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T-Thugs Ballot for 2025 Week 9

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 19, 2025, 10:38 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Each week, I re-rank teams based on their resumes so far this season.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State looks like the most dominant team in the country. They're destroying everyone. They have good wins over Texas (5-2, defeated Oklahoma), Illinois (5-2, defeated USC), Washington (5-2) and Minnesota (5-2). They're the reigning champs and look like the best team again.
2 Indiana Hoosiers Indiana has looked very good this year and with Miami's loss I think is a clear #2 to Ohio State. They have a great win over Oregon (6-1) and nice wins over Illinois (5-2, defeated USC) and Iowa (5-2).
3 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama's resume is absurd. They have a bizarre, bad loss to a pretty awful Florida State team, but they have wins over Georgia (6-1, defeated Ole Miss and Tennessee), Vanderbilt (6-1, defeated LSU), Missouri (6-1), and Tennessee (5-2). I debated whether they should be higher than undefeated Texas A&M and I just think their list of wins can't be denied.
4 Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M is undefeated at 7-0 and has a very nice win at Notre Dame (5-2, defeated USC). That's really their one big win. Also have a win over Miss State (4-3, defeated Arizona State). They play LSU next week.
5 BYU Cougars BYU is 7-0 and defeated Utah (5-2) and Arizona (4-3)
6 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia is 6-1 with a great win over Ole Miss (6-1, defeated LSU and Tulane) and a win over Tennessee (5-2)
7 Louisville Cardinals Louisville is 5-1 with a great win over Miami (5-1, defeated Notre dame) and another good win over Pitt (5-2)
8 Miami Hurricanes Miami is 5-1 with a win over Notre Dame (5-2, defeated USC) and South Florida (6-1)
9 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss is 6-1 with a win over Tulane (6-1, defeated Northwestern) and LSU (5-2)
10 Texas Tech Red Raiders Texas Tech is 6-1 with good wins over Houston (6-1) and Utah (5-2)
11 Virginia Cavaliers Virginia is 6-1 with a nice win over Louisville (5-1). I struggled placing Virginia. Part of me feels like they should be above Louisville since they beat them, but I think Louisville having 2 quality wins is a strong argument and Virginia really only has the Louisville win. Lost to NC State
12 Vanderbilt Commodores Vanderbilt is 6-1 with a nice win over LSU (5-2)
13 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma is 6-1 with a nice win over Michigan (5-2)
14 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Georgia Tech is 7-0, but I'm not really very impressed with their resume. Best wins are over Duke (4-3) and Wake Forest (4-2)
15 Oregon Ducks Oregon is 6-1 with a nice win over Northwestern (5-2)
16 Cincinnati Bearcats Cincinnati is 6-1 with a nice win over Iowa State (5-2, defeated Iowa) and also has a win over Kansas (4-3)
17 Arizona State Sun Devils Arizona State is 5-2 with a nice win over Texas Tech (6-1, defeated Utah) and also a win over TCU (5-2). Hurts they picked up a loss while their QB was out.
18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame is 5-2 with a nice win over USC (5-2, defeated Michigan) and also has a win over NC State (4-3, defeated Virginia). They look like a very tough team now.
19 Illinois Fighting Illini Illinois is 5-2 with losses to only Indiana and Ohio State. I've got them ranked here thanks to a win over USC (5-2, defeated Michigan) Also beat Duke (4-3)
20 Texas Longhorns Texas is a weird team to rank. They seemingly don't play very well pretty often and needed overtime to beat Kentucky last night, but they are 5-2 with a nice win over Oklahoma (6-1)
21 USC Trojans USC is 5-2 with losses to ND and Illinois. Has a nice win over Michigan (5-2).
22 Michigan Wolverines Michigan is 5-2 with losses to USC and Oklahoma. Has nice wins over Nebraska (5-2, defeated Cincinnati) and Washington (5-2)
23 Houston Cougars Houston is 6-1 but kinda lacking quality wins. Best win is over Arizona (4-3). They play Arizona State next week and can prove they belong in the rankings.
24 Missouri Tigers Missouri is 6-1 but also lacking quality wins. Best win is over Kansas (4-3). They play Vanderbilt next week and could shoot up the rankings quite a bit with a win.
25 Tulane Green Wave Tulane is 6-1 with a nice win over Northwestern (5-2) and also beat Duke (4-3). Other teams I considered for this spot: Iowa State, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Florida, Navy

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