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bladefencer Ballot for 2026 Week 5

Ballot Type: Computer

Submitted: Sept. 27, 2026, 1:59 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Using only results from this year, I compute 1) a power rating, 2) an offensive rating, 3) a defensive rating and 4) a rating from the difference of the offensive and defensive ratings. I use the power rating to compute 5) a strength of record (SOR)/resume rating and 6) a rating that gives very small merits and demerits for particular results (e.g merits for postseason wins or beating a top 15 power rating team; demerits for getting blown out by a team with a similar power rating).

I normalize the six ratings and combine them in a weighted average to determine the final rating which increasingly values the SOR component the further into the season. The weights for the other ratings are static during the season. The result is not normalized, so the best possible final rating is 1.000 if a team is #1 in all six ratings.

Dropped: Penn State (8 -> 37), Michigan (9 -> 44), West Virginia (10 -> 49), Northwestern (12 -> 29), South Florida (14 -> 28), Vanderbilt (15 -> 41), Virginia Tech (17 -> 38), Tulsa (21 -> 63)

Next 10: Boise State (0.734), UTSA (0.732), South Florida (0.720), Northwestern (0.714), North Dakota State (0.709), USC (0.707), Cincinnati (0.706), UCF (0.704), Houston (0.697), Clemson (0.695)

Ranking violation % (% of played games with winner ranked below loser): 5.12%
Top 25 ranking violation %: 1.32%

I like these rating a lot better than last week's. The power ratings actually converged this week which is likely a big contributor to these making more sense.

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns 0.960, +1, Pow: 2, Off: 27, Def: 1, SOR: 1
2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 0.899, -1, Pow: 1, Off: 10, Def: 2, SOR: 2
3 Alabama Crimson Tide 0.870, +0, Pow: 3, Off: 3, Def: 24, SOR: 3
4 Florida Gators 0.863, +2, Pow: 5, Off: 2, Def: 54, SOR: 4
5 Nebraska Cornhuskers 0.823, +17, Pow: 6, Off: 15, Def: 26, SOR: 7
6 Utah Utes 0.819, +20, Pow: 9, Off: 14, Def: 13, SOR: 10
7 Ohio State Buckeyes 0.811, +16, Pow: 4, Off: 4, Def: 12, SOR: 25
8 Georgia Bulldogs 0.811, +21, Pow: 7, Off: 1, Def: 74, SOR: 14
9 Indiana Hoosiers 0.809, +16, Pow: 13, Off: 23, Def: 11, SOR: 9
10 UCLA Bruins 0.796, +10, Pow: 11, Off: 8, Def: 31, SOR: 15
11 Mississippi State Bulldogs 0.795, -6, Pow: 16, Off: 16, Def: 38, SOR: 6
12 Miami Hurricanes 0.787, +4, Pow: 15, Off: 12, Def: 20, SOR: 18
13 Iowa Hawkeyes 0.785, +6, Pow: 28, Off: 51, Def: 5, SOR: 8
14 Texas Tech Red Raiders 0.779, +13, Pow: 18, Off: 43, Def: 58, SOR: 5
15 Ole Miss Rebels 0.770, -8, Pow: 34, Off: 32, Def: 30, SOR: 13
16 Pittsburgh Panthers 0.769, -12, Pow: 32, Off: 13, Def: 27, SOR: 17
17 Oregon Ducks 0.764, +40, Pow: 20, Off: 6, Def: 35, SOR: 28
18 LSU Tigers 0.763, +13, Pow: 8, Off: 7, Def: 4, SOR: 35
19 BYU Cougars 0.760, -1, Pow: 22, Off: 56, Def: 25, SOR: 12
20 Kentucky Wildcats 0.753, +4, Pow: 17, Off: 28, Def: 21, SOR: 27
21 Duke Blue Devils 0.750, -8, Pow: 35, Off: 59, Def: 15, SOR: 16
22 Tennessee Volunteers 0.748, -11, Pow: 10, Off: 5, Def: 56, SOR: 32
23 Wisconsin Badgers 0.746, +23, Pow: 29, Off: 29, Def: 53, SOR: 20
24 James Madison Dukes 0.740, +10, Pow: 39, Off: 41, Def: 43, SOR: 19
25 Auburn Tigers 0.738, +13, Pow: 27, Off: 40, Def: 14, SOR: 29

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