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Doogitywoogity Ballot for 2026 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 14, 2026, 11:32 p.m.

Overall Rationale: This is a really weird ballot as we’ve seen some huge upsets and swings but don’t have a great baseline to judge them against yet. I am not yet convinced of allot of the teams outside the top 6 as some haven’t faced real competition or have glaring issues.

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns This should be obvious. Huge comeback over what looks to be an elite Ohio State squad. Holding Ohio State to a single field goal in the entire second half is a great defensive showing. I hate this timeline. They have what looks to be a tough schedule so they’ll really have to defend this position.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes They should not be harshly penalized for a one point loss at texas that was a field goal away. Yet another wide left. Lots of mismanagement by coach Day in the second half, but the squad is still arguably the best in the nation as far as I can tell. They should still be a top contender and every game on their schedule appears to be very winnable, if the coaching staff adjusts how they handle and approach closing games and second half adjustments.
3 Miami Hurricanes Miami has only played Stanford and FAMU. That’s the only critique to have against them at the moment. Mensah and Toney look great. And my hot take is Stanford is not going to be as bad as they were last year. That will be put to the test vs Duke. For their own schedule, Wake that barely survived Purdue this past weekend isn’t great. We’ll see if they move down depending on how their SOR evolves or if they stumble on easy teams. Realistically with this schedule they should only have ND to worry about.
4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish They have a bit of a better looking record than Miami, in that they beat Rice rather than FAMU. Demolishing Rice tells me next to nothing about this squad. They appear to have a tougher schedule than Miami at this point, though we’ll see how that progresses. Both will really live and die by dominating week in and week out as well as final SOR.
5 Georgia Bulldogs Another squad that is expected to be great but is completely untested. Dogwalking WKU and FCS TN State don’t tell me much about this squad, so I am largely basing this off of preseason expectations. They have some real games later in the season, but until then they’ll be getting judged against Utah when they face off with Arkansas this coming week.
6 Indiana Hoosiers Similar to Georgia, they ain’t played nobody PAWL. Beating up on Howard after having a rough start vs UNT doesn’t paint the picture of a squad that will repeat, but who knows with Cignetti what’s really coming. WKU will give a nice reference point vs Georgia next week. They’ve got some tough B1G squads later in the season, but MN and WA are trending down from what I expected of them.
7 BYU Cougars This is the first squad that feels less like they’re being ranked for pure hype. I am high on BYU to win the XII so that’s worth noting. Pretty one sided win vs an Arizona squad that I expect to be much improved this year. Shutting down the AZ offense in the second half is a good sign of adjustments that can win tight games later. Notre Dame and Utah loom large over their schedule, BYU needs to not trip up over what should otherwise be straightforward wins before them.
8 Utah Utes It smells like bacon in Utah. This squad looks to be better than I expected, we’ll see if they trip up in Utah State like Washington nearly did this coming weekend. Holding Arkansas to 3 points until the fourth quarter is nothing to be sneezed at. They look to have a bit easier of a schedule at this point than BYU, so they’ll need to take advantage of that and win the Holy War if they want into the playoffs.
9 Alabama Crimson Tide Close first half vs Kentucky? I like Russell but he’s got to clean up his throwing if he’s going to survive in the SEC. 2 ints vs Kentucky is BAD. FSU this weekend should be an easy win given how they’ve played thus far, we’ll see if that holds true as it should have been easy last year too.
10 Virginia Cavaliers Maybe I’m overreacting. It’s a bit hard to tell with this squad, just like last year. NC State vs Vandy and UVa vs WVU this weekend will help in figuring this iteration of the hoo. Virginia has a very favorable schedule, so if they really are legit they should be the only real challenge to Miami in the ACC.
11 USC Trojans Man just when I’m thinking USC has a defense. ULL isn’t exactly the scoring powerhouse I’d expect to keep Riley and co honest. Their ranking here is more a reflection of my contempt for everyone else than my belief in USC. Lucky for them, everyone else keeps tripping over themselves. Unluckily (unclear if this is true in the expanded playoff era?) for them their SOR looks to be getting worse.
12 LSU Tigers They’ve moved down a bit as Clemson barely survived GaSo and LSU let LaTech hang around far too long. I’m now much less sure how good this squad is, and I’m getting flashbacks to last years LSU-Clemson. Huge, vile, spiteful game vs Ole Miss this weekend. The Magnolia Bowl will probably have some really funny/sad fights breaking out throughout Oxford, especially at the end of a long day of drinking. Must watch tv. Should help narrow down what to think of this squad.
13 Ole Miss Rebels The other side of the coin. I’m not totally sold on this squad either, and they’re more what I think of as the top of their tier. The LSU game and the Louisville-SMU game will really help me figure this group out. My guess is that Louisville is a good squad, but I’m not totally sure of how good that makes Ole Miss and I am increasingly perplexed by LSU. I expect a chaotic scene in Oxford no matter what happens. Real southern hospitality. The land sharks appear to have an increasingly difficult schedule so winning this one is almost a must for this squad if they don’t want to lose control of the narrative.
14 Iowa Hawkeyes El Assico into a matchup vs the always dangerous northern Iowa. Very dangerous game especially given Michigan is next up after them. UNI has less historic success against Iowa than Iowa State, but if I know a trap game, it’s when you beat your rival the week before and face off with a major opponent the week after. Very B1G west schedule, so you know it’s going to be a mess to interpret by the end of the season.
15 Texas A&M Aggies This is again more a reflection of so many other squads shitting their pants. Do not let the final score confuse you, the AZ St game was very close. That OLine is not meshing particularly well, and the glued together Kentucky just showed they can pick off a careless qb. Not that Reed threw any picks last weekend. I’d like to keep this squad around 20 but I’m having a hard time justifying that given everyone else’s record. Tough schedule after this weekend so that O Line has to solidify FAST.
16 Penn State Nittany Lions I will be very upfront that I have not seen any Penn State football this season. I am a bit shocked how close the Temple game was, even with holding Temple to 3 before trash time. Seems to suggest that it’s an offensive issue but I have no idea. We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see this squad really get tested. I don’t think facing a Buffalo said that nearly lost to Albany (shoutout the Great Danes) will tell us much more about this squad unless they have a major issue.
17 Virginia Tech Hokies The other half of the unknown James Franklin affair. At last the Hokies will be playing a power opponent next weekend. Unfortunately, it’s Maryland. Hokies have a tough end to their schedule, but that could be advantageous.
18 Houston Cougars Beating up on Southern didn’t tell me too much but it was the domination I said they’d need. I am still unimpressed by the Oregon State game. Tech gives them a chance to prove it.
19 Texas Tech Red Raiders That said, the red raiders have also been quite disappointing. This matchup is huge for both squads to prove themselves. And who knows, maybe Oregon State is better than I’m thinking and these were impressive wins. But for now I’ve been so unimpressed by the red raiders I’ve dropped them below UH.
20 UCLA Bruins They got lucky to pull away at the end. I’m falling asleep so these last few will be short.
21 Washington Huskies Huge struggle vs Utah State. A wins a win but I dropped them a ton for another unimpressive showing.
22 Florida Gators Campbell didn’t do much. FAU proving me right that they’re upper third AAC does bode well.
23 Louisville Cardinals Close loss to good looking ole Miss. beating up Villanova doesn’t say much, even for one of the historically top FCS squads. W&M have some thoughts on that.
24 Tennessee Volunteers I don’t love ranking this squad. I don’t trust them yet. But Oregon and Oklahoma had to be stupid.
25 Michigan Wolverines All I know about this squad is they will be painful and chaotic. Just like the B1G should be.

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