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TaylorLeprechaun Ballot for 2025 Week 16 & Bowls

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Dec. 7, 2025, 11:19 a.m.

Overall Rationale: 1) I had this written up and ready to submit around 8 AM, but the poll site wasn't open until past noon, so unfortunately my streak of "out before the AP" is getting broken which is annoying 2) I gave this *a lot* of thought on who I think should be in the playoff. Who is best? Who is most deserving? The way I, and many others, see it is there are 11 locks and then one spot left open for some one of Alabama, BYU, and Miami (Notre Dame I consider a lock already as evidenced by my previous ballot). Line breaks get removed so the information will be put below

Rank Team Reason
1 Indiana Hoosiers +0
2 Ohio State Buckeyes +0
3 Texas Tech Red Raiders +0
4 Georgia Bulldogs +0
5 Ole Miss Rebels +0
6 Oregon Ducks +0
7 Texas A&M Aggies +0
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish +0
9 Oklahoma Sooners +1
10 Miami Hurricanes +2 - Miami: I've consistently felt unimpressed watching them play. I know I'm a Florida fan so there's going to be some element of bias here, but there's no reason this team shouldn't have performed better than they did this season and if not for some bad, head-scratching losses, they'd be a lock as well (and probably ACC champion). I know they have the head-to-head over Notre Dame, but I don't take much stock in a 3-point, last-second, home win in the very first game of the season as the absolute deciding factor. When I look at the body of work as a whole, I feel Notre Dame is the better team and should be ranked higher (which I've done for the last six or so weeks).
11 BYU Cougars -2 - BYU: Their 11-1 regular season resume is impressive. By most metrics computer rankings they were somewhere around the 7th-8th ranked team (and my personal computer poll had them 3rd before last night). However, they really don't pass the eye test to me. I've thought this most of the season and my past rankings have shown it. I think if they didn't look pathetic the entire game after their first drive yesterday they'd be a 100% lock, but they got destroyed in their biggest game of the season twice.
12 Alabama Crimson Tide -1 - Alabama: Every year on Thanksgiving since they started the playoff, my dad and I would list out all the teams in play, their qualifications, and paths to get in. This year due to Alabama being 10-2, we regarded them as a Win & In / Lose & Out team. This is due to the rest of the field around them. Justifying a 3-loss team over Miami or even a 2-loss BYU is hard to do with how poorly they've played down the stretch.
13 Vanderbilt Commodores +0 - I think the arguments I've seen to take Alabama but not BYU are stupid. "BYU doesn't deserve it because they got blown out and don't pass the eye test." Alabama also got blown out, also doesn't pass the eye test, and has three losses to boot. I don't think either team deserves the last spot. Miami is my final team to make it in. BYU and Alabama are out.
14 Utah Utes +0
15 Texas Longhorns +0
16 USC Trojans +1
17 Michigan Wolverines +1
18 Tulane Green Wave +5
19 Arizona Wildcats +0
20 James Madison Dukes +4
21 Virginia Cavaliers -5
22 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets -2
23 North Texas Mean Green -2
24 Houston Cougars -2
25 Iowa Hawkeyes +0

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