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Luigiatl Ballot for 2025 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 1, 2025, 10:36 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Using this space to talk about teams I was considering but left out: \\ Oklahoma: The talent's clearly there, and they didn't do anything wrong, but a few other teams had more impressive wins. I like their defense and they'll be a tough out for anyone. \\ TCU: Demolished a popular UNC team in a very nice road win. There's still more to prove, but I think their Week 4 matchup at a somewhat flat Arizona State will be a great test. \\ Tulane: A nice win over a P4 opponent puts Tulane at the top of the G5 pack. Tulane and USF don't play each other, and seem like early front-runners for the AAC championship. \\ Alabama: Of course the talent is there, and it may be harsh to bump them out entirely. But, there is some serious coaching and offensive work to do, and the schedule for the rest of the season doesn't get much easier.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes A full, complete win over a very good Texas team propels Ohio State to the top. They're the reigning national champions; given their performance, no reason to bump them down.
2 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State's ranking here is based on their elite talent in Drew Allar, who had a respectable performance before being substituted off late. Their first 3 games are all cupcakes but then have a big test when they host Oregon in Week 4.
3 Georgia Bulldogs Gunner Stockton looked good in a strong performance against Marshall. Right now they're just barely at the top of the SEC, but have big games against Tennessee and Alabama to start SEC play soon.
4 LSU Tigers LSU and Garrett Nussmeier went away to Clemson and convincingly showed they were the better team. Based only off Week 1, they look like SEC favorites. I have them still below Georgia primarily due to coaching talent, but there's no denying the strength of their performance.
5 Oregon Ducks Oregon had a strong win over Montana State, and rise as other teams fall.
6 Miami Hurricanes Miami now has a great win over Notre Dame, in my estimation one of the most valuable wins of the weekend. Their schedule isn't bad at all from here on out, with the most likely stumbling blocks being against Florida and @ SMU.
7 Texas Longhorns They looked like a top 10 team for sure against Ohio State, especially in their defense, but Arch Manning clearly has some problems to work out. Thankfully their next 3 games will provide plenty of time for tune-up.
8 South Carolina Gamecocks South Carolina got a good win over Virginia Tech. It's not the best win of the weekend, but given their roster's strength and other top teams losing their matchups, there's no reason for South Carolina to not rise a bit.
9 Clemson Tigers Similarly to Notre Dame, Clemson looked good against a top team, but couldn't get the win. I rate LSU more highly than Miami, so Clemson's showing was more impressive to me.
10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish A loss to Miami hurts, but the Irish still put in a tough fight and looked like a top team. Quality wins are always scarce for Notre Dame, so they still have some work to do the rest of the season.
11 Illinois Fighting Illini Illinois rises a bit due to other teams falling, but they didn't look half-bad against Western Illinois. Altmyer is an elite quarterback, and Bielema knows how to get wins from nothing. The game against Duke next week will be an important early test for a still relatively unknown team.
12 Iowa State Cyclones Iowa State got the crucial victory in Ireland, which admittedly looks a bit worse after KSU's rough game against North Dakota. However, there's no strong reason to not see them as the frontrunners for the Big 12.
13 Florida Gators Florida had a strong offensive and defensive showing against an admittedly-terrible LIU team. There's clearly enough talent to raise them up.
14 SMU Mustangs SMU inherits a bit of momentum from last year. Their game was fairly unremarkable, and my opinion of them hasn't changed much from preseason.
15 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee had a pretty dominant showing against Syracuse, and a lot of the preseason questions seem to be answered. It's unlikely they'll be dominating the SEC, but they should have a perfectly respectable year.
16 Florida State Seminoles Florida State had a thorough, dominant game over a talented Alabama team. At no point did Alabama seem to have control of the game, indicating real talent from both FSU's offense and defense. This is an ambitious placing given last year but not many teams had a result like Florida State had.
17 Ole Miss Rebels A really dominant win over Georgia state helps Ole Miss rise. Austin Simmons is great and should have a great year in the SEC.
18 Michigan Wolverines Bryce Underwood looked great, which was one of my big question marks for Michigan. They could've had a stronger start against New Mexico but nothing especially concerns me yet about this team.
19 Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M's defense was worrying, but you can't deny the power of their offense and Marcel Reed. They should have a perfectly fine year, but might not be able to hold it together against the best of the SEC or Notre Dame.
20 Arizona State Sun Devils Arizona State is talented, but had a somewhat shaky game against Northern Arizona. It's not enough to bump them off the list, especially considering that most Week 1 games don't matter, but next week against Mississippi State is a big game. The absence of Skattebo is really felt.
21 Auburn Tigers Baylor may not be as good as first thought, but an away win over a top B12 team is still nothing to overlook. Jackson Arnold proved to be a versatile QB who can score points by himself.
22 Utah Utes Utah, similar to Auburn, had a great away win over a P4 team that's not a pushover. I think Baylor is better than UCLA, giving Auburn the higher position, but both had very similar, impressive Week 1s.
23 Texas Tech Red Raiders Texas Tech had a good, solid game, and didn't look especially weak anywhere, but falls due to some other teams just having more impressive Week 1 wins.
24 BYU Cougars As far as FCS stompings go, BYU had the best, with a suffocating defense and deep offense.
25 USC Trojans Like BYU, as far as FBS stompings go, USC had the best. USC is known to be an offensive team, and clearly displayed that, but also looked disciplined on defense. No alarm bells quite yet.

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