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Due_Connection179 Ballot for 2024 Week 11

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 3, 2024, 4:34 p.m.

Overall Rationale: I watch games all day Saturday then for the games I don't watch I go through the games play-by-play (plus read articles; listen to podcasts) to see what happened instead of just looking at the box score. Every 4 weeks I also do a "reset of my polls to make sure I'm looking at everything from film to SOS to key wins. For my preseason poll, it will be a combination of players/coaches returning + incoming players (recruiting class + transfer portal). This season continues to be crazy. I'm going to start giving the undefeated power teams a little separation because of the craziness of this season.

Rank Team Reason
1 Oregon Ducks Last Week #1 at Michigan // Won 38 - 17 // Went as expected.
2 Indiana Hoosiers Last Week #3 at Michigan State // Won 47 - 10 // Went as expected. Indiana has been so dominant that I had to jump them up to #2 this week. It's crazy to think about, but if Oregon didn't have the Ohio State win, then there is an argument for Indiana as the #1 team in the nation right now.
3 Miami Hurricanes Last Week #2 vs Duke // Won 53 - 31 // The first half misstep was my final straw for keeping this team above Indiana. As long as we keep winning, the worst he can finish is 4th though, so that's nice to think about.
4 BYU Cougars Last Week #4 // Bye Week
5 Ohio State Buckeyes Last Week #8 at #5 Penn State // Won 20 - 13 // Even with an injured team they still dominated the Nittany Lions defensively.
6 Georgia Bulldogs Last Week #9 vs Florida // Won 34 - 20 // Honestly, I didn't want to move them up any, and almost put Notre Dame above them before I remembered the NIU loss. Georgia fans should know how lucky they are for this 12-team CFP because I don't think they make a 4-team this season.
7 Texas Longhorns Last Week #10 // Bye Week
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Last Week #12 // Bye Week
9 SMU Mustangs Last Week #16 vs #6 Pittsburgh // Won 48 - 25 // Completely dominated Pitt, and with the Clemson loss, this could be the deciding factor on who plays Miami for the ACC Championship in a month.
10 Penn State Nittany Lions Last Week #5 vs #8 Ohio State // Lost 13 - 20 // This should be viewed as Penn State's worst loss under James Franklin. You had Ohio State at home, with some key players out on both sides of the ball, and you blew it. Penn State-Iowa State-Tennessee is a very big headache of mine of "who should be the last two teams in".
11 Iowa State Cyclones Last Week #7 vs Texas Tech // Lost 22 - 23 // Disappointing to see the Cyclones lose here, and it came off the back of them taking critical false start penalties in situations where veteran OL need to have better composer.
12 Tennessee Volunteers Last Week #15 vs Kentucky // Won 28 - 18 // Another week, another "will Tennessee be upset by this unranked team". I truly don't see how AP voters have them at #7. I'm guessing they just see "SEC team is 7-1" and put them high.
13 Army West Point Last Week #17 vs Air Force // Won 20 - 3 // This is the first week that Army hasn't looked like a world beater, but still won the game without any doubts.
14 Boise State Broncos Last Week #18 vs San Diego State // Won 56 - 24 // I feel like the Boise State staff is starting to overuse Jeanty to get his Heisman chances up, and it's starting to back fire a little bit vs these bad teams. 31 & 149 with 2 TDs looks great on paper, but it's a far cry away from the 8 YPC with 3 TDs we saw earlier in the season.
15 Pittsburgh Panthers Last Week #6 at #16 SMU // Lost 25 - 48 // This is going to be my most controversial pick. It's more of a nod to what Pitt has been able to accomplish this season, but if one of those SEC schools win out, then I will probably have them jump Pitt.
16 Alabama Crimson Tide Last Week #19 // Bye Week
17 Clemson Tigers Last Week #11 vs Louisville // Lost 21 - 33 // Clemson still has four games left, but this game felt like a dagger to their season. This will probably knock them out of the ACC Championship race, and more-than-likely out of the CFP.
18 Texas A&M Aggies Last Week #13 at South Carolina // Lost 20 - 44 // A&M went from looking like they might cruise to that Texas game, and a possible SEC CG appearance, to us now thinking "was A&M actually always this level of team?" "is the SEC just Georgia + Texas then a bunch of pretty good teams this season?"
19 LSU Tigers Last Week #20 // Bye Week
20 Ole Miss Rebels Last Week #24 at Arkansas // Won 63 - 31 // A very impressive win from the Rebels, but sadly their CFP fate isn't really in their hands anymore.
21 Washington State Cougars Last Week #22 // Bye Week
22 Kansas State Wildcats Last Week #14 at Houston // Lost 19 - 24 // I get the weather was terrible for this game, but this is not a game Kansas State should ever lose, but for some reason I'm not surprised either. I thought the CFP expansion to 12 teams would be perfect for a team like Kansas State, but I guess we will have to wait for a future season to find out.
23 Colorado Buffaloes Last Week #23 // Bye Week
24 Louisville Cardinals Last Week NR at #11 Clemson // Won 33 - 21 // Louisville is easily the most battle tested team in the ACC. Their 3 losses all came to teams now inside my top 10, and they also now have a win over Clemson.
25 Iowa Hawkeyes Last Week NR vs Wisconsin // Won 42 - 10 // Iowa becoming a team that scores 40 pts nearly every week is for sure not what I thought was going to happen this season.

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