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HieloLuz Ballot for 2026 Week 4

Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Sept. 20, 2026, 2:39 a.m.

Overall Rationale: I use a computer ranking which is a pure resume based points system. Teams are assigned a tier based on their rating (1-7). Points are gained for wins, subtracted for losses, based on the opponents tier. Small modifiers for game closeness and SOS based on Opponent's record. |
I use this to sort teams into buckets, then give ranks based primarily on quality wins (top 50 teams), worst losses, and head to head. |
| | |
Worst Team Eastern Michigan (-79.333) |
| Note for early weeks: They are extremely volatile, teams that played week 0 get a big early season boost but it stabilizes around week 5. Early weeks any team with a loss will struggle to get ranked at all.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ole Miss Rebels Louisville |Tier 4| and LSU |4| are the best 2 wins of any team so far.
2 Texas Longhorns Ohio State |4| win is the single best win so far, also beat UTSA |5|
3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2 wins over P4 teams in Wisconsin |5| and Michigan State |5|. Above Mississippi State because none of the games were close.
4 Mississippi State Bulldogs 2 wins over P4 teams in Minnesota |5| and South Carolina |4|
5 BYU Cougars Wins over Arizona |4| and Colorado State |5|
6 Florida Gators Auburn |4| is a good win right now, also has win over FAU |5|
7 USC Trojans Getting week 0 boost still. Computer puts them at 2 because of it. Rutgers is not a good team but its a P4 team and they have wins over Louisiana |5| and Fresno State |5| as well

Bucket B ↓
8 Duke Blue Devils Illinois |4| win should be a good one. Also beat Stanford |6|. At Illinois is the best win of anyone in this bucket.
9 Alabama Crimson Tide Good win over Kentucky |5| and also beat Florida State |6|.
10 Miami Hurricanes Win over Wake Forest |5| and Stanford |6|. Below Alabama because Kentucky has a solid win themself now
11 Pittsburgh Panthers UCF |4| is a good win, also beat Syracuse |6|.
12 UCLA Bruins Cal |4| is a good win, and beat Purdue |6|. But bottom of the bucket because every game has been close

Bucket C ↓
13 Tulsa Golden Hurricane Best win of a very large bucket over Oklahoma State |4|, who has gotten themself a good win
14 Western Michigan Broncos Controversial but great win over Michigan |4|, who has gotten themself a good win.
15 Texas Tech Red Raiders Great win over Houston |4|, slightly better win than Iowa has
16 Iowa Hawkeyes Solid win over Iowa State |4|, but nothing else of note. Took care of business in other games
17 Virginia Tech Hokies Win over Maryland |5|, but nothing else of note
18 Missouri Tigers Handled Kansas |6| easily, and beat Troy |4| who is ranked high
19 West Virginia Mountaineers Win over Virginia |5|
20 Cincinnati Bearcats Best win is Boston College |5|, almost lost to Miami (OH).
21 Vanderbilt Commodores Should have lost to NC State |6|, but credit to the defense for playing it out to the very end and punching that ball out. Also beat Delaware |5|
22 Northwestern Wildcats Blew out Colorado |5|, but only has 2 games played so far.

Bucket D ↓
23 Penn State Nittany Lions Has win over Marshall |5|
24 North Dakota State Bison Has a win over Air Force |5|. Is 4-0 and that's mostly keeping them ranked for now.
25 James Madison Dukes Has a win over Liberty |4| but it was a close game.
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There are 9 more undefeated teams that are unranked. The teams and why they are outside looking in because...
USF- best win is FIU |6|.
Tennessee- Georgia Tech |6| win might be okay, but GT has not looked great.
Utah and Georgia- Arkansas |6| is very very bad and all they have going for them.
UMass- Rutgers |6| is also very very bad, and beating 2 FCS teams isn't gonna do them much good anymore.
Washington- have struggled against their only FBS games.
Indiana- Have handled business but best win is North Texas |6|.
Nebraska- Best win might actually be FCS North Dakota.
Kansas State- Tulane |6| isn't what they once were.
App State- Best win is East Carolina |6|.
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