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Muffinnnnnnn Ballot for 2026 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 15, 2026, 3:18 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Wins and losses matter most. It's early season, so kneejerk reactions should be the norm until we get more information. Despite the win for Texas, I came away thinking Ohio State is the best team in the country right now. They needed every single break to go against them to lose the game, and they felt dominant for the majority of it. Of course, I am not going to rank Ohio State #1 just for that reason, because the fact is, Texas won the game. Ohio State actually moves up to #2 (from 3) after their loss. Oklahoma, Washington, Memphis, and James Madison fall out this week. Oklahoma for a loss to Michigan who lost to Western Michigan, Washington for a horrific performance vs hapless Utah State, Memphis for getting dominated thoroughly by Boise State, and James Madison for being a crazed murderer vs Wagner (87-3!!!). Just kidding, they just got passed by Duke's impressive résumé (and others). Speaking of, replacing them in the rankings this week are Duke, Tulsa, Oklahoma State, and Michigan. Duke's first two games being wins vs Tulane and at Illinois are among the best two-game résumé in the country, Tulsa's dominant win over Oklahoma State looks a lot different now that Oklahoma State pulled the massive upset over Oregon, and Michigan redeemed themselves by taking down Oklahoma as home underdogs. Texas Tech falls pretty dramatically after a 2nd straight lackluster performance, and if they play like that again, Houston is going to beat them. The only reason I'm not completely discarding that whole group of Tulsa-Oklahoma State-Oregon-Boise State (and similarly for Western Michigan-Michigan-Oklahoma) is that it's still possible for both Tulsa and Western Michigan to just be really really good teams. Tulsa's slight struggle vs Sam Houston this week notwithstanding, they have everything in front of them and both will get chances to prove themselves coming up.

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