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throwaway_6786 Ballot for 2024 Week 9

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 21, 2024, 9:35 p.m.

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

Rank Team Reason
1 Oregon Ducks The pretty obvious choice for #1 with Texas falling. Georgia definitely put on a show, but that one loss to a good-but-not-great Alabama is holding them back. The Ducks have Illinois and Michigan coming up, and if they can continue to play the way they're playing, a #1 13-0 B1G Champion resume is very much in play.
2 Georgia Bulldogs I can't say I'm surprised (Georgia has an Alabama bugaboo, but they haven't lost to anyone else in over three years). With the win, Georgia vaults way up to #2 and is right back in the driver's seat (no pun intended) for an SEC title. The loss to Alabama is becoming a notable concern for the Bulldogs' resume, but Georgia should be just fine as long as they continue to pile up wins.
3 Penn State Nittany Lions On bye. I went back and forth on Georgia and PSU for #2 and #3, but what convinced me was Illinois struggling against Purdue while Georgia's two main victories (Texas and Clemson) have dominated all other competition. The Nittany Lions have a date with the Badgers next week followed by a showdown with Ohio State. If Penn State can win both games, I'd be surprised if they don't move up.
4 BYU Cougars Gundy sure does know how to give higher-ranked teams a scare, doesn't he? BYU narrowly escapes with a wild victory over 3-4 Okie State, which would've moved them down further than one spot had it not been for their two ranked wins (SMU and K-State) both winning handily.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes On bye, and not much to report for the Buckeyes. Their win over Iowa took a hit, but their win over MSU looks a little better, so their resume stays relatively the same.
6 Indiana Hoosiers I guess the question becomes this: Who will stop them? Can anyone stop Cignetti and these new-look Hoosiers? That's a 5-2 Nebraska team that Indiana just annihilated and Indiana seem hungry for more. They've played a weak schedule, but there has been no sign of any weakness so far.
7 Miami Hurricanes Nice win over Louisville. At this point, it's almost comical that Miami avoids Pitt, SMU, and Clemson this year, so I wonder if we'll get the chance to see Miami cut their teeth before the ACC Championship Game. Their resume is almost identical to Indiana, but their serious struggles against VT and Cal keep them behind the Hoosiers.
8 Iowa State Cyclones That was a little too close for comfort, but Rocco Becht was money when the Cyclones needed him to be. The problem for Iowa State is that their only FBS win against an above-.500 team so far is @Iowa, by 1 point, on a last-second 54-yard FG. Not terrible, but it does leave their resume somewhat lacking in a similar vein to Miami. The Cyclones will have a bye week to prep for a tough but reeling Texas Tech team with their season-ending Farmageddon matchup looming.
9 Texas Longhorns It was a triple whammy for the Longhorns this week: they lost, Michigan lost, and Oklahoma got crushed (although I'm sure it gave Texas fans a bit of a reprieve to watch the Sooners get slammed, it hurts their resume). All of a sudden, the dominance that Texas has showed against everyone except Georgia is honestly the only thing keeping them so high because their wins have aged somewhat poorly (except ULM, surprisingly). Now, Texas has to get back in the saddle as they go to Nashville to face a confident Vanderbilt team.
10 Boise State Broncos On bye, and not much to report for Boise. They've got a trip to the Las Vegas desert to play UNLV in a game that will likely have massive MWC implications and will give the winner a decent chance to be the G5 representative in the CFP. Jeanty and the Gang will have to be on their game.
11 Tennessee Volunteers I'll be honest, I didn't come away terribly impressed with either team in the TSIO, but credit Heupel and Iamaleava for coming out slinging in the 2nd half and taking some risks on offense even after a disastrous 1st half (also, Dylan Sampson is a beast running the ball back there). Tennessee got a win that they badly needed and now has a solid shot at the SEC Championship game (though they will have to get through Georgia).
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish A solid win over a 5-3 GT, although without Haynes King, it does leave me wondering if GT could've given ND a better fight. Now, they face Navy in what should be an awesome ranked-vs.-ranked matchup, something that is incredibly rare for this rivalry. The NIU loss is still holding them back, but ND will have some chances to bolster their resume against the service academies.
13 Texas A&M Aggies Not the best win you've ever seen, but they avoided the trap game against MSST. Now, they host LSU in a game that, somewhat surprisingly, will give the winner the inside track on the SEC Championship Game. Also, the hype (and the animosity, I'm sure) for that Texas-Texas A&M game is building fast.
