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goodnames679 Ballot for 2025 Week 5

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 21, 2025, 3:15 p.m.

Overall Rationale: This week I am continuing to rapidly adjust my ballot towards being fully results-based, so you'll see more very large changes. As mentioned last week, this week is still not fully results-based and won't be until next week, but it's already much closer to my goal. Next week should be when everything is based solely on on-the-field results and I stop accounting for my perception of the teams' potential.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes Really, Ohio State and Georgia are 1a and 1b here. Both have comparable close wins to teams I have around the middle of the pack. The main differentiator currently is that I consider Ohio to be a much better team than Marshall, as well as the fact that Georgia looked pretty rough against Austin Peay of all teams.
2 Georgia Bulldogs
3 Miami Hurricanes The Notre Dame win is against a team that I'd consider good, but ND's defense seems to be awful this year. Dominating USF (who I still just barely rank) helps a lot. The Florida win was fine, but I don't rate Florida very highly honestly.
4 Oregon Ducks Oregon is one of the main teams benefiting from me not going fully results-based yet. They haven't really played anyone of note, but they've looked fantastic against the teams they have played and will have an opportunity to prove themselves soon against Penn State.
5 Indiana Hoosiers Indiana has the most dominant win against a ranked team in the country. I feel iffy about ranking them this highly so early, especially since I've already been hesitant about Illinois and ranking them lower than most others seem to. They deserve the spot for now though.
6 Oklahoma Sooners A close win against #17 Auburn and a less-close win against #25 Michigan means
7 Penn State Nittany Lions Another team benefiting from things not being fully results-based yet. I fully expect their defense to be nasty this year and their offense to be pretty damn good, but it's hard to tell how good until they get some more games in against top teams.
8 Florida State Seminoles One of the better wins in the country over Alabama keeps them propped up pretty high. This is definitely not the FSU of last year.
9 Texas Tech Red Raiders I genuinely cannot tell if Utah's offense is ass or Texas Tech's defense is insane. I thought a lot of Utah till this week, so I'm giving Texas Tech plenty of props for that win.
10 Texas A&M Aggies A close win against Notre Dame is still solid, but it coming in the most improbable way raises questions. I think ND will almost definitely end this season ranked, so it's still enough to keep A&M well rated in my book.
11 Ole Miss Rebels Kentucky and Arkansas are both ok wins, but I was pretty high on Tulane this season and Ole Miss absolutely dominated them. That's enough for me to bump them up pretty significantly.
12 Vanderbilt Commodores The South Carolina win isn't looking as good as it was before after this week's result, but it's still a dominant win against a team I'd consider likely better than the wins of teams ranked below Vandy. The Commodores are looking pretty damn solid this year.
13 LSU Tigers The Clemson win looked great, until Clemson turned out to be bad. The Florida win would be great, if Florida wasn't really bad. Overall I really think a lot of LSU's defense, but I still have large questions about their offense.
14 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets GT has a pair of decent, albeit close, wins. I don't think a lot of Clemson or Colorado this year, but GT has done what they needed to do and shown a lot of grit the program used to lack.
15 Missouri Tigers Mizzou hasn't taken a loss yet, and the Kansas / South Carolina wins are alright.
16 Iowa State Cyclones Iowa State has an ok win over Iowa and no losses, but nothing too impressive on their resume yet.
17 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee looks like a very complete team and I think the Syracuse win is pretty solid. They should be a team to watch this year, I think there's a very good chance they make it back into the playoffs
18 Auburn Tigers The Baylor win is solid, and they kept it close against a pretty damn good Oklahoma team.
19 Texas Longhorns Texas, like Auburn, has a close loss against a top team. The problem is that they don't have a single win against a good team yet, unlike the other 1-loss teams above them.
20 Alabama Crimson Tide The FSU loss isn't looking as bad as it once was, and the team doesn't look ready to quit yet. Alabama will probably be good but not great this season, if I had to guess.
21 USC Trojans No losses for them yet, and I think MSU will turn out to be an ok team this year so I'm willing to rank USC. I'd like to see more evidence before I push them up too far, though, as Purdue and MSU aren't exactly signature wins at this time.
22 Illinois Fighting Illini I thought Illinois was a fairly complete team, but they suffered one of the worst beatdowns I can recall against a top 10 team if not the worst. I'm not ready to drop them off the ballot yet, because Indiana might just turn out to be really damn good.
23 USF Bulls The Boise State win is not as good as it once seemed, but is ok. Same deal for Florida. The Miami beatdown can be overlooked for now, but I have a few teams that are veeeeery close to squeaking ahead of USF currently.
24 Mississippi State Bulldogs ASU is seeming pretty okay this year, but like a team without much identity. Not sure it's a great win at all yet, but it's enough for me to keep Miss State ranked currently.
25 Michigan Wolverines A closeish loss to a top 10 team shouldn't eliminate a team from being ranked, and I think Nebraska is pretty good. I heavily considered whether Michigan deserved this over Maryland, Memphis, North Texas, UNLV... but for now I'll give them the edge.

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