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ToeInDigDeep Ballot for 2025 Week 13

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 16, 2025, 6:37 p.m.

Overall Rationale: In my view, winning is most important, and head-to-head wins next-most important. 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. Do I think one-loss JMU 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, and have earned the right to be ranked ahead of teams who have lost more. 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. Head-to-head also matters, which is why some programs are ranked much lower than in other polls as teams who have lost to teams who have lost to teams have to go in the order of who they've lost to if they have the same number of losses. 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. I functionally treat all of college football like a giant conference. This leads to my greater willingness to rate one- or two-loss teams from the Big XII, the ACC, and yes, even the AAC or MWC, ahead of one- or two-loss teams in the Big Ten or SEC. We don't know which teams who haven’t played each other but who have the same number of losses are better. So a ballot submitter can make a choice for themselves in which order to put teams with an equal number of losses. There were over 300 voters in the main poll last week. My ballot was less than 1/300 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, undefeated
2 Ohio State Buckeyes AP #1, undefeated
3 Texas A&M Aggies AP #3, undefeated
4 Oregon Ducks AP #6, Loss to Indiana
5 Texas Tech Red Raiders AP #6, Loss to Arizona State
6 BYU Cougars AP #11, Loss to Texas Tech
7 Georgia Bulldogs AP #4, Loss to Alabama
8 Ole Miss Rebels AP #5, Loss to Alabama
9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets AP #15, Loss to NC State
10 James Madison Dukes AP #21, Loss to Louisville
11 North Texas Mean Green AP #22, Loss to USF
12 Utah Utes AP #13, Loss to Texas Tech and BYU
13 Oklahoma Sooners AP #8, Loss to Texas and Ole Miss
14 Miami Hurricanes AP #14, Loss to Louisville and SMU
15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish AP #9, Loss to Texas A&M and Miami
16 USC Trojans AP #16, Loss to Illinois and Notre Dame
17 Michigan Wolverines AP #18, Loss to USC and Oklahoma
18 Alabama Crimson Tide AP #10, Loss to Florida State and Oklahoma
19 Vanderbilt Commodores AP #12, Loss to Alabama and Texas
20 Houston Cougars AP #25, Loss to Texas Tech and West Virginia
21 Virginia Cavaliers AP #19, Loss to NC State and Wake Forest
22 Tulane Green Wave AP #24, Loss to Ole Miss and UAB
23 Navy Midshipmen AP unranked, Loss to North Texas and Notre Dame
24 San Diego State Aztecs AP unranked, Loss to Washington State and Hawai'i
25 WKU Hilltoppers AP unranked, Loss to Toledo and FIU

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