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lowes18 Ballot for 2026 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 8, 2026, 8:03 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Largely a mix of preseason talent projections, i.e. NFL big boards, recruiting, returning production, in addition to projecting which teams have gained/lost the most in terms of coaching and talent from 2025

Rank Team Reason
1 LSU Tigers Clemson is a mess, but LSU thoroughly dominated a team that has a lot more future NFL talent than most teams that played this weekend and struggled saw. Everything looked elite for LSU, they hit on their DB transfers (Benefield is a stud and could play on any defense in the country) their young defensive linemen look absolutely ready for the moment. Sam Leavitt looked like he was in 2024 form and could go out and win LSU games with his mobility and arm. The only minor concern for LSU coming out of this weekend was some pass protection issues, but given that Clemson does still have some talent on their defensive line and most of the issues came late in the game and didn't lead to any sacks or tfls I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt they can improve from game one.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes While I was not overly impressed with the run game for Ohio State, only 0.14 EPA/rush against Ball State is thoroughly disappointing, Ohio State did dominate their game from basically start to finish. If Ohio State's offensive line can hold up, Sayin will be able to dissect teams throwing to some of the best WR's in college football. Although Ohio State's offensive line was not amazing, its game one, and the talent on this team is at such a high level that they can potentially play around those issues.
3 Texas Longhorns None of my concerns with Texas were validated this weekend, Texas was overly reliant on explosive plays, their offensive line generated a near negative EPA/rush(Texas State ran the ball better against Texas's front than Texas did against Texas State) in addition to some sloppy pass protection. However, the talent on this team is undeniable, Arch looks like an NFL veteran with some(not all it happens) with his decision making and his mobility gives Texas a huge edge. While Texas was reliant on explosive plays, they did generate them, and early to put the game away, mitigating some of my concerns as potentially just being from guys packing it in on offense. Texas needs to be more consistent on offense and be better in the redzone to win a national title, but the talent on the defense and offensive skill positions could mitigate poor game management from Sark.
4 Indiana Hoosiers Josh Hoover looked amazing this weekend, and Indiana's offensive line looks like yet another elite unit. I did have concerns about the defense, which struggled to stop the run and looked sloppy against a projected bad North Texas team. Given that its week one and Indiana put the game away rather early, I'll give them some slack, but its something to keep an eye on going forward for a team that won the national title with an intelligent and disciplined defense.
5 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss had the best win of the weekend. This team will go as far as Chambliss goes, but I was incredibly impressed by the quality of their offensive line against a top 15 defensive line in the country(I would take Louisville's line over basically every SEC team not named Georgia and Texas). Ole Miss looked sloppy on defense, maybe its game one jitters, but its largely the same things we saw last year for a unit which struggled in the backfield. Its entirely possible they just got worked by a very quality Louisville WR room and an elite playcaller in Brohm, so I won't discount a top 20 win for Ole Miss in week one.
6 Oregon Ducks Oregon won the weekend playing at their c-c+ game against a well coached Boise State team. However for a team that was preseason top three in most polls winning via talent inertia against a g5 school at home is cause for concern. Especially because the strength of this team, their D-line, did not dominate the game in anyway until Boise State was in obvious passing downs. I do believe in this defensive line though, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt they can improve as the season goes along.
7 Miami Hurricanes Miami's offense was everything preseason projections hoped for, but I found the performance of their defensive line a somewhat large red flag. Miami invested heavily in portal transfers to shore up the pass rush after the loss two top 15 picks at that position to the NFL draft. I was deeply unimpressed by the play of Damon Wilson in particular. The unit as a whole only generated a pedestrian 11% havoc rate against a Stanford o-line down three starters. Its week one, and Miami did what they were supposed to do against a p4 team, so things can improve to where preseason projections hoped that unit would be. Given the offensive performance, if the defense can step up to preseason hopes Miami could easily be a top 3-4 team.
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame ended the game looking like a top ten team, but that first half was a major disappointment for the Irish as their vaunted lines of scrimmage failed to do much of anything against a mediocre Wisconsin team. CJ Carr might be talented enough to make it a moot point, but Notre Dame desperately lacks real difference makers at their offensive skill positions. Incredibly accurate QBs with good arms can make decent college WR's look elite, but the teams Notre Dame hopes to compete with have elite QBs and elite WRs. Notre Dame also needs a game wrecker to emerge on the defensive line, they have plenty of good players, but no one seemed up to the challenge to shut down Wisconsin outside of that DB room. Notre Dame won this game despite running the ball horrifically poorly in the first half because Wisconsin wasn't good enough and gave them a chance to adjust, but they are not going to have that luxury against the teams competing with them for a national title.
9 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma did what they had to do against a hopelessly outmatched UTEP team. I though Mateer did a good job keeping the ball out of harms way and sustaining drives, which given how obscenely dominant this OU defense projects to be could be enough to let OU win every game on their schedule. My only real concerns coming out of the game was OU struggling to effectively run the ball, it wasn't terrible but not overly impressive against UTEP. Given that Oklahoma is running out a lot of new pieces on the offensive line, they get a pass for this game though.
10 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia did everything they needed to do to win this game, which was over pretty early. Some of the issues with Georgia over the past two years, lack of explosiveness on the offense, reliance on screens/short passes rather than a consistent rushing attack, and a lack of pass rush, showed themselves again this game. Given how quickly Tennessee State was put away however its hard to say those will be issues later on in the season, and Kirby certainly gets the benefit of the doubt to find ways to win even if those are issues.
