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ChBass Ballot for 2026 Week 5

Ballot Type: Computer

Submitted: Sept. 27, 2026, 9:20 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Each team's performance is compared to their opponent's opponents' performances, with bonuses for wins & losses depending on the quality of the opponent. FCS games are not taken into consideration.

Things are a little less wonky as the model gets more data.

Rank Team Reason
1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish So far this season, it's Notre Dame, and everyone else. They could take a loss at this point and still possibly do well enough to stay #1. Second best defense in cfb, top tier passing & scoring, and the win over Wisconsin looks better & better.
2 Mississippi State Bulldogs Cowbell has been steamrolling through their first 4 games with the best offense in CFB and a defense whose only weak spot is the pass. They had a good test against Mizzou and we'll see how they fare against Bama.
3 Utah Utes Utah is one of two teams with both a top-10 offense and defense. Their best win is Iowa State, but no losses, and given the (Monster) B12, they may cruise until November.
4 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin is the other team both a top 10 offense and defense. Their only blemish is losing to Notre Dame, and that doesn't look too bad. The UCLA game in a few weeks will be a good test.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide South Carolina looked easy, and Bama is looking the part of a top-tier team. Next week's game in Stark Vegas is going to be sneaky-great.
6 Texas Longhorns The best defense in cfb held just enough and pressured the QB just enough to make up for a mid-tier offense.
7 Florida Gators A top-5 offense kept scoring and made up for a a mid-tier defense.
8 Nebraska Cornhuskers Nebraska's offense is tuning up, Indiana coming to town in a few weeks will tell us what we need to know.
9 Iowa Hawkeyes A top-tier defense and a last-second catch in the Big House is what Iowa needed. The mid-tier offense needs to step up if they want to stay here.
10 BYU Cougars The cougars have one of the best defenses in cfb; we'll see if that's enough to hang around in the top of the (Monster) Big 12.
11 Indiana Hoosiers The model had Northwestern ranked last week, and maybe it wasn't too far off... that's now Indiana's best win.
12 Georgia Bulldogs The bulldogs made quick and easy work of Oklahoma; their passing game and run defense is holding them up.
13 Miami Hurricanes They have a top-10 offense in Coral Gables; the resume is just taking a few weeks to catch up.
14 Texas Tech Red Raiders Beating Sam didn't help a lot, but things keep rolling in Lubbock.
15 Pittsburgh Panthers Pitt's defense is keeping it together, but they'll need better wins than Syracuse to vault into the higher tier.
16 Penn State Nittany Lions Losing to Wisconsin didn't hurt that badly, having a just-better-than-mid-tier offense will.
17 UCLA Bruins UCLA destroyed Maryland for their best win of the year and gave their offense a boost. The defense needs to step up.
18 Ole Miss Rebels The loss to Florida and the win against LSU nearly balance each other out in the points.
19 Cincinnati Bearcats There are some flashes of greatness in their pass defense, so keep an eye on Cincinnati.
20 Virginia Tech Hokies The bottom of the Top 25 are for those teams who are undefeated: The Hokies are another team with their best win against Maryland.
21 James Madison Dukes James Madison beat Liberty, but that's good enough!
22 Duke Blue Devils Wait, Duke's undefeated, and they beat Illinois?
23 North Dakota State Bison Undefeated Bison got through... Air Force!
24 UMass Minutemen I have heard the call: RANK UMASS. Seriously, check out their line against Rutgers versus the one USC put up.
25 USF Bulls And the USF Bulls, riding a win against FIU at the top of their resume, round out the top 25.

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