensee in the coutnry and they entered the fourth quarter with 16 rush attempts and 40+ pass attempts. Georgia is a good team, that isn't currently elite at anything, and really sturggles with tackling outside the box. At some point, I believe Kirby Smart will get that defense right. Georgia has the dominant win over Clemson and Kentucky is a very good defensive football team
7 Ohio State Buckeyes Previously 1st. Ohio State just lost their biggest test of the year by one point. The defense did not look championship caliber and they just didn't find a way to win the game. Iowa is the best win on the slate, but they havne't looked quite dominant enough yet.
8 Clemson Tigers Previously 7th. Clemson has looked elite since their week one loss to Geogia - now their opponents since then are a combined 10-21 with the best record being NC State who is 3-4. They won't be tested for a long time.
9 Tennessee Volunteers Previously 6th. An elite defense and a struggling offense is not what people expect out of Tennessee but here we are. I think they'll figure it out. In time to beat Alabama? Maybe with how Alabama is playing the last two weeks. The talent is there offensively to be a lot better.
10 Indiana Hoosiers Previously 10th. Indiana is my favorite team to consider right now - they have played at a very very high level and have not trailed yet this season. They are incredible on paper and are winning games - against bad teams. The three B1G wins they have are a combined 1-10 in conference play. The non conference slate was bad too. 112th SoS to this point. Can't put them ahead of those teams that have played top opponents.
11 Iowa State Cyclones Previously 12th. Iowa State has played a much tougher schedule than Indiana to this point but have not looked nearly as dominant. This is a legit good team though and somehow Matt Campbell is underrated again. Stingy defense and complementary offense.
12 BYU Cougars Previously 13th. I believe eventually BYU will come down to earth, they are not a top 25 team by efficiencies in SP+ and overall just don't look like a top team to me when I watch them, but they have the third ranked SOR per FPI. Good resume, but I think eventually it's going to come crashing down
13 Pittsburgh Panthers Previously 14th. Teams should get credit for winning football games. Pitt could be 2-4 but somehow, some way are 6-0. Eventually they will lose games, but credit for now is to the victors
14 Texas A&M Aggies Previously 17th. I think A&M has gotten better and better over the course of the year. Wins over Arkansas and Missouri look strong. I think Florida is a pretty good 3-3 team. Look good metrically, talent is there and they seem to be getting better
15 LSU Tigers Previously 18th. Offensively elite. Defensively not good at all. Barely beat SC and Ole Miss and lost to Southern Cal, I don't think this is an overly impressive team. Feels like they'll hang out between 15th and 25th to me the rest of the way.
16 Kansas State Wildcats Previously 16th. Very solid but not spectacular team. Turnovers cost them the game against BYU. Ultimately a Big XII and CFP contender.
17 Boise State Broncos Previously 19th. Their performance agaisnt Oregon looks better and better. Ashton Jeanty is the best player in the country. Can they win out and make the CFP? Probably
18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Previously 24th. I feel like I may have been too harsh with the NIU loss, but that was a bad bad loss. I think they're a much better team than this but I still need more to trust them to put them higher.
19 Texas Tech Red Raiders Previously unranked. They are much better than they were weeks one and two. Win over Arizona State looks even better this week. Feels fair to place them in the Top 25
20 Army West Point Previously 20th. Dominant against a poor schedule.
21 Navy Midshipmen Previously 21st. Dominant against a poor schedule.
22 SMU Mustangs Previously 22nd. Other teams considered for spots 22-25: Syracuse Orange, Arizona State Sun Devils, Utah Utes, Michigan Wolverines, Illinois Fighting Illini, Iowa Hawkeyes, Wisconsin Badgers, Arkansas Razorbacks, Vanderbilt Commodores and Liberty Flames. No strong opinions about who went in and who didn't, just an overall feel of who's better at this point
23 Nebraska Cornhuskers Previoulsly 23rd.
24 Ole Miss Rebels Previously 11th.
25 Missouri Tigers Previously 25th.

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