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bretticus33 Ballot for 2024 Final

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Jan. 21, 2025, 2:18 a.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes Before the season, Ohio State was one of two teams everyone was picking to win the national title and for good reason- the talent level and money put into the roster was ridiculous. Funny enough, it took a terrible loss to Michigan for Ohio State to finally unlock the full potential of the team. Ryan Day went from scorching hot seat to a national champion coach in the span of a month, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen.
2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish I don’t think anyone would have envisioned Notre Dame making a run at the national title when they lost to NIU in Week 2, but just like Ohio State’s loss to Michigan, that loss unlocked something in Notre Dame. The offense leaned into their physicality and ground game and they rode it to 13 straight wins and coming close to a comeback against Ohio State in the natty. Marcus Freeman is becoming one of the biggest coaches in the game despite the inexplicable losses along the way.
3 Oregon Ducks Overall, it was a great season for Oregon. They won 13 games, won the B1G in their first season, finally beat Washington, had a Heisman finalist, and were the #1 team for most of the season. Problem is the ending completely soured it, and this wasn’t the format’s fault. Oregon was gonna have to play a team like Ohio State eventually, and they came completely unprepared for the game.
4 Texas Longhorns For all the praise Sark gets as a play caller and offensive guru, the Texas offense was definitely missing something this year. The OL was pretty overrated, Quinn Ewers took a step back (may or may not have been injury related), the ground game wasn’t great, and the offense overall just couldn’t put together a complete game. It nearly cost them against ASU, and it definitely did against Ohio State. Now the Arch Manning era begins.
5 Penn State Nittany Lions PSU racked up a lot of wins, but I don’t think the James Franklin narrative died. It wasn’t necessarily that he couldn’t win big games, but more just can’t beat teams where he doesn’t have a clear talent advantage. He had that against SMU and Boise State, but in their 3 losses to Oregon, Ohio State, and Notre Dame, there were clear issues that come back to the HC. The constant QB play problems and WR problems, the constant questionable decision making, etc. That all comes back to Franklin.
6 Georgia Bulldogs For all the talent Georgia has this year, several offensive issues arose for the Bulldogs. The QB play wasn’t good enough, Mike Bobo wasn’t good enough, and the pass-catchers were abysmal. You just can’t have that many drops. Georgia is loaded in most positions, but going into next season, I think the offense will have issues, and yet they’ll still win 10+ games and contend for the SEC.
7 Arizona State Sun Devils Fair to say Arizona State was the story of the season? Kenny Dillingham’s done a great job resurrecting the ASU program after the shitty state it was left in by the previous coaching regime. His recruiting and transfer pickups have been great, including Cam Skattebo who became a Sun Devil legend at the end of the season. Even though Skat will be gone, ASU still has a lot coming back next season and should be a favorite for the Big 12.
8 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee was a lot like Texas where the defense was generally pretty good but the offense left a lot to be desired. Instead of a lack of a ground game though, because Dylan Sampson was great, but rather Nico and the passing game wasn’t great. He’s been hyped up, but he didn’t show that growth and improvement you’d want to see over the course of the season. With Sampson going pro, Tennessee needs that from Nico next season.
9 Indiana Hoosiers Perhaps the most disrespected team in the country. Indiana blew the doors off everyone they played except two teams, and it was the two teams that played for the national title. Yet, that didn’t stop the media from shitting all over Indiana and the selection process when they lost at Notre Dame by 10. It was the best season in Indiana’s history, but next season will bring a lot of questions. Their 2024 success was in large part because of Cignetti bringing in a lot of transfers running out of eligibility, but there’s gonna be some questions in 2025, including at QB.
10 Boise State Broncos This was easily Boise’s best season in the last decade. Won 12 games, won the MWC for the 2nd straight season (first time doing that), and had a star player who put up an all-time season and became a household name (and should have won the Heisman). Losing the Fiesta Bowl sucks, but at least Boise State was doing something that not even the Kellen Moore teams got to do: play for a national title. Boise is losing a lot on defense and has an Ashton Jeanty-sized hole to fill in 2025, but don’t expect Boise to completely fall off the map.
11 BYU Cougars Maybe BYU should have been in the CFP conversations more? Their resume really wasn’t that terrible, and their absolute demolition of Colorado in the Alamo Bowl was one of the best performances of the postseason. BYU should return a lot of players too, so BYU could end up in CFP contention again next season.
12 SMU Mustangs No team has done the G5 to P4 transition as well as SMU. Most such teams are struggling .500 teams, but SMU nearly won the ACC in their first season there and made the CFP as an at-large anyways. I do have questions about their QB situation next season. Jennings was a spark for them this season, but his turnover-prone ways cost them their last two games and nearly cost them another. I can see it becoming an issue in 2025.
