Ballot Type: Computer

Submitted: Sept. 27, 2026, 9:52 a.m.

Overall Rationale: I have made my own ELO-rating system (similar to chess) for college football. Only final scores are considered in the ratings. W-L records do not matter. Margin of victory matters. My code is on github here: https://github.com/kyleaforrester/cfb_elo Losing to a good team might actually improve your rating if you played them close enough. Beating a bad team with a slim margin might drop your rating if your margin of victory isn't good enough. I don't care about the end W-L result or the W-L team records, just how each team performs when compared to what was expected of them.

• Ballot
• Analysis

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Ohio State Buckeyes	445
2	Indiana Hoosiers	413
3	Georgia Bulldogs	399
4	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	372
5	Utah Utes	366
6	Texas Longhorns	360
7	Miami Hurricanes	342
8	Alabama Crimson Tide	341
9	LSU Tigers	294
10	Tennessee Volunteers	266
11	Oregon Ducks	258
12	Florida Gators	248
13	Iowa Hawkeyes	238
14	Texas Tech Red Raiders	232
15	BYU Cougars	229
16	Penn State Nittany Lions	218
17	Northwestern Wildcats	217
18	Ole Miss Rebels	208
19	Mississippi State Bulldogs	206
20	Duke Blue Devils	200
21	Missouri Tigers	191
22	Nebraska Cornhuskers	181
23	Iowa State Cyclones	181
24	UCLA Bruins	181
25	Vanderbilt Commodores	172

Teams Ranked:

Rank	Team	Unusualness
1	Ohio State Buckeyes	0.64
2	Indiana Hoosiers	0.36
3	Georgia Bulldogs	0.00
4	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	0.00
5	Utah Utes	1.11
6	Texas Longhorns	-1.13
7	Miami Hurricanes	-0.13
8	Alabama Crimson Tide	0.00
9	LSU Tigers	0.36
10	Tennessee Volunteers	1.50
11	Oregon Ducks	0.56
12	Florida Gators	-0.65
13	Iowa Hawkeyes	0.00
14	Texas Tech Red Raiders	0.00
15	BYU Cougars	-0.02
16	Penn State Nittany Lions	5.18
17	Northwestern Wildcats	7.91
18	Ole Miss Rebels	-0.15
19	Mississippi State Bulldogs	-0.33
20	Duke Blue Devils	0.00
21	Missouri Tigers	3.73
22	Nebraska Cornhuskers	0.00
23	Iowa State Cyclones	2.25
24	UCLA Bruins	-0.33
25	Vanderbilt Commodores	0.16

Omissions:

Team	Unusualness
Oklahoma State Cowboys	0.40
USC Trojans	0.32
Pittsburgh Panthers	0.13
Houston Cougars	0.32
Virginia Tech Hokies	0.06

Total Score: 27.71