11 Tennessee Volunteers Faizon Brandon looks ready to play at an elite level right now, frankly with the way he preformed I almost could justify to myself jumping Tennessee into the top 10. Given that they pasted Furman in week one some restraint needs be shown though. Everything about Tennessee looked positive, I was very impressed by this rebuilt offensive line down their starting center, Xavier Gilliam looks like he could potentially be one of the best defensive tackles in the SEC and allowed the rest of that D-line to take over the game, and Tennessee's LB room dominated even missing starting captain Arion Carter. If Tennessee can match an elite Knowles defense with a Huepel offense lead by a potentially elite QB, there is no reason Tennessee can't compete for an SEC or national title this year.
12 USC Trojans Coming into the season, the main concern towards USC has been whether or not their young players would be ready to step up and be elite at this level. In a two game sample size, the answer is pointing towards the affirmative. USC dominated one of the projected best teams in the G5 in Fresno State, shutting them out with an overwhelming defense. However I do have concerns with their line of scrimmage play, which in two games now has failed to effectively run the ball (USC had a negative EPA/rush against Fresno) and generate an elite pass rush. While the pass rush concerns are less of an issue to me because of the amount of new starters and rotation pieces on the USC d-line, the offensive line is veteran-laden and should be dominating G5 teams.
13 Texas Tech Red Raiders Texas Tech won a really ugly game against Abilene Christian. Essentially nothing looked impressive by the Red Raiders outside of the pass rush. Texas Tech looked anemic on offense, essentially only gaining yards by abusing hopelessly outmatched Abilene DBs in space but even then Tech failed to generate much in the way of explosive plays. Realistically however if Tech hits on their pass rush and can run the ball with Hammond(who looked mediocre this Saturday) it may not matter for their chances to win the Big 12.
14 BYU Cougars BYU eviscerated Utah Tech this weekend in basically every facet of the game. They did everything they needed to do, but didn't really answer any questions on if this suspect passing game is going to take a step forward although I did think Legend Glasker looked decent. I wasn't overly impressed by the pass rush either. Nothing overly concerning to take away from what was otherwise a high level performance for BYU.
15 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama dominated a game that was on paper rather sloppy because Keelon Russell looks ready to be a high level college QB. Outside of his play, none of my concerns about Alabama were really mitigated by their performance. I still thought the running game was inconsistent, the o-line showed its warts, and the red zone efficiency which has plagued DeBoer at Alabama still showed up in this game, but Russell might be talented enough to cover all of that up for Alabama.
16 Texas A&M Aggies It took a while for A&M to put Missouri State away but they eventually did, still the inability for their lines of scrimmage to dominate the game from start to finish was somewhat concerning. A&M's offensive line allowed multiple sacks, pressures, and TFLs in the first half, although the defensive line dominated Missouri State. A&M has time to fix some of the issues they displayed, but if their offensive line isn't ready they will struggle to beat many of the teams on their schedule given the unproven running game and mediocre QB play.
17 Florida Gators I was not overly impressed by the performance of Florida's defensive line against FAU this weekend, but if Aaron Philo can get some of the first game jitters out of the way Florida could have such a talented offense that they compete for an SEC title. Jadan Baugh was outstanding, in my opinion he was the best player in the country this weekend. If their wide receiver room can hold up health wise, this offense should be enough to keep Florida in every game. While the defense did have some question marks, I have an exceptionally high opinion of Kittley as an offensive play caller and he called a great game against Florida even if FAU didn't have the talent to win.
18 UCLA Bruins Bob Chensey thoroughly out-coached Cal on Friday, putting together a dominate offensive performance on the road led by their high-ceiling QB Nico Iamaleava and RB Wayne Knight. While I wasn't amazed by the performance of the offensive line which at times struggled in pass protection and had a few costly penalties, the run blocking was effective and allowed UCLA to drop 45 points in their first game of the season on the road against a sell out Cal crowd. The UCLA defensive line played well too, shutting down any run game and generating a consistent pass rush although it failed to make a sack. I was also very impressed by the play of their linebackers. If UCLA can have a good defense paired with a Chensey-led offense UCLA could be a very dangerous team.
19 Louisville Cardinals Coming into the season the main concern with Louisville was if Kienholz could legitimately play the quarterback position, while he struggled in the first half missing a few explosive plays, he really came into his own in the second half delivering a great performance to keep Louisville in a shootout with a QB as good as Chambliss. Its hard to see this team winning out with some of their discipline issues, but the talent is there for Louisville to make the ACC title game.
20 Arizona Wildcats Arizona did what they needed to do against NAU. While not lighting up the scoreboard, they dominated the lines of scrimmage on both sides to keep NAU from ever having a chance of victory.
21 Virginia Cavaliers Virginia looked dominant on both sides of the lines of scrimmage against NC State, and effectively used Pribula's legs to run away with the game. I was also surprised by the effectiveness of UVA's pass game and their WR play although their o-line did a lot of that work for them. Given how depleted NC State's roster is, its hard to tell just how good UVA is, but those lines of scrimmage looked very good in the one game game they played.
22 SMU Mustangs SMU won an exceptionally ugly game that they tried to lose. For every play that SMU made to make it clear they should be up by multiple scores against Florida State, they would make another exceptionally dumb decision that kept FSU in the game. The defensive issues on this team looked acute even going up against a QB who effectively couldn't throw the ball, and could get them burned. SMU needs Jennings to play up to a level to overcome those defensive issues, and he did everything to both win and almost lose SMU the game on Monday.
23 Penn State Nittany Lions
24 Pittsburgh Panthers
25 Iowa Hawkeyes

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