Bereft13 Ballot for 2026 Week 4
Ballot Type: Hybrid
Submitted: Sept. 20, 2026, 12:55 p.m.
Overall Rationale: First a power ranking of teams is created, then it is used to algorithmically determine a strength of record ranking of teams. These are combined to rank the teams, with power weighted higher early in the season and SoR weighted higher late in the season. Power rankings are a mixture of human and computer inputs. Current weight: 86/14 in favor of Power.
I'll go ahead and comment on a few things, given last week's kerfuffle:
- Ohio State stays at 10 for me despite moving up to 1 in the power ranking. Their resume is a loss to a top 4 power team and two wins over bottom 4 power teams. In fact, their SoR has actually dropped from 65th to 74th after beating the power #137 while other teams beat literally anyone else. Margin of victory is only considered as a tiebreaker in my SoR calculation. Next week's game against Illinois (power #42) is a great chance to get that SoR number into the top 40. For now, #1 power and #74 SoR at an 86/14 weight spits out 11.22, which ranks 10th.
- Texas moves up to #1 overall due to Notre Dame's drop in the power ranking (1st down to 5th) as they didn't pull away from a weak Michigan State team this week. While Texas were helped by the small increase in SoR weight, if ND was still a top 3 power team they would still be above Texas.
- Some computers apparently hate Ole Miss (20th in SP+, 13th in FPI) but love LSU (9th in SP+, 8th in FPI). Fortunately, my personal rankings of Ole Miss 6, LSU 10 are just enough to outweigh that and leave them 8th/9th in the power ranking. Ole Miss don't look phenomenal, but it's hard to argue they were the worse team this weekend (unless you're a computer, apparently).
- USC takes an absurd nosedive, 11 spots in the power ranking, following a way-too-close win at Rutgers (who are still a contender for worst team in the B1G). Their SoR is still strong, inflated by their extra game played, but it's not enough to keep them in the top 20.
- Missouri drops from #14 all the way out of the top 30 despite being 3-0. The reasons for this are: they couldn't pull away from Troy, making them drop heavily in the power ranking; their lone P4 win Kansas lost to Arizona State in London; and Texas A&M, who just demolished that very same ASU squad, lost to Kentucky at home by two scores. As such, their SoR ranking only rose from 21st to 15th, which wasn't nearly enough to make up for their nearly 20-spot fall in the power ranking.
- Finally, I'll just note that although I had Alabama at 4 last week, I did not feel at all good about it (and the numbers indicated they ought to be closer to 7th). However, this week was a great look for them, again pulling away after the break against a mid-level P4 team while Kentucky went out and smacked A&M. I don't think most people rate FSU as highly as I do (a top-40 power team), so I'm not sure what will happen to them in the polls this week, but I certainly am a lot happier with them in that 4 slot now.
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Texas Longhorns
|
Power: 4, SoR: 1; LW: 2 |
| 2 |
Miami Hurricanes
|
Power: 3, SoR: 18; LW: 3 |
| 3 |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
Power: 5, SoR: 9; LW: 1 |
| 4 |
Alabama Crimson Tide
|
Power: 7, SoR: 3; LW: 4 |
| 5 |
Georgia Bulldogs
|
Power: 2, SoR: 34; LW: 6 |
| 6 |
Ole Miss Rebels
|
Power: 8, SoR: 2; LW: 12 |
| 7 |
Indiana Hoosiers
|
Power: 6, SoR: 28; LW: 5 |
| 8 |
BYU Cougars
|
Power: 11, SoR: 7; LW: 8 |
| 9 |
Texas Tech Red Raiders
|
Power: 12, SoR: 4; LW: 11 |
| 10 |
Ohio State Buckeyes
|
Power: 1, SoR: 74; LW: 10 |
| 11 |
LSU Tigers
|
Power: 9, SoR: 37; LW: 9 |
| 12 |
Utah Utes
|
Power: 10, SoR: 31; LW: 15 |
| 13 |
Florida Gators
|
Power: 14, SoR: 12; LW: 19 |
| 14 |
Tennessee Volunteers
|
Power: 13, SoR: 22; LW: 18 |
| 15 |
Louisville Cardinals
|
Power: 15, SoR: 24; LW: 21 |
| 16 |
Kansas State Wildcats
|
Power: 18, SoR: 19; LW: 22 |
| 17 |
SMU Mustangs
|
Power: 16, SoR: 32; LW: 16 |
| 18 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs
|
Power: 20, SoR: 8; LW: NR (31) |
| 19 |
Iowa Hawkeyes
|
Power: 19, SoR: 17; LW: 17 |
| 20 |
Oregon Ducks
|
Power: 17, SoR: 41; LW: 25 |
| 21 |
Michigan Wolverines
|
Power: 24, SoR: 6; LW: 23 |
| 22 |
USC Trojans
|
Power: 23, SoR: 14; LW: 13 |
| 23 |
Houston Cougars
|
Power: 21, SoR: 39; LW: 20 |
| 24 |
UCLA Bruins
|
Power: 25, SoR: 16; LW: NR (26) |
| 25 |
Texas A&M Aggies
|
Power: 22, SoR: 45; LW: 7 | Next 5: Duke, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Northwestern, Penn State | Dropped: Missouri, Virginia |
Teams Ranked:
| Rank | Team | Unusualness |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Texas Longhorns
|
0.00 |
| 2 |
Miami Hurricanes
|
0.30 |
| 3 |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
0.00 |
| 4 |
Alabama Crimson Tide
|
0.60 |
| 5 |
Georgia Bulldogs
|
0.00 |
| 6 |
Ole Miss Rebels
|
0.00 |
| 7 |
Indiana Hoosiers
|
0.00 |
| 8 |
BYU Cougars
|
0.08 |
| 9 |
Texas Tech Red Raiders
|
0.04 |
| 10 |
Ohio State Buckeyes
|
0.00 |
| 11 |
LSU Tigers
|
0.00 |
| 12 |
Utah Utes
|
0.00 |
| 13 |
Florida Gators
|
0.20 |
| 14 |
Tennessee Volunteers
|
0.00 |
| 15 |
Louisville Cardinals
|
0.00 |
| 16 |
Kansas State Wildcats
|
3.01 |
| 17 |
SMU Mustangs
|
2.01 |
| 18 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs
|
0.00 |
| 19 |
Iowa Hawkeyes
|
0.00 |
| 20 |
Oregon Ducks
|
0.00 |
| 21 |
Michigan Wolverines
|
0.00 |
| 22 |
USC Trojans
|
-1.00 |
| 23 |
Houston Cougars
|
0.00 |
| 24 |
UCLA Bruins
|
0.00 |
| 25 |
Texas A&M Aggies
|
0.00 |
Omissions:
| Team | Unusualness |
|---|---|
Penn State Nittany Lions
|
1.52 |
Missouri Tigers
|
0.41 |
Duke Blue Devils
|
0.00 |
West Virginia Mountaineers
|
0.10 |
Virginia Tech Hokies
|
0.01 |
Total Score: 9.30