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hurricaneatx Ballot for 2024 Week 12

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 10, 2024, 11:21 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Blend of power/resume-thinking, but gets more resume-based later in the season. I don't really care if a team moves drastically week-to-week. I am a fan of the Texas Longhorns. Head-to-head matchups matter when comparing similar records, but lose significance the earlier they are and the farther separated the teams are. Not too big a fan of my ballot this week. [Teams in the ranking suburbs: South Carolina, Arizona State, Tulane, Louisiana, Vanderbilt] [Teams in the ranking exurbs: Syracuse, UNLV, Illinois, Navy, Memphis, Georgia Tech, Duke, Texas Tech]

Rank Team Reason
1 Oregon Ducks (10-0) - Indisputably the #1 team in the country. With the Ohio State game behind them, Oregon should remain #1 into the conference championship if all goes as expected. Quality wins: Boise State, Ohio State, Illinois
2 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-1) - Ohio State's only blemish has been a 1-point loss at Oregon, and they find themselves 1 spot behind Oregon again. Quality wins: @Penn State
3 BYU Cougars (9-0) - It sort of irks me to put BYU up here, but at the same time, it sort of makes sense. They're undefeated, and they have two wins against good competition (SMU and Kansas State), and those wins are better than Indiana's. I really don't have any reason to not put them this high. Quality wins: @SMU, Kansas State
4 Penn State Nittany Lions (8-1) - Penn State and Texas have pretty comparable top wins (Texas @Vanderbilt and Penn State against Illinois), though Texas has the marginally worse loss. Quality wins: Illinois
5 Indiana Hoosiers (10-0) - I like Indiana, but I can't really justify moving them up much higher without a significant boost to their strength of schedule. The soon forthcoming game against Ohio State will serve as a good gauge as to how Indiana stacks up against top competition. Quality wins: N/A
6 Texas Longhorns (8-1) - Based on how teams stand at this point the season, Texas hasn't really had a marquee win against a high-resume team. Nonetheless, the Longhorns have churned out good performances against decently strong competition. Texas has a sneakily difficult final stretch of the season against the likes of Arkansas, Kentucky, and Texas A&M, all of which have (in my view) at least a 30% chance of beating the Longhorns. Quality wins: @Vanderbilt
7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1) - Notre Dame has probably the worst loss of anybody in playoff contention, though that NIU loss is moving further back in time and Notre Dame has been able to shore up their resume with better wins. Quality wins: @Texas A&M, Louisville, @Navy
8 Tennessee Volunteers (8-1) - Quality wins: Alabama
9 Miami Hurricanes (9-1) - The Hurricanes have been in questionable position in five of Miami's last six games, and it just so happens that their luck (unwarranted, depending on who you ask) ran out on the sixth against a decent Georgia Tech side. They're still a one-loss team, though, as much as I want to drop them farther out of sheer spite. Quality wins: @Louisville, Duke
10 Alabama Crimson Tide (7-2) - Alabama completed blasted LSU away. The loss to Vanderbilt is a little problematic for the Crimson Tide resume, but Alabama is bolstered by fairly strong wins against Georgia and at LSU. Quality wins: Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, @LSU
11 Ole Miss Rebels (8-2) - I've been harsh on Ole Miss previously given that they hadn't really beaten anybody of note. But with a convincing win over Georgia, they vault in my rankings ahead of the Bulldogs, who have the same number of losses. Quality wins: @South Carolina, Georgia
12 Georgia Bulldogs (7-2) - I was a little hesitant with having Georgia at #2 last week, quite far ahead of Alabama, but they had a pretty good resume at that point. The loss to Ole Miss this week makes that discrepancy a little easier to resolve. Alabama and Georgia have identical 7-2 records, and Alabama has the head-to-head over Georgia. That's pretty clearly an indication that Georgia should be behind wherever Alabama is. Quality wins: Clemson, @Texas
13 Boise State Broncos (8-1) - Quality wins: Washington State, @UNLV
14 SMU Mustangs (8-1) - And just like that, SMU are suddenly in pole position in the ACC. Quality wins: @Louisville, @Duke, Pittsburgh
15 Texas A&M Aggies (7-2) - Quality wins: Missouri, LSU
16 Washington State Cougars (8-1) - Quality wins: Texas Tech
17 Army West Point (9-0) - Holding North Texas to just 3 points was actually incredibly impressive. Quality wins: None
18 Kansas State Wildcats (7-2) - Quality wins: Tulane, @Colorado
19 LSU Tigers (6-3) - Quality wins: @South Carolina, Ole Miss
20 Colorado Buffaloes (7-2) - Quality wins: @Texas Tech
21 South Carolina Gamecocks
22 Louisville Cardinals (6-3) - Quality wins: @Clemson
23 Clemson Tigers (7-2) - Quality wins: N/A
24 Pittsburgh Panthers (7-2) - Quality wins: Syracuse
25 Missouri Tigers (7-2) - Missouri won a mid-off against Oklahoma. Quality wins: Vanderbilt

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