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ChBass Ballot for 2024 Week 9

Ballot Type: Computer

Submitted: Oct. 20, 2024, 8:03 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Team's performance is compared to their opponent's opponents, with adjustments for quality of wins/losses.

Rank Team Reason
1 Oregon Ducks Their resume is so strong that they could lose to Louisiana and still have a shot at being ranked #1. Top tier offense & defense, with a bug win under their belt.
2 LSU Tigers A little high? This is a top tier offense on all sides, and a top tier defense, save passing D, but even that's not bad. The loss to USC is more than offset by the win against Ole Miss.
3 Miami Hurricanes Beating Louisville helped, but it'll be hard to build a resume in this year's ACC. The closest thing to a signature win left on the schedule is Georgia Tech, which is worth a little more than Cal.
4 Georgia Bulldogs Beating the longhorns more than offset the Bama loss... beating Ole Miss in a few weeks could put them at #2.
5 Indiana Hoosiers Beating Washington next week would be three times their biggest statement win against... Maryland?
6 Ohio State Buckeyes If gains & losses didn't matter, Ohio State would be #1. We have to wait until November for the buckeyes to have a shot at offsetting their loss with a win at Penn State.
7 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State got their biggest win at USC, but the real test will be when the buckeyes come to town.
8 Iowa State Cyclones They just keep moving the ball and they just keep winning. The Iowa win keeps losing value every week, but there are just a few speedbumps between Iowa State & the Big 12 Championship game.
9 Pittsburgh Panthers Pitt's in the same boat; stacking up wins over the mid-tier and not losing. The competition will step up with SMU & Clemson up in November.
10 BYU Cougars BYU just needs to miss the trap games until they play Iowa State for a playoff spot.
11 Texas Longhorns The Georgia game not only negated the value of double the season's wins, it also changed the scale of my entire model, since they proved you can score more than 14 points on them. The road ahead is full of sneaky good teams.
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish One more win, and they'll have gained back what they lost to Northern Illinois. They have... oh! Army AND Navy coming up? The Irish have top-tier rushing defense, and I guess we'll find out if that's legit.
13 Texas A&M Aggies Similarly, one more win, and they'll have gained back what they lost to Notre Dame. Top tier defense, but a staunchly mid-level offense, except for the top tier run game. LSU will be a major test.
14 Boise State Broncos Losing to Oregon doesn't hurt that much, but there aren't many resume-makers on the list. They just have to keep running & hope for everyone else to lose a couple.
15 Army West Point Run run run, win win win. Notre Dame's coming up.
16 Navy Midshipmen Run run run, win win win. Notre Dame's coming up.
17 Tennessee Volunteers One more win should make up for the Arkansas loss, and then there's Georgia coming up...
18 Liberty Flames Liberty's signature win was against East Carolina. But no losses gets you here.
19 Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks The loss to the longhorns was more than covered by the win against James Madison. They'll look to make a statement at Auburn in November.
20 Kansas State Wildcats They may have to wait until the last week of the regular season to offset the BYU loss with Iowa State.
21 Washington State Cougars It'll take a few more wins to offset that Boise State loss, but the Pride of the Pac-2 can keep stacking wins.
22 Ole Miss Rebels If wins and losses didn't matter, this would be a Top-5 team. They're playing well, but the Ls get you here.
23 SMU Mustangs The ACC gives them some chances to build a resume and offset that BYU loss. Pitt will be a fun game.
24 Missouri Tigers The model doesn't count ugly wins any less. Hoping Brady Cook stays healthy.
25 Clemson Tigers The Georgia loss doesn't look so bad... Dabo has these guys ready to rise until they meet Miami in the championship.

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