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nw____ Ballot for 2025 Week 8

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 14, 2025, 9:20 a.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Indiana Hoosiers Undefeated with the best win of the season. Traveling that far to play that team in that stadium and kinda whooping them? That’s not an accident. Add two above average wins (@Iowa which has definitely caught people sleeping in Kinnick before & Illinois) and that’s the top resume to me. @Oregon @Iowa Illinois
2 Miami Hurricanes Two good wins (ND, @FSU) and two above average wins (Florida, USF) with no losses. That’s about as good a resume as possible at this time of the year, though you could argue they’re missing that one true *great* win.
3 Ohio State Buckeyes Two pretty good wins (Texas, @Washington which is never an easy place to play) and an above average win against Illinois.
4 Texas A&M Aggies Also a very solid resume. One good win (ND) and two above average wins (Florida at home, Mississippi State).
5 Alabama Crimson Tide A great win @UGA and two good wins (@Mizzou, Vandy). Without the Florida State loss, they would be neck and neck with Indiana for my top team
6 Texas Tech Red Raiders Their only win that I’d consider a good one is @Utah, and that’s a really solid W in one of the toughest road environments in the sport. I consider Kansas an above average win, and it’s possible I might see @Houston as one, too. Good showings against ASU and possibly BYU will be very important for their resume, but it’s not their fault they can’t play themselves.
7 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets One above average win (@Duke), an average win (@Colorado), and one idk what to do with (Clemson).
8 Ole Miss Rebels They have one good win (LSU) and some kind of sketchy below average wins: Beat Arkansas 41-35 Beat Wazzu 24-21 (at home no less) They really need a good showing against UGA for their resume. Any loss will really hurt them.
9 Georgia Bulldogs The Tennessee win doesn’t look as good as it used to. Outside of that, they have a win against Auburn and…I guess a close loss to Bama? Need more good wins.
10 Virginia Cavaliers They’ve got a reasonably bad loss to NC State (who I don’t think is terrible) but also two pretty good wins (FSU, Louisville). They have more good wins than a lot of teams on this list.
11 Vanderbilt Commodores Only above average win is @South Carolina. A loss to Bama is still a loss.
12 Oregon Ducks They just don’t have a great win at this point. @Penn State might still count as a good win, as it is always a tough place to play, but it’s downgraded by the fact that 1) Franklin never wins big games and has since been fired, 2) they have since lost to Northwestern and UCLA…there’s not much else to point to on the resume here. No great wins in their favor.
13 Memphis Tigers They’ve got the Arkansas win which is worth something but that’s kind of it. The USF game will make or break them later this month.
14 BYU Cougars No good wins, only sketchy average ones: Beat Colorado 24-21 Beat Arizona 33-27 in 2OT If they had a loss, they likely wouldn’t be ranked for me.
15 Utah Utes The Texas Tech loss doesn’t look as bad as it once did. Only really have one good win, though (beat ASU 42-10).
16 Missouri Tigers Above average wins against Kansas and South Carolina. Very close loss to Alabama, though imo that game wasn’t as close as the final score suggests.
17 Tennessee Volunteers Really need more good wins. A scary average win against Mississippi State (41-34 in OT) and a much-closer-than-it-should’ve-been win against Arkansas (34-31). The loss to UGA was close but it’s not clear to me yet that that’s a good loss—I’m not sure that UGA is a great team.
18 Washington Huskies One above average (and possibly good win considering the travel situation) @Maryland. That’s kind of it unless you think Rutgers is good. I’m interested to see how they look against Michigan and Illinois.
19 Nebraska Cornhuskers Good win against Cincinnati (which is why they are ranked here) and a notable win @Maryland.
20 Cincinnati Bearcats Good win against Iowa State and an above average win @Kansas
21 Texas Longhorns ranked because they beat OU and I can’t justify ranking OU w/o ranking Texas (though frankly I did consider dropping OU out of the top 25 bc of their offense…the defense is just too good). That’s their only good win, though.
22 Oklahoma Sooners Good wins against Auburn and Michigan but got pantsed in the Cotton Bowl. Might have a DC as their HC. Offense might suck. I hate this sport sometimes.
23 Illinois Fighting Illini *shrug emoji* the win against USC is why they’re here.
24 USF Bulls Wins against Boise St and Florida are looking better, even if UF falls of a cliff.
25 LSU Tigers Not sure they really deserve to be top 25, but they do have an above average win against Florida and a win idk what to do with against Clemson (and it was @Clemson). Amazing how much work Florida is doing for teams in my rankings btw

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