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ToeInDigDeep Ballot for 2025 Week 10

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 28, 2025, 2:29 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Last week my ballot submission was met with some emotional responses, so I will provide more explanation this week of my ranking methodology. There are three main theories of ranking teams: 1. hypothetical "best" rankings where responders make guesses about who would win in hypothetical situations; 2. tiered rankings of teams with equal records, often called "resume" rankings; 3. hybrids of the above where ballots make an effort to combine hypothetical outcomes with on-field results. The vast majority of rankings are use systems 1 or 3. I object to these as being too fantastic and relying too much upon the imaginations of the voters who set teams with poorer records and more losses ahead of teams with better records and fewer losses because they "know" that those teams are better than the ones that have fewer losses than they do. Do I think Navy at 7-0 would beat all of the teams who have losses that I've ranked below them? I don't know, but I don't view that a relevant question to be asking. They didn't lose any games! It's hard not to lose games, and by this point in the season, only six teams have managed to do it. I believe you rank teams who haven't lost games above teams who have. Similarly, if a team has only lost one game, I contend that this is a better record and therefore I will rank them higher than teams who have lost two or more games. Do I think that some 2-loss teams would certainly beat some 1-loss teams? I contend it doesn't matter! They have fewer losses and are therefore worthy of being ranked ahead of the teams with more losses. This has proven to be very controversial, and a lot of people fundamentally disagree with this line of thinking. But the fact that a lot of people disagree with an idea doesn't invalidate the idea. If you do disagree, you will likely oppose to this line of thinking and object this ballot. That's okay, because lots of different people have many different opinions. The second line of thinking that deviates from the majority of ballot submissions here is the internal order for undefeated, one-loss, and multiple-loss teams. I differ in my perspective from the majority of ballot submissions in my interpretation of which one-loss teams I will list in which order, based upon my perspectives of which conferences and which teams are stronger than others. Here I again differ from the norm in viewing conferences as largely being equivalent to each other to a greater degree than most appear to, and my willingness to rate one-loss teams from the Big XII, the ACC, and yes, even the AAC or MWC, ahead of one-loss teams in the Big Ten or SEC. It strikes me as unusual that this statement should be so controversial, but it decidedly is. We don't know if Louisville or Houston is better than Alabama or Georgia, all of whom have the same number of losses. Most folks have decided that Alabama and Georgia are innately superior to Oregon or Texas Tech; I disagree, and am using my ballot to disagree in the one forum where that disagreement can be voiced. There were 306 voters in the main poll last week. My ballot was 1/306 of these voices. I chose to use my small voice here to advocate for a different interpretation, a different reading, of college football than the one advocated by ESPN and the AP. I maintain that it is important for there to be lots of different voices and perspectives in a poll like this one.

Rank Team Reason
1 Indiana Hoosiers AP #2
2 Ohio State Buckeyes AP #1
3 BYU Cougars AP #10
4 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets AP #8
5 Texas A&M Aggies AP #3
6 Navy Midshipmen AP unranked
7 Oregon Ducks AP # 6, loss to Indiana
8 Texas Tech Red Raiders AP #13, loss to ASU
9 Alabama Crimson Tide AP #4, loss to Florida State
10 Houston Cougars AP #22, loss to Texas Tech
11 Georgia Bulldogs AP #5, loss to Alabama
12 Virginia Cavaliers AP #15, loss to NC State
13 Vanderbilt Commodores AP #9, loss to Alabama
14 Ole Miss Rebels AP #7, loss to LSU
15 Louisville Cardinals AP #16, loss to Virginia
16 Miami Hurricanes AP #10, loss to Louisville
17 Cincinnati Bearcats AP #17, loss to Nebraska
18 Memphis Tigers AP #25, loss to USF
19 Tulane Green Wave AP unranked, loss to Ole Miss
20 North Texas Mean Green AP unranked, loss to USF
21 James Madison Dukes AP unranked, loss to Lousiville
22 San Diego State Aztecs AP unranked, loss to Washington State
23 UNLV Rebels AP unranked, loss to Boise State
24 Notre Dame Fighting Irish AP #12, loss to Texas A&M and Miami
25 Utah Utes AP 24, loss to Texas Tech and BYU

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