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Tarmacked Ballot for 2026 Week 2

Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Sept. 9, 2026, 10:17 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Mix of eye test, Sagarin, and other metrics (+/-, etc.).
Note: This is an early iteration and is much more fluid given lack of samples. This should shift significantly until week 5-6.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes
2 Georgia Bulldogs
3 Texas Longhorns
4 LSU Tigers Say what you will, this is a well oiled machine and it's got talent across the board. If this wasn't year one, I would move them to #1 overall after last night. I still want to see how they fare against Ole Miss before making that move.
5 Miami Hurricanes Appear to have upgraded at QB, still seems pretty refined across the board and loaded with talent.
6 Oklahoma Sooners It's a Venables defense and Mateer with another year.
7 Oregon Ducks The turnover at coordinator concerns me and Boise put up far more of a fight than they should've given home advantage and talent disparity. I'm tagging them as more flawed, but I need more data to really hammer where they are. I'm hoping this is the year Lanning can get over the hump, but it's getting awfully close to Penn State and Franklin where the big boys just keep knocking them down and they're always one step behind.
8 Texas A&M Aggies Similar to Venables, strong defense and experienced QB. Albeit more error prone. They were more of a paper tiger with the schedule last year but i'll give benefit of the doubt for a few weeks of results.
9 Alabama Crimson Tide Defense looked great, offense has talent but the quarterback is still pretty unknown against better defensive coordinators. Run game appears to be back, so will give some stability to the offense but this is a big question mark for me. Similar to Indiana I think this has real potential to swing up or down.
10 Indiana Hoosiers Similar to Alabama, but the defense did not look hot against a turned over UNT team. Multiple sustained drives should not be happening but roster turnover is a real thing. I'm leaning more towards a 2024 season than I am 2025 in terms of performance but more results will show this.
11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Love loss is real and we can't ignore it. The QB situation still looks good and the defense looks sound, but I think i'll keep them stable for now where they ended last season.
12 USC Trojans I went back and forth on this, Again similar to 8-12 we just need more information. This is pretty fluid with all the way through 14/15 here.
13 Missouri Tigers Simmons looks great, floor may be raised a bit compared to prior years.
14 Ole Miss Rebels Big question marks for me on the coaching staff side and Lousville felt much closer than it should have been. You've got blown coverages left and right and the offense was stagnating for far too long. Again, more samples will resolve this. At the end of the day Kiffin isn't there anymore and their peak with him was #11, so it's hard for me to project them at that point like most of the larger polls.
15 Louisville Cardinals This is pretty strong, but I feel more secure over the team than those below.
16 Tennessee Volunteers QB friendly system, but there is a new QB. Still, years of experience and tenure across the coaching staff.
17 Penn State Nittany Lions It's Iowa State with more experience. This may be more lofty than it should.
18 BYU Cougars Sitake + Returning second year QB? That's a chance for a big jump. I have them circled as the Big 12 favorite but need to see more.
19 Texas Tech Red Raiders I am entirely unethusiastic about their offense. 33-10 to ACU is just "HUH" territory for me
20 Boise State Broncos Played Oregon close, I think it's still clear they're the cream of the G5 crop.
21 Houston Cougars Sound team. Still need some more insight at this level.
22 SMU Mustangs The offense has a high ceiling if Jennings gets his way, but FSU was entirely too close for comfort. I read this more as a Nick Marshall style Auburn team from the 2010's, without the elite defense. Very boom or bust. but inconsistent.
23 Virginia Cavaliers They just look sound. Should be similar to prior year but with improvement to build on needing close margin wins.
24 Washington Huskies Same as above, looked fine. We know what we have from prior year.
25 Michigan Wolverines The defense looked great. Underwood may sink this ship. With a real QB I think I could place them 11-12, but with Underwood it's just a mess.

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