Back to poll results >>

d1sportsball Ballot for 2026 Week 4

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 21, 2026, 11:50 a.m.

Overall Rationale: For most teams, a mix of the eye test, actual resume ranking and head to head, aka results on the field. Quality losses can and often are better than wins, and early on it doesn't make sense to view losses more harshly. As the season goes on and more teams lose, the value of a loss against your ranking increases, but for now a 2-1 team can very well be better than a 3-0 team.

There are a few notable exceptions for teams that have not played much of anyone so far, so their rankings are still heavily preseason weighted. I will acknowledge those teams here: ***
#7 Georgia: Yes, Georgia played Arkansas. But then again, its also Arkansas. This ranking is heavily preseason weighted and the Oklahoma game will give me a good grasp on the team.
#8 Indiana: With 3 non power 4 teams played, Indiana is also letting its preseason ranking do some heavy lifting. Next week against Northwestern is a sneaky good opponent, and that will tell me a lot about their ranking.
#21 Utah: Same thing with Georgia, you play Arkansas you might as well have played Arkansas State. Iowa State will be a good test for Week 4. ***

On another note, in Week 2 I thought my ballot submitted but it didn't, and in Week 3 I had food poisoning and forgot to even do a ballot. So sorry about that lol.

Rank Team Reason
1 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss holds the best resume in CFB at the moment with their wins over Louisville and LSU, both very good looking teams. Ole Miss has shown very few weaknesses, and the few that there may be can be attributed to the quality of opponent they are playing.
2 Texas Longhorns Texas has looked dominant thus far, save for the first 3 quarters against Ohio State. Of course, you can't forget the money quarter, the one in which they made a miraculous comeback to win. Without that comeback Texas is many spots lower, but winners win, and that's what Texas did.
3 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State is likely the most talented team in the country, and they've looked the part so far. Against Texas they dominated, showing why they were number 1 in most polls, but their collapse was untimely, though not enough to truly penalize them for the loss.
4 Miami Hurricanes Miami has played poor competition thus far, however they've done exactly what they needed to do. Controlling the game at Wake and dominating at Stanford make their offense electric, and while they were slow to end vs Wake, they look like a national title favorite thus far.
5 Louisville Cardinals Louisville went blow for blow with Ole Miss, losing on a walk off field goal. While their offense struggled out the gate, they got it together and showed what they were capable of vs a very good SMU team. While their defense seems questionable, they have played 2 of the best offenses in the nation, and based on the on field results, they could be a team to watch not just for the ACC title, but the whole thing.
6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame, like Miami, has played weaker competition. But they proved me wrong against Wisconsin by running away with it in the second half, before handling business vs Michigan State and establishing a good run game. The schedule isn't great thus far, but the performance warrants a high ranking.
7 Georgia Bulldogs *** See above reasoning ***
8 Indiana Hoosiers *** See above reasoning ***
9 BYU Cougars BYU has looked great in just about every aspect of the game. Bear Bachmeier is a better thrower of the ball, the run game may be the best in the nation, the defense is stout, gritty and disciplined, and for that reason BYU is my top team in the Big 12. The only concern thus far however is in defensive depth, which showed weakness against CSU. But until BYU starts losing starters, this team is lined up for a playoff run.
10 LSU Tigers LSU has had a rollercoaster ride this season, with the beatdown of a sorry Clemson, the slow start against La Tech and the wild Ole Miss return game for Kiffin. But what we've learned is that Sam Leavitt just isn't quite as good of a passer as Kiffin may hope, but he makes up for it with his underrated legs. It was a pretty good game vs Ole Miss, but the Rebels were in control from start to finish, something that can't be said about the Louisville game.
11 Texas Tech Red Raiders Texas Tech absolved some of my worries of the previous 2 weeks by beating Houston. Their offense looked much improved as well as being more well balanced. What is concerning is the defense, which still faced issues like the prior 2 weeks. We will have to wait and see on Tech, but for now their win over Houston is one of the best in the nation.
12 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee is looking great to start the season despite their starting of a true freshman quarterback. The run game is elite, which has allowed Faizon Brandon to pass without much pressure. However, this week they host Texas on college gameday, so this ranking will be put to the test against another team looking to reaffirm their ranking.
13 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama has been a weird football team, but definitely a good one. They rolled East Carolina, but then struggled in the first half vs Kentucky. They ended up rolling Kentucky, only for the exact same scenario to play out the following week vs FSU to a worse degree. Alabama can not continue these slow starts, because better teams will take major advantage of what they give them.
14 West Virginia Mountaineers West Virginia has quietly risen to 3-0, and they've looked impressive doing it. The offensive duo of Michael Hawkins and Cam Cook are reigniting the old Rich Rod style and look to be a big threat in the Big 12. As for their resume, UVA was a top 4 team in the ACC and maybe still is, and despite being 10.5 point dogs, WVU won handily by 11.
15 Houston Cougars Houston lost by inches on a 2 point conversion to Texas Tech, and will be treated similarly to Louisville. Their offense is electric while their defense could use some work. Granted, they have a much weaker resume, but the close loss still keeps them right in the thick of the Big 12 title race. With a tougher schedule, any 3+ team tie favors Houston.
16 SMU Mustangs SMU is looking just as we expected this year, having an electric offense that can rack up points and an improved defense that will help in those 1 score games that sank them last year. The biggest issue SMU faces is their turnover issue, which can be directly attributed to very poor decisions by Kevin Jennings and Rhett Lashlee. If SMU never turns over the ball again, SMU might win out this year.
17 Mississippi State Bulldogs Miss State has become another upstart team with a high powered offense running through their electric quarterback, Kamario Taylor. The beatdown of Minnesota and huge comeback win over South Carolina show this teams potential, but with those being weaker teams we have to take it with a grain of salt.
18 UCLA Bruins UCLA is similar to Mississippi State and West Virginia, but they are getting 0 talk nationally. Nico has become a good quarterback for UCLA, leading them to a 3-0 start that includes wins over Purdue and Cal.
19 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa is scoring points this year... against the G6. When it comes to the P4, all we have is the comeback win over Iowa State. Iowa State is looking better than expected, and a rivalry is a rivalry giving Iowa benefit of the doubt, so for now they are a top 4 team in the Big 10, but the Michigan and OSU games will tell us all we need to know.
20 Kentucky Wildcats Kentucky showed promise the first half against Bama, before falling apart. But against Texas A&M, the Wildcats were in full control, taking Kyle Field by storm to advance to 2-1. Its not pretty, but we'll see if Will Stein can continue Kentucky's momentum.
21 Utah Utes *** See above reasoning ***
22 Kansas State Wildcats Kansas State is another team to quietly move to 3-0, but their opponents have been pretty poor. Wazzu is a decent G6 team, while Tulane is pretty good and Kansas State struggled at first, but pulled away to handle business. Every little bit matters for KSU as these 21-25 shift on a regular basis.
23 Tulsa Golden Hurricane Tulsa has the best resume in the G6 with their win over Ok State, and while their play isn't as good as NDSU, Boise or JMU, they have an opportunity to notch another P4 win this week verse the FCS-esque team known as Arkansas, but realistically Arkansas should beat Tulsa... right?
24 North Dakota State Bison NDSU at 4-0 is rolling just about everyone, being in my opinion a frontrunner for a CFP spot. While their resume is weaker than that of Boise State and Western Michigan, their on field play makes up for it big time.
25 Virginia Tech Hokies Virginia Tech is almost a carbon copy of Kansas State: Weaker opponents, but good enough to actually take value from their games. VTech under James Franklin looks very good and is trending in the right direction, and we'll see how big they beat Boston College.

Back to poll results >>