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Mynameisdiehard Ballot for 2024 Week 8

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 14, 2024, 1:49 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Heavier weight on record, weighing overall strength of record with results, comparing head to head and weighing strengths of wins/losses. Just missed: Texas Tech, Arizona St., Duke, Syracuse, Ole Miss, Michigan, Memphis Dropped: Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Utah (No room for 2 loss teams at this time)

Rank Team Reason
1 Oregon Ducks I think this week's matchup with Ohio St showed how truly good both teams are and why they are expected to make deep playoff runs. Jumps Texas because this is by far the strongest win of the season and the SOR shows it
2 Texas Longhorns I have been saying Oklahoma is bad this year and this week just proved it even more. Texas's schedule has not been strong this year but I think we can all still agree that they are a good team.
3 Penn State Nittany Lions 2nd highest SOR. Deserve to be above OSU while they are still undefeated. They will have a chance to prove the belong in a few weeks.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes Close loss to Oregon but they still look like one of the best teams in the country. Making a minor exception to my rule and using the eye test on this one.
5 BYU Cougars Handled Arizona and have the 3rd highest SOR. With Miami's struggles, I think they deserve to be moved up.
6 Miami Hurricanes I haven't been the highest on Miami and expect them to slip up at some point. BYU looked stronger through Miami's bye week and due to their higher SOR, I moved them above Miami
7 Iowa State Cyclones No change from last week. Seems like we are an unstoppable train heading towards a Big 12 championship clash between BYU & Iowa St, assuming neither have a disastrous slip up.
8 Alabama Crimson Tide They struggled, almost lost, probably should have lost, to South Carolina. But hey, seems everyone else in the SEC also struggled so no changes. I think SEC bias and poll inertia are affecting people's judgements in the national polls. The top teams in the SEC seem to have taken a step back this year. The cannibalism we are seeing is a clear sign of that. Some media pundits are trying to make it seem like teams like Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Kentucky, etc. are "raising the bar" in the SEC but taking a quick look at each of them we can see this clearly isn't the case.
9 Georgia Bulldogs Same as above but insert Mississippi State.
10 Tennessee Volunteers Again, same as above, but insert Florida. My point is even further proven with this game as the national consensus is Florida is not good and along with the likes of Kentucky, South Carolina, & Mississippi State, make up most of the bottom barrel SEC teams. The top teams would not be struggling against these bottom teams if they were the dominant teams of the SEC past.
11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Nothing changed from last week
12 Texas A&M Aggies Bye week and not enough changes around them
13 Indiana Hoosiers Bye week and not enough changes around them
14 Boise State Broncos Had some first half struggles against Hawaii but pulled away in the 4th as good teams should. Couple that with Oregon's win against OSU and BSUs 3 point loss to Oregon is looking like it was an early sign of how good this team really is. Look for this team to move up in future weeks.
15 Pittsburgh Panthers No changes from last week's reasoning really, but they did beat a good Cal team (who only lose to Miami by 1 in a shootout) so I have to respect Pitt's undefeated record
16 SMU Mustangs SOR has SMU higher than Clemson, and a 3 point loss to a team I have ranked in the top 5 is nothing to scoff at. Exactly what I said last week, but watch out for SMU in the ACC.
17 Clemson Tigers I have had Clemson under ranked for a little while due to their blowout loss to Georgia who I have barely in the Top 10. Since then they have taken care of business and look like my personal favorites to win the ACC (eyeing a Clemson v SMU matchup myself.) Couple that with Illinois struggling with a bad Purdue team, I have to see them jump.
18 Illinois Fighting Illini Can't struggle against a bad Purdue team and expect to hang. I do have them ranked higher than many people due to their only loss being against #3 Penn St., but realistically I don't have much faith in this holding over the next 2 weeks against Michigan & Oregon. Either way, it will sort itself out over that time.
19 LSU Tigers Well I can't say I wasn't at least a little surprised by LSUs result this weekend. Solid resume builder that they needed to prove they belong, but due to the fact that Ole Miss subsequently dropped out of the rankings, it only helps them stay where they are for me. Texas A&M & Bama in 2 & 3 weeks time (respectively). Wouldn't be surprised to see LSU win one of those (leaning more towards Bama honestly, with it being a home and probably night game) if the same team shows up.
20 Kansas State Wildcats They were able to respond to Colorado's 4th quarter comeback and didn't crumble under pressure. As much as I hate to say it, Colorado is a far improved team this year and pulling out this win, although they should have, is still impressive enough. They really only moved up due 2 teams dropping out above them, but still they deserve to be here.
21 Army West Point I was SOOOO close to ranking Army last week and honestly I am a bit disappointed that I didn't. I had Utah in the 25th spot which was far lower than most polls and it was absolutely one of those "I told you so" moments, but I felt at the time that 25 was already so low that leaving them out entirely would have been bad. Going to start listening to my instincts more going forward. Glad Army is getting the respect they deserve, and because of my mistake I am putting them higher where I think they truly do belong.
22 Missouri Tigers Mizzou's tune-up week. Nothing really to get from this.
23 Nebraska Cornhuskers Bye week. They move up a spot due to 2 teams dropping out and 1 jumping them. Sets up a big matchup with undefeated Indiana this week. They either solidify their spot or fall backwards into the pool of growing 2 loss teams.
24 Navy Midshipmen Undefeated and pretty much the same resume as Army, but I think Army looks a bit more dominant. They are going to run into Notre Dame next week whereas Army lucks out not seeing them until the weekend before Thanksgiving.
25 Washington State Cougars Washington St, deserves the nod here as the best of the rest of 1 loss teams. 20th in SO and only loss is to Boise and beat Texas Tech who I have right underneath them. Look, tons of teams could go here that it almost feels like "Mr. Irrelevant" but I am of the firm belief that there is not a 2-loss team currently that deserves to be in the Top 25. Every decent 2 loss team that the national polls have ranked has one of their losses to an unranked team (Ole Miss to Kentucky, Michigan to Washington). Vanderbilt being essentially ranked 26th in the AP is a complete shame and shows the massive SEC bias in these national polls. Did everyone forget their loss to Georgia St, a team at the bottom of the Sun Belt? Come on. They aren't even a top 5 2 loss team in my book based on resume. Look at my overall rational where included teams that would be in my "receiving votes" section, in the order I would put them. Once the field of 1 loss teams begins to drop in a week or two we can begin discussing if some of the ones with better resumes belong.

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