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throwaway_6786 Ballot for 2025 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 4, 2025, 9:32 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Still taking how teams did over the last two years, but since every team has a game played on the field, there's at least something concrete to work with. I don't take past performance away until after 3-4 games have been played, but past performance will mean less and less with each game played.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes Pretty obvious. I really should've had them preseason #1 on account of being the defending champs, but after beating Texas, they're the only legitimate choice for #1 right now in my opinion.
2 Penn State Nittany Lions They looked solid against Nevada and they've got two great years backing them up. Their schedule is light, however, so until that Oregon game, they'll have to continue dominating to stick around (and even then, if other teams get sound victories over solid opponents, that will cause PSU to fall slightly).
3 Miami Hurricanes It got very dicey at the end there, but the Canes pulled out a huge win over ND and came up big when they had to (even though they were turtling for almost the entire 4th quarter). Still, ND is a decent-looking team, so Miami gets a big jump for this win.
4 Georgia Bulldogs No problems against Marshall. It will be interesting to see where this team goes with Gunnar Stockton at QB, but as long as Smart is steering the ship, this team will be in the mix for a title come playoff time.
5 LSU Tigers Not the best showing from LSU, but considering that they played Clemson on the road (there's a Death Valley joke there somewhere), the Tigers deserve a ton of credit for fighting through the first-game mistakes that have plagued them in the Brian Kelly era and pulling out a huge win. That defense is nasty good, by the way. Like, SEC-champ good.
6 Oregon Ducks Handled a top-flight FCS team in Montana State rather easily. It's an interesting month for the Ducks: A rare game against Oklahoma State, a trip to Northwestern, this year's Civil War against Oregon State, and a showdown against PSU in Happy Valley. They play two OSU's this month, and neither of them are Ohio State (their current conference foe).
7 Texas Longhorns Tough loss, but considering they went toe-to-toe with the defending champs on their turf, I can't penalize them too much (especially since their 2022 season is no longer weighing them down).
8 South Carolina Gamecocks Others may not be so high on this team, but LaNorris Sellers looks like one of the best QBs in the land right now. I'm interested to see how they'll handle the middle part of their schedule, but Beamer's got this team looking like a force to be reckoned with.
9 Arizona State Sun Devils A rather ho-hum win over Northern Arizona, though they'll have to clean up the penalties. That'll cost them against the meat of their schedule. Leavitt looks to have improved from last season, which is bad news for the rest of the Big 12.
10 Illinois Fighting Illini Crushed their directional in-state FCS foe, nothing much else to report for now.
11 Michigan Wolverines Looked a bit shaky against New Mexico, but still handled their business. The 2023 team is still pulling weight for the Wolverines, but that will go away after this week, so a good performance against Oklahoma (or a ton of chaos around them) is necessary to prevent a drop next week.
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Tough loss on the road against a decent-looking opponent. Still, it's only the first game and they have two solid seasons behind them to back them up, so they don't drop too far.
13 Clemson Tigers Clemson takes a tumble because they lost, but also because their offense, which was touted as a fearsome unit coming into this year, was underwhelming. Granted, they were playing a staunch defense, but still, only one solid scoring drive leaves me wanting more from the Tigers' O.
14 Iowa State Cyclones I'm a bit high on the Cyclones, but they're a team that has improved from last year and they no longer have their disastrous 2022 campaign weighing their rank down anymore. Still, K-State's noticeable struggles against North Dakota have me a bit leery of what quality of team Iowa State truly is.
15 SMU Mustangs Similarly to the Cyclones, SMU's 2022 season isn't pulling them down anymore, so they rise up the rankings here. The Mustangs handled their cupcake with ease, but the battle for the Iron Skillet might not be so easy for SMU to win this time around.
16 Florida State Seminoles So, other than Thomas Castellanos and Lee Corso, who saw that coming? The Seminoles will probably drop next week on account of the fact that their 2023 season won't have any sway on their ranking after their next game, but still, things are looking up for Mike Norvell and these Tallahassee boys after a horrifying 2024 campaign.
17 Utah Utes Again, this might be a little high for some folks, but the Utes just blasted a P4 opponent on the road and have decent seasons to back them up.
18 Ole Miss Rebels Similar to Utah, but they didn't play as tough an opponent. Still, the Rebels have the talent to compete for that elusive SEC championship.
19 Indiana Hoosiers Sketchy first quarter, but they handled a tricky ODU team that's got a few P4 upsets in recent years. Still, the Hoosiers can't rely entirely on their 2024 campaign to prop them up; they'll have to play much better against the likes of Illinois.
20 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets GT has the same effect that ISU and SMU have with their 2022 season not weighing them down anymore. Combine that with a sketchy, interesting victory on the road against Colorado, and here are the Yellow Jackets.
21 Alabama Crimson Tide I couldn't drop them all the way off due to their varying success over the last two seasons, but if that's not a wake-up call for the Tide to get in gear, they might be in serious trouble this year.
22 BYU Cougars BYU has a bad 2023 season keeping them out of the top 20, but they also have a great 2024 season that keeps them in the top 25. So, here they are. A nice 69-0 victory over poor old Portland State.
23 Florida Gators The state of Florida is well-represented in this poll. The Gators crushed Long Island 55-0 and appear to be on the upswing. However, their last two seasons have been iffy, so I'm leery to put them any higher than this for now.
24 TCU Horned Frogs Wow. 48-14, and they made it look so easy after that first TD drive from UNC. Still, I don't know if that says more about UNC than it does about the Horned Frogs, so for now, TCU scratches their way into #24.
25 Tennessee Volunteers A solid victory over Syracuse with a few hiccups, but nothing too serious. A tune-up against ETSU is followed by a massive early-season showdown against Georgia. Win that game, and the Volunteers will shoot up these rankings.

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