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LightningDusty Ballot for 2025 Week 9

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 19, 2025, 12:06 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Casual Fan Takes and Resumé

Rank Team Reason
1 Indiana Hoosiers = Dominant as ever. Embrace #1 Indiana, cowards!
2 Ohio State Buckeyes = Wisconsin never had a chance. Then again, they haven't had a chance in any game this season with how atrocious they are.
3 Texas A&M Aggies ↑1 Got into a Big XII type shootout against Arkansas and prevailed. Deserves to be ranked as the highest SEC team until they lose.
4 Alabama Crimson Tide ↑3 The FSU loss feels like years ago. Alabama is humming and looks poised to finish 11-1. Oklahoma is probably the toughest game left on the schedule. Massive credit to Kalen DeBoer, the rest of the staff, and the players for not letting a demoralizing opening week ruin their season. You can hate Alabama all you want, but they've earned respect.
5 Georgia Bulldogs ↑3 So Georgia has a pretty good offense, but their defense is ass? Is this like the opposite of 2018-2020 UGA? This team confuses me. Clean Old Fashioned Hate is gonna be even more hateful this year.
6 BYU Cougars ↑5 You won the Holy War, but the ending to your schedule is BRUTAL. @ Iowa State, @ Texas Tech, and @ Cincinnati still to go? BYU is great, yet could still end up with three losses.
7 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets ↑3 Continue to endure the challenges thrown at you, and you'll climb until your hands fall off. Could legitimately grind and pound their way to 11-1.
8 Ole Miss Rebels ↓3 No shame in losing on the road in Athens. Wazzu giving Virginia a heart attack also makes that close game look a little more respectable. 11-1 or 10-2 are very much still possible, and either should get you into the playoff.
9 Vanderbilt Commodores ↑7 EVERYBODY COME ON WE'RE GONNA GET YOU!!!!!!!!!!! 👑🦯
10 Miami Hurricanes ↓7 Carson Beck and Mario Cristobal masterpiece right here. I was higher on Louisville prior to this game than most, so I won't ding you THAT hard for the loss, but you're deservedly a laughingstock right now. Please choke away the ACC again. It'd be world class comedy.
11 Oregon Ducks ↑1 Poor Rutgers. They just wanted to play a football game and have some fun...
12 Texas Tech Red Raiders ↓6 That's a brutal way to get your first loss, but I'm still a believer in this team. BYU is your only real difficult test left, plus you get a nice tune up against Oklahoma State next week.
13 Oklahoma Sooners = How did y'all get clobbered by Texas? They looked like ASS again versus Kentucky! Good job not letting them beat ya twice, though. Took care of business.
14 Missouri Tigers ↑1 Auburn chokes yet another winnable game against Missouri. Hugh Freeze will be gone soon. Don't expect mulligans from Vandy or Texas A&M.
15 Virginia Cavaliers ↑3 Another near Wazzu cardiac victim! That Louisville win looks extra sexy now on the upside.
16 Louisville Cardinals ↑8 Looks like they DID deserve to be ranked after all! Good work putting that arrogant team and fan base back in their place since my squad was utterly incapable of doing so weeks ago.
17 Cincinnati Bearcats ↑4 Quietly still undefeated in the Big XII and a total wild card. Could they sneak into the title game and playoff? I bet Luke Fickell wishes he could be back here right now.
18 USF Bulls ↑4 G6 frontrunner! Not much more to say.
19 Notre Dame Fighting Irish ↑NR We're at the point in the season where two losses doesn't look so bad. Considering Notre Dame has two very close, respectable losses, AND they just picked up a quality win against USC, they deserve a ranking. 10-2 will more than likely get you into the playoff.
20 Utah Utes ↑3 It's not often that a team moves UP after a loss, but your fight versus BYU was admirable and a LOT of teams above you took a hard fall. The ASU win also got a nice glow up. The entire #20-#25 range aren't separated by much.
21 Arizona State Sun Devils ↑NR Pitchforks can apparently defeat loaded pistols if they're brought from hell! Right back in the thick of the Big XII race, though you'll probably need a bit of help.
22 Tennessee Volunteers ↓13 No cigars for you. Alabama is still your daddy. I definitely had you overranked last week. Gonna need to be flawless to make the playoff.
23 Texas Longhorns ↑NR I feel gross ranking them. Maybe a B1G school should be here instead. The Oklahoma win and close Ohio State loss are just barely good enough to slide you up here. Performances against Florida and Kentucky, two SEC bottom feeders, were absolutely repulsive, though. There's no way this team weasels their way into the playoff, right?
24 Navy Midshipmen ↑NR You are literally only here because you're still undefeated. Your SOS to this point has been lackluster, but 6-0 is 6-0. If FAU or North Texas don't expose you, Notre Dame and/or USF almost certainly will.
25 Tulane Green Wave ↑NR Like last week, this slot (and #20-#25 as a whole) probably could've gone to a handful of other teams. There's a clusterfuck of decent 1 loss G6 schools and 2 loss P4 teams trying to squeak into the rankings. Consider this the "receiving votes" section of my rankings. In no particular order, here they are: Memphis North Texas USC Iowa Michigan Houston (only 1 loss but no good wins) James Madison

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