14 Kansas State Wildcats K-State walloped a mediocre WVU team that's gotten beat by four ranked teams already. The Oklahoma State and Arizona wins aren't looking as impressive as they once did, so K-State slips a spot or two, but BYU is still undefeated, which bodes well for the Wildcats at least. They have home games against Arizona State and Cincinnati that might be a bit tricky, but other than that, their schedule is pretty light up until that final game in Ames against Iowa State.
15 SMU Mustangs Stanford had no chance from the start against these Mustangs. I like the way SMU plays and while their schedule has been a little light, they gave BYU everything they could handle and have a chance to bolster that resume against Duke and Pitt over the next two weeks. Win both, and SMU has a serious opportunity to run the table and go to the ACC Championship Game, a statement that would sound almost incomprehensible five years ago.
16 LSU Tigers Solid win on the road over a decent Arkansas team. LSU now takes a trip to College Station to play Texas A&M in a battle of teams that lost their season opener and won every game since. It won't be easy, but if LSU wins this, I'd imagine a win over Alabama would all but secure a trip to Atlanta for the Tigers.
17 Clemson Tigers Speaking of Tigers that play in Death Valley, Clemson notched another dominant win, and with Georgia winning over Texas, their loss doesn't look quite as bad. It's still up in the air as to how good this Clemson team really is without any ranked wins, which is why that matchup against Pitt looks so interesting and will likely be telling for Clemson's CFP chances.
18 Pittsburgh Panthers On bye. Pitt just needs to beat some better teams to move up, although that Cincinnati win is looking better and better every week. Now comes a nice opportunity to get a solid win against a surprisingly decent Syracuse.
19 Illinois Fighting Illini A good win over Michigan, and the first time that the Illini have taken down the Wolverines since 2009 (side note: what's Rich Rod up to these days?). Illinois' reward for winning this is a trip to Eugene to face the #1 Oregon Ducks. Bielema and Co. will have to come up with an amazing gameplan to slow down a Ducks offense running on all cylinders.
20 Navy Midshipmen Another dominant performance from the Midshipmen over a hapless Charlotte team. Now, they face ND in the Meadowlands in what will be one of the best ND-Navy matchups in a long time. I, for one, can't wait to watch this classic rivalry matchup.
21 Army West Point The beat goes on for the service academies this season (just don't look at Air Force). It's hard for me to put them any higher than this due to the fact that they haven't beaten anyone of note so far, which is why we'll learn a lot about Army as we get into the back end of their schedule with UNT, ND, and (potentially twice) Navy.
22 Alabama Crimson Tide Who would've guessed they'd have lost two games already? Alabama comes in as the highest-ranked two-loss team, mainly due to their wins over Georgia and Wisconsin. It's hard to say what's gone wrong for this team given that they're still one of the most talented teams out there, but ever since the 2nd half of the Georgia game, they've looked not just mortal, but mediocre. A home game against Mizzou is followed by a trip to Death Valley against LSU, and if they don't get themselves right by then, they could (and probably should) miss the 12-team CFP.
23 Washington State Cougars A ho-hum win over a miserable Hawai'i team, but their resume took a hit with Texas Tech losing badly against Baylor at home. Still, the Cougars have a good shot of finishing the season 11-1. They would have to hope that Boise State continues to dominate and they would need at least one of Texas Tech or Washington to bounce back and be ranked by season's end for a good shot at the CFP.
24 Syracuse Orange It's a little crazy to think about it, but the Orange are one stop on 4th down against Stanford from being 7-0 right now with two close wins over GT and UNLV. Syracuse definitely got in the rankings this week because of all the carnage that happened around them (lots of teams that were right on the cusp of my rankings lost this past weekend). Syracuse could boost themselves up a bunch by upsetting Pitt at Heinz Field (I'm still calling it that), and if UNLV can beat Boise, it'll get even better for Syracuse.
25 Missouri Tigers Not great. I get that they didn't have Brady Cook out there for a while in this game, but when you're at home against a 2-4 Auburn, it shouldn't come down to a do-or-die 4th down conversion. They're still 6-1 with a narrow 2OT win over 5-2 Vanderbilt, but it's been a little dicey for Mizzou of late (and that BC win has aged poorly, which isn't helping). I considered Memphis, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech, Duke, UNLV, Cincinnati, Liberty, Nebraska, ULM, and a few others, but none of them were quite good enough.

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