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Justanother_0 Ballot for 2026 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 13, 2026, 1:37 p.m.

Overall Rationale: I only consider the top half of each Power Four conference (plus the independents if they perform well enough), along with who I believe to be the best teams from the Group of Six in that given week. I then sort the teams by conference, ranking each team from best to worst within their own conference. The best of the G6 are all grouped into the same set for determining who the best among them are. The independents are also sorted into their own group as well. Finally, I use the six groups made (four P4 conference top 8's, 1 group for the best of the G6, 1 group for the independents) to create the top 25. Any teams absent that I think need explanation will be talked about in the [Notable Omissions] category below.

In these early weeks, a good chunk of teams don’t schedule difficult opponents. While the lack of marquee wins for any team will hurt their resume, there are some cases where the team passes the “eye test” to such a degree that while the lack of a genuine resume is harmful, it’s not enough to seriously knock them down the rankings. Teams that haven’t yet played a competent opponent are marked with (!!!). I firmly believe that rankings in CFB should be merit based instead of gassing up teams on vague notions of what their potential is. With limited data points to work with in these early weeks however, some teams have to be exceptions.

Notable Omissions:

[Mizzou] had a profoundly exploitable secondary in their game against Kansas. This rarely showed however as the Jayhawks have football terrorists both lined up under center and trotting the sidelines. Besides, a resume that boasts a blowout win of an FCS team and a win over their struggling rivals aren’t really stacking up against the other teams that I have in my top 25. For me, they’ll have to earn their way in through their SEC slate.

[Oklahoma State] had the upset of the week in their takedown of the Ducks, but that Tulsa game is still fresh in my mind. Flip the score of that game with the Golden Hurricanes and I would have the Cowboys in my top 10, but for now they’re narrowly out of my top 25.

[Washington] was eager to out-suck their cross-border rivals, nearly blowing it to a Utah State team that had lost the week prior to an FCS squad. This, coupled with Washington State looking a lot worse against K-State than they did in the Apple Cup, leaves them out.

[Oklahoma] losing to the Wolverines has proved to me that their offense hasn’t been found this offseason, and it likely won’t be found for the remainder of the season.

[Penn State] still hasn’t played a power conference opponent…

[Oregon] So far has cobbled together a resume that includes a lethargic performance against a Boise State team that doesn’t appear to be equal to it’s 2024 version and a loss to an Oklahoma State team that had just lost to Tulsa the week prior. That isn’t exactly a resume that is top 25 worthy. The talent is still there however, but dear lord is it getting mishandled this year.

Thank you for reading!

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns The come from behind win over Ohio State has given the Longhorns the best resume in the nation. This spot is theirs to lose.
2 Miami Hurricanes A weaker resume for the Canes knocks them out of my #1 spot. Given that they don’t play Notre Dame until late this year, they probably won’t be able to play their way into that spot until then.
3 Indiana Hoosiers (!!!) Looking like the best team out of the B1G so far...
4 Ole Miss Rebels Currently the team with the best resume in the SEC. With a massive game coming up this next weekend for the Rebels, a win there probably gets them into the top 3.
5 Georgia Bulldogs (!!!) A weaker resume is slowly dragging them down the top 10, but this will almost certainly correct itself when SEC play kicks off.
6 LSU Tigers (!!!) Clemson looking like a middling ACC team hurts LSU a bit here. Of course, they can earn their way up this coming weekend…
7 BYU Cougars A great win over the Wildcats grants (some) legitimacy to BYU’s placement in my top 10.
8 Ohio State Buckeyes That was one of the worst 4th quarter collapses I’ve seen out of Ohio State in recent memory. If it weren’t for the other preseason darlings under performing this weekend, they would’ve dropped further.
9 UCLA Bruins I will admit that this is probably way too high for a team whose best win is Cal, but given that some teams that were ahead of them took some gnarly losses and the fact that I am still wowed by their performance against the Bears, I am unwavering in my belief in this team (despite the scoreless half they had against SDSU this weekend).
10 Virginia Cavaliers If Miami chokes away their ticket to the playoffs, it looks like the Cavaliers will be the first ones in line to take it.
11 Utah Utes A drubbing of Arkansas at home to start P4 play. Sure, Arkansas is probably on the quest for 1-11 this year (their final non-con game is against Tulsa), but even so I believe that the Utes are threats to win the Big XII this year.
12 Alabama Crimson Tide First half against Kentucky was kinda rough but they closed out the game with an impressive performance against a Wildcat team that I had some decent expectations for.
13 Houston Cougars (!!!) In the mix for the Big XII race. Should they come out of Lubbock as winners, they’re in the drivers seat to Arlington.
14 Iowa Hawkeyes The victor of the CyHawk shall be granted the spot in the top 25, and unfortunately that spot will have to go to the Hawkeyes.

Hey, at least Iowa State kept it close :)
15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (!!!) Until the Irish play their big boy opponents, they’ll be hovering around the mid 10’s region.
16 Texas A&M Aggies A disastrous 4th quarter collapse from Arizona State gives A&M the resume boost that I’ve been looking for. Defense played lights out down the stretch, that turnover margin was anything but fluky.
17 USC Trojans (!!!) Still no power conference wins and defense depth is a serious concern, but I’ve run out of teams to rank ahead of the Trojans in good faith.
18 Boise State Broncos The Memphis win is doing a lot more here than the narrow Oregon loss. Run the table, and there’s a serious argument for the Broncos to get a home playoff game…
19 Texas Tech Red Raiders (!!!) The Oregon State game proved a hunch of mine right: Texas Tech had a generational defense in 2025 and it was foolish to believe that they were gonna just cleanly reload on that front. The offense barely got the job done here but I have serious concerns for the Red Raiders and their hopes at returning to the playoffs.
20 Louisville Cardinals No notes.
21 SMU Mustangs The Florida State game is still fresh in my memory. However, I am pretty confident that the Mustangs will get right as the weeks go on.
22 Western Michigan Broncos Michigan’s win over Oklahoma made me even more impressed with Western Michigan’s performance the week prior. The front runner to win the MAC with the potential to sneak into the playoffs if they run the table.
23 North Dakota State Bison (!!!) The first road game for the Bison was an interesting one. I still believe them to be the best overall team in the G6, but they’ll need better box scores than what they put up against Air Force to breach the playoff conversation, especially if they were to take a loss (because lets be real, it’s not like the committee is watching NDSU’s games).
24 Tulsa Golden Hurricane 2-0 with a win over Oklahoma State (and a dominant one at that). If they can continue with a win over Arkansas, there might have to be a serious conversation about the Golden Hurricanes come November (provided that they handle their American slate of course).

The next three G6 teams were Memphis, New Mexico, and North Texas.
25 Kansas State Wildcats (!!!) The chaos ahead of the Wildcats is enough to finally get these guys into my top 25. I still need to see this team play some more quality opponents before I give them too much credit though.

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