13 Illinois Fighting Illini Was Illinois the quietest 10 win team of the season? It seemed like after Illinois lost to Penn State, they fell out of the public eye but they just kept winning a lot, and they ended it with a win over the hottest team in the country in their bowl win over South Carolina. Bret Bielema has been a fantastic hire for the Illini, and while I don’t think Illinois has a shot at winning the B1G title next season, maybe they can contend for a CFP at-large spot?
14 Ole Miss Rebels 2024 was nothing but a disaster of a season for Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin. Sure, for the normal Ole Miss standard it was good, but Ole Miss put way too many resources into this roster and it was playoff or bust. Losing to Florida and Kentucky (who only won 1 conference game) knocked them out, and Lane Kiffin quickly got on everyone’s bad side with his constant shitposting about Ole Miss and SEC solidarity. I don’t think Lane’s job security is in any danger, but another disappointing 2025 season might change things.
15 Syracuse Orange Put Fran Brown in there with Cignetti for the best Year 1 coaching jobs. Syracuse went 10-3, beat Miami, and put up one of the most prolific offenses in the country. Brown’s recruiting has been great and things at Syracuse might be trending up. However, replacing Kyle McCord at QB may be a lot tougher than previously thought; he was magnificent for the Orange in 2024.
16 South Carolina Gamecocks Oooof. SCAR did the least talking after the CFP field was selected, but damn they didn’t help their case in that bowl game. The hottest team in the country got cooled off by Illinois and Shane Beamer embarrassed himself nationally with his new feud with Bret Beliema. Still, there’s reason for excitement in Columbia with a lot of important players returning, including LaNorris Sellers.
17 Alabama Crimson Tide Ooooooof. You can’t have this much public crying about not being in the CFP, especially after Indiana lost at Notre Dame, and do THAT. You can’t get blown out by the worst Oklahoma team in over 20 years, and you can’t lose with all your stars against Michigan’s 2nd/3rd stringers. Alabama desperately needs an upgrade at QB and could use better WRs outside of Ryan Williams, and Kalen DeBoer will quickly go through any goodwill from the fan base. Going 9-4 just won’t cut it for Alabama.
18 Missouri Tigers Missouri was a weird team this season. They didn’t feel like they should be a ranked team for much of the season, especially after getting blown out and shut out by Alabama, yet they end up here with another 10 win season and beat Iowa in their bowl game. Mizzou will have some big holes to fill with Brady Cook and Luther Burden leaving.
19 Iowa State Cyclones Was this the best season for Iowa State? They didn’t win the Big 12, so the century-long conference title drought will extend another season, but they still set program records for wins in a season and they won the best non-CFP bowl game. A lot of key pieces should be back for 2025, so next season could be a big one again for Iowa State.
20 Clemson Tigers Maybe the most bipolar season for Clemson in recent memory? They lost almost every big game they played, but ended up winning the most important one with a long-distance walkoff FG to beat SMU in the ACC title game and made the playoff, but then lost at Texas. The defense wasn’t as solid, prompting a DC change, but the offense looked its best in a few years and Cade Klubnik will get some Heisman talk going into next season. Clemson will probably be a top 10 preseason team going into 2025.
21 Memphis Tigers Memphis was my pick to be the G5 rep in the CFP, and while they didn’t get it, they’re still my pick for the 2nd best G5 team. They ended up having a really good season and their win over Tulane was huge. Ryan Silverfield seems to finally have Memphis on a positive track after a few rough years.
22 UNLV Rebels This has to be the best season for UNLV, right? The most wins they’ve ever had in a season and their first bowl win in over 20 years, and the Rebels were in the MWC title game for the 2nd straight season. They were also one of 2 or 3 G5 teams to win 2+ games against P4 teams, and they won 3 (Houston, Kansas, Cal).
23 Miami Hurricanes Miami gets the award for most overrated top 25 team. Don’t think I forgot the shitshow that was the Virginia Tech game, or the ref-assisted game against Cal. Don’t think I didn’t see how not-good Miami was outside of Cam Ward. Ward was great, and a worthy Heisman finalist, but Mario Cristobal’s Miami just isn’t great. I don’t think bringing in Carson Beck will help much either.
24 Kansas State Wildcats There’s just something about KSU that tells me they’re a fringe top 25 team. I still like Avery Johnson, but he needs to show more growth as a QB. That bowl win over Rutgers was nice though, and the best part was KSU didn’t abandon their identity. They came back by running the ball and pounding Rutgers, so expect KSU to keep that up into next year.
25 Army West Point What a year for Army; won 12 games, won their bowl game, and won the AAC in their first season there. However, they got a an extremely favorable draw in the AAC, avoiding all the heavy hitters, and they went 1-2 in their 3 toughest and most important games of the season.

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