Back to poll results >>

Due_Connection179 Ballot for 2024 Week 12

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 10, 2024, 4 a.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 vs Maryland // Won 39 - 18 // Went as expected.
2 Indiana Hoosiers Last Week #2 vs Michigan // Won 20 - 15 // For the first time in the 2nd half of a football game this season, Indiana was outscored, and also out-gained. Mildly concerning, but they do get a bye week before their clash with Ohio State.
3 BYU Cougars Last Week #4 at Utah // Won 22 - 21 // At one point on Utah's final drive, BYU had only a 0.3% chance to win this game. However, BYU somehow pulled this win out, and they are now 1 game closer to capturing a Big 12 title game berth in their 1st season as a power school.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes Last Week #5 vs Purdue // Won 45 - 0 // Went as expected.
5 Texas Longhorns Last Week #7 vs Florida // Won 49 - 17 // Went as expected.
6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Last Week #8 vs Florida State // Won 52 - 3 // LOL FSU
7 SMU Mustangs Last Week #9 // Bye Week
8 Miami Hurricanes Last Week #3 at Georgia Tech // Lost 23 - 28 // Finally, our inability to win the 1st half of games has bitten us. We have two games to right the ship before playing SMU in the ACC Championship Game, so hopefully Mario does something with our OC & DC to figure out how to come out of the gates strong.
9 Penn State Nittany Lions Last Week #10 vs Washington // Won 35 - 6 // Went as expected.
10 Tennessee Volunteers Last Week #12 vs Mississippi State // Won 33 - 14 // Went as expected.
11 Boise State Broncos Last Week #14 vs Nevada // Won 28 - 21 // Boise State is starting to stack competitive games against teams they should have their back ups playing in the 4th against. I don't think I can raise them into the top 10 if they continue to look like this.
12 Alabama Crimson Tide Last Week #16 at #19 LSU // Won 42 - 13 // You think Bama is almost dead, then they drop a 30-point win on the road vs LSU. Milroe was amazing, but they need a slip up from Texas to make the SEC Championship Game now.
13 Ole Miss Rebels Last Week #20 vs #6 Georgia // Won 28 - 10 // The Rebels looked like they were in control the entire game for this one. They should be the 4th highest ranked SEC school in both the AP & CFP polls this week, so as long as they win out, they should make the dance.
14 Georgia Bulldogs Last Week #6 at #20 Ole Miss // Lost 10 - 28 // Welcome to "every game going forward is a playoff game" season Georgia fans. Beck's bad play is continuing, and unless that gets fixed, Georgia won't win a playoff game this season (or possibly not even make it).
15 Clemson Tigers Last Week #17 at Virginia Tech // Won 24 - 14 // It feels like some Clemson players are thinking the season is over, so we will see how they look next week at Pitt knowing that Miami's loss gives them a little life again.
16 Texas A&M Aggies Last Week #18 // Bye Week
17 Kansas State Wildcats Last Week #22 // Bye Week
18 Colorado Buffaloes Last Week #23 at Texas Tech // Won 41 - 27 // Colorado had a shaky start, but they turned it around to finish the game 41 - 14 after going down 13 - 0 early. With Iowa State's 2nd loss, Colorado now holds their own destiny for any CFP hopes they have.
19 Army West Point Last Week #13 at North Texas // Won 14 - 3 // A couple of duds in a row from Army has dropped them a little in my rankings. Basically their CFP comes down to needing to win out, which includes a game to now #6 Notre Dame.
20 Iowa State Cyclones Last Week #11 vs Kansas // Lost 36 - 45 // The game was worse than what the final score indicates. This pretty much ends Iowa State's CFP hopes, unless both Kansas State & Colorado just go off the rails in the last few weeks of the season. This loss has to be among the most disappointing under Matt Campbell.
21 Pittsburgh Panthers Last Week #15 vs Virginia // Lost 19 - 24 // I know a lot of people (maybe everyone else) will have both Iowa State & Pittsburgh fall out of the top 25 this week, but honestly, it would still be a toss up against a team like Missouri for me, so they are staying in my poll despite dropping two in a row.
22 Missouri Tigers Last Week NR at Oklahoma // Won 30 - 23 // A slug fest of G5 proportions. We (as a community) are basically obligated to rank Mizzou because they are a 2-loss SEC through 9 games, but man this feels dirty.
23 Washington State Cougars Last Week #21 vs Utah State // Won 49 - 28 // Wazzu took care of business against another MW team. Both Texas Tech & Washington losing again is making their resume a little worse, and without a power conference holding them up, they will drop a little in my rankings.
24 Louisville Cardinals Last Week #24 // Bye Week
25 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Last Week NR vs Arkansas State // Won 55 - 19 // I wanted to show Louisiana a little love this week. They have been destroying Sun Belt competition, so I thought it would be nice for them to be my #25 team this week. I have a bunch of 6-3 power teams (Arizona State, LSU, South Carolina, Illinois, Syracuse) right behind them + an 8-2 Tulane team that beat them, so even though this ranking might be short lived, shout out to the Ragin' Cajuns for being undefeated in the Fun Belt through week 11.

Back to poll results >>