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70stang Ballot for 2024 Week 12

Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Nov. 12, 2024, 8:32 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Welcome back to the Report Card Poll! THIS IS NOT A PREDICTIVE POLL. Polls only exist for two reasons: For the media to hype up in-season matchups to generate more money, and to determine who is the most deserving (of a playoff spot, these days) at the end of the season. At this poll, we think the first reason is stupid, and the second reason does not lend itself to predictive rankings, which are inherently biased and speculative. We should be factual and impartial. The key tenets of this poll are that pre-season polls are bullshit, and poll inertia is extremely bullshit. I endeavor to eliminate as much poll inertia as possible, by recalculating from scratch each week and using blind methodology. This poll is entirely resume based. Once again, it is not intended to be predictive in any way. We're here to generate a Report Card. What have you accomplished on the field so far this season against your schedule, and how hard was that schedule? That's the only question that matters. The result is generated almost entirely algorithmically. I reserve human input strictly for scenarios where things like head-to-head may be important. All P5 teams are equal, all G5 teams are equal, and all FCS teams are equal to start the season. This is a black box methodology; It does not care how you recruit, what you did last year, who your coach is, or what your logo is. There are no big stats involved. The most important stat for a football team is wins. WEEKLY NOTES: This was a fairly straightforward week, and once again we are seeing the vast majority of the movement happening within the poll, with the exception of 20-25 slots, which are pretty competitive. Roughly half teams in this poll have 2 losses. We're probably pretty close to either some 3 loss teams making it in, or some G5 teams without big wins but with a low loss count, like ULL, Memphis, Tulane.

Rank Team Reason
1 Oregon Ducks TIER 1 - Undefeated Teams with At Least 7 P5 Wins Oregon sits atop this tier, at 10-0 with 8 P5 wins. They also have 2 Ranked Wins over last week's #12 Ohio State and #14 Boise State. With one more P5 win than anybody else in this tier, Oregon is the clear #1 team in my poll.
2 BYU Cougars BYU is 9-0 with 7 P5 wins. They have 2 Ranked Wins over last week's #6 SMU and #17 Kansas State.
3 Indiana Hoosiers Indiana is 10-0 with 7 P5 wins. With no ranked wins, they sit at the bottom of this tier.
4 SMU Mustangs TIER 2 - 1 Loss Teams with 6 P5 Wins (minus Notre Dame) Note: Notre Dame would ordinarily take this spot with 1 ranked win and 7 P5 wins, but losing to a G5 team at home looks worse and worse as the tiers differentiate themselves, so the tier they solely occupy has been moved down a rung. SMU is 8-1 with 1 Ranked Win over last week's #11 Pittsburgh, as well as 1 loss to #2 BYU. With a higher ranked win, and a loss only to a ranked team, SMU takes this spot over Tennessee.
5 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee is 8-1 with 1 Ranked Win over last week's #19 Alabama, as well as 1 loss @ Arkansas.
6 Miami Hurricanes Miami is 9-1 with 6 P5 wins, including 3 away, as well as 2 G5 wins including 1 away, 1 FCS win, and 1 loss @ Georgia Tech. They take this spot over Penn State due to having an additional away game and an additional game played.
7 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State is 8-1 with 6 P5 wins, including 3 away, as well as 2 G5 wins, 1 FCS win, and 1 loss to last week's #12 Ohio State.
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish TIER 3 - The Notre Dame Tier Notre Dame has 1 ranked win @ #16 TAMU, only 1 loss, and 7 P5 wins. Unfortunately for them, they lost at home to a G5 team. No bueno.
9 Ohio State Buckeyes TIER 4 - 1 Loss Teams with 5 P5 Wins Ohio State is 8-1 with 1 Ranked Win over last week's #8 Penn State, as well as a ranked loss @ #1 Oregon.
10 Texas Longhorns Texas is 8-1 with no ranked wins, and a ranked loss to last week's #5 UGA.
11 Boise State Broncos TIER 5 - The Boise/Wazzu Tier Boise is 8-1 with a Ranked Win over last week's #15 Wazzu, as well as a ranked loss @ #1 Oregon. Once again, these teams are essentially at the bottom of the 1-Loss teams, and despite Wazzu having an extra P5 win, head to head puts Boise above them.
12 Washington State Cougars Wazzu is 8-1 with a ranked loss @ last week's #14 Boise State.
13 Georgia Bulldogs TIER 6 - 2 Loss Teams with 6 P5 Wins UGA is 7-2 with 2 Ranked Wins @ last week's #13 Texas and at a neutral site over #18 Clemson, as well as 2 ranked losses @ #19 Alabama and @ #21 Ole Miss. Head to head over Clemson places them in this spot.
14 Clemson Tigers Clemson is 7-2 with no ranked wins, as well as 2 losses to Louisville and at a neutral site to #5 UGA.
15 Alabama Crimson Tide TIER 7 - 2 Loss Teams with 5 P5 Wins and at Least 1 Ranked Win Alabama is 7-2 with 2 Ranked Wins over last week's #5 UGA and @ #20 LSU, as well as 2 losses, one @ #9 Tennessee, and one @ Vanderbilt.
16 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss is 8-2 with 1 Ranked Win over last week's #5 UGA, as well as 2 losses to Kentucky and @ #20 LSU.
17 Texas A&M Aggies TAMU is 7-2 with 1 Ranked Win over last week's #20 LSU, as well as 2 losses @ SCar and to #7 ND
18 Kansas State Wildcats Kansas State is 7-2 with 1 Ranked Win over last week's #22 Colorado, as well as 2 losses @ Houston and @ #2 BYU.
19 Pittsburgh Panthers Pitt is 7-2 with 1 Ranked Win over last week's #25 Syracuse, as well as 2 losses to Virginia and @ #6 SMU
20 Colorado Buffaloes TIER 8 - 2 Loss Teams with 5 P5 Wins (no ranked wins) Colorado is 7-2 with 5 P5 wins, including 3 away, as well as 1 G5 away win, 1 FCS win, and 2 losses @ Nebraska and to last week's #17 Kansas State. With one loss to a ranked team and more away wins than the other teams in this tier, the Buffs top this tier.
21 Iowa State Cyclones Iowa State is 7-2 with 5 P5 wins, including 3 away, as well as 1 G5 win, 1 FCS win, and 2 losses to Texas Tech and @ Kansas.
22 Arizona State Sun Devils ASU is 7-2 with 5 P5 wins, including 1 away, as well as 2 G5 wins including 1 away, 1 FCS win, and 2 losses to Cincinnati and @ Texas Tech.
23 Missouri Tigers TIER 9 - 2 Loss teams with 4 P5 Wins (no ranked wins) Mizzou is 7-2 with 4 P5 wins, no ranked wins, as well as 2 losses @ #16 TAMU and @ #19 Alabama.
24 UNLV Rebels TIER 10 - 2 Loss Teams with 3 P5 Wins (no ranked wins) UNLV is 7-2 with 3 P5 Wins, as well as 2 ranked losses to last week's #14 Boise State and #25 Syracuse.
25 Army West Point TIER 11 - Undefeated Army Army is still undefeated, and deserves to be ranked at this point in the season.

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