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ToeInDigDeep Ballot for 2025 Week 11

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 4, 2025, 9:58 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Two weeks ago my ballot submission was met with some emotional responses, so I will again 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" (i.e., have predetermined) that those teams are better than the ones that have fewer losses than they do. Do I think Navy at 7-1 would beat all of the teams who have two losses that I've ranked below them? I don't know, but I don't view that a relevant question to be asking. They lost fewer games! I believe you rank teams who have lost one game above teams who have lost multiple games. 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 or two-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 Georgia Tech are better than Alabama or Georgia, all of whom have the same number of losses. So a ballot submitter can make a choice for themselves in which order to put teams with an equal 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 301 voters in the main poll last week. My ballot was 1/301 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. I’ll add at the very end for anyone still reading this — either in good faith or in bad — that this submission, like last week’s, feels dishonest, it feels like I’m lying. My honest and natural inclination is to put the teams I’ve ranked 7, 10 and 11 here lower, and to replace the 22 and 23 teams with Washington and Iowa. But I am still chastened by the intensity of the vitriol against the ballot from two weeks ago, and the fact that this poll literally assigns a number to the “most unusual ballots.” This has forced conformity because I’m not interested in being singled out again. But it also leads to an intellectual dishonesty that I’m confessing to here.

Rank Team Reason
1 Indiana Hoosiers Coaches #2, AP #2
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Coaches #1, AP #1
3 BYU Cougars Coaches #9, AP #8
4 Texas A&M Aggies Coaches #3, AP #3
5 Oregon Ducks Coaches #6, AP #6. Loss to Indiana
6 Texas Tech Red Raiders Coaches #9, AP #9. Loss to Arizona State
7 Alabama Crimson Tide Coaches #4, AP #4. Loss to Florida State
8 Virginia Cavaliers Coaches #11, AP #12. Loss to NC State
9 Louisville Cardinals Coaches #15, AP #14. Loss to Virginia
10 Georgia Bulldogs Coaches #5, AP #5. Loss to Alabama
11 Ole Miss Rebels Coaches #7, AP #7. Loss to Alabama
12 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Coaches #14, AP #16. Loss to NC State
13 Memphis Tigers Coaches #23, AP #22. Loss to USF
14 North Texas Mean Green Coaches and AP unranked. Loss to USF
15 James Madison Dukes Coaches and AP unranked. Loss to Lousiville
16 San Diego State Aztecs Coaches and AP unranked. Loss to Washington State
17 Navy Midshipmen Coaches and AP unranked. Loss to North Texas
18 Utah Utes Coaches #19, AP #17. Loss to Texas Tech and BYU
19 Miami Hurricanes Coaches #18, AP #18. Loss to Louisville and SMU
20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Coaches #10, AP #10. Loss to Texas A&M and Miami
21 USC Trojans Coaches #21, AP #20. Loss to Illinois and Notre Dame
22 Texas Longhorns Coaches #13, AP #13. Loss to Ohio State and Florida
23 Oklahoma Sooners Coaches #12, AP #11. Loss to Texas and Ole Miss
24 Cincinnati Bearcats Coaches #25, AP #25. Loss to TCU and Utah
25 USF Bulls Coaches and AP unranked. Loss to Miami and Memphis

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