Back to poll results >>

Isthmus11 Ballot for 2026 Week 6

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 5, 2026, 7:46 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Most deserving with SoR as a top 2 blends on how I like to rank, with some eye test thrown in as well when teams are close
Especially early in the year, I care more about what I have seen from teams compared to how good I think you might secretly be

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns 4-0, bye week, still the best SoR in the country in my opinion
2 Georgia Bulldogs 5-0, the team looks good as always but I am waiting to see what they look like @ Bama next week. Have yet to play a team with a pulse
3 Indiana Hoosiers 5-0, completely dunked on Rutgers as expected, the NW win from last week looks a lot better now that NW tore PSU a new one. This team looks weaker than last year but I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt until they seriously underperform or lose somewhere
4 Miami Hurricanes 5-0, beat Clemson about as badly as they got beaten by LSU week 1. I think this team has a very strong offense, I want to see how the Defense stacks up against a better offense though
5 Ohio State Buckeyes 4-1, handled a pretty good Iowa team pretty comfortably. This is the only team I see winning against Indiana in the B10 this year
6 Alabama Crimson Tide 5-0, completely manhandled MSST who I thought had a serious chance to upset Bama. This team might be a real SEC contender again this year
7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 5-0, handled a UNC team that I actually think is pretty decent this year. Not much to say until they play BYU in 2 weeks
8 Texas Tech Red Raiders 5-0, first half against Colorado was ugly but they figured it out in the second half and ran away with the game. Still clearly the team to beat in the B12
9 BYU Cougars 4-0, bye week, its a shame this team doesnt play Tech in the regular reason but at least they have ND in 2 weeks. Might be sneaky upset alert watch against an ISU team next week though that is much better than I thought they would be
10 Oregon Ducks 3-1, bye week, should be a good test against UCLA next week
11 Ole Miss Rebels 3-1, bye week, the loss to Florida looks worse now that they got destroyed by Mizzou but this is still a top 15 team IMO
12 LSU Tigers 4-1, dominated a really bad team, not much else to say here
13 Utah Utes 4-0, bye week, this team has a crap schedule and its hard to place exactly how good they are yet but they probably make it to the BYU game undefeated
14 Iowa Hawkeyes 4-1, looked like the same old story against OSU. This team is improved and has a somewhat real offense with a forward pass this year, but they still don't seem to have the talent to get it done against truly elite teams. The rest of their schedule is almost as wide open as a B10 schedule can get, they can even afford to lose 1 more game and sneak into the B10 championship or the playoffs but I don't see them beating actually elite teams in either case
15 USC Trojans 5-1, beat a Washington team that I think is decent but it was still at home and only a 4 point win, I really thought they would be more solid. They should easily win against a terrible PSU team next week, if they even win close I think I need to start dropping them down the ranks because they might just be frauds despite the talent on the roster
16 Florida Gators 4-1, I am not sure what to think of this team after that loss to Mizzou. Maybe Sumrall did not get his team focused enough after the big Ole Miss win? I truly do not think Mizzou is good so I am not sure what the deal is with this team. SEC play will sort it out eventually
17 Pittsburgh Panthers 5-0, I personally think they were lucky to escape that VT game as I do think VT outplayed them pretty significantly and that last field goal really looked like it was in, but at the end of the day they lost their starting QB and found a way to dig themselves out of a big hole and won in a pretty electric atmosphere against a VT team that I still think is really good
18 Tennessee Volunteers 4-1, handled Auburn ok, I think I overreacted by fully dropping this team from the top 25 last week. I don't really believe in them but I also do not really believe much in any team I have below them either. A 10 point win to Auburn is not what I personally think a top 20 team should look like
19 Nebraska Cornhuskers 5-0, they are here because they are 5-0 with 2 P4 wins and I could not justify leaving them off of this list but I think MSU and Maryland are easily bottom 4 in the B10 this year and they are probably in the bottom 15 of all P4 programs, so I do not think they will count for much. This team is probably going to lose to Indiana by 30 next week
20 Mississippi State Bulldogs 4-1, lost in pretty crushing fashion to Bama. I still think this team can spin it on offense but with that many turnovers the defense just clearly did not stand a chance against a team as good as Bama. Could still do some damage this year, but they might not beat a top SEC team besides maybe Ole Miss
21 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 4-1, crushed a pathetically bad Stanford team but I still think this is a team with everything to play for in the ACC especially since they do not play ND.
22 Northwestern Wildcats 3-1, a close loss to Indiana I think says more about the skill level of this team instead of some regression on Indiana's part. Chip Kelly is kind of a menace and has dialed up a different looking offense for pretty much every game so far this year. PSU is honestly just a terrible team but still 400+ rushing does not come from nowhere. They have a tough stretch towards the end of the year and while I do not think they will beat OSU they really have a chance against Oregon and Iowa
23 SMU Mustangs 4-1, good win against a decent Boston College team, I don't see them dropping another game until maybe VT on their schedule
24 Missouri Tigers 4-1, after that win against Florida I could not justify keeping this team outside of the top 25 but I truly think that game was more of a fluke than anything. I guess we will see if I am just a hater
25 UCLA Bruins 4-0, I really had a hard time deciding if I wanted to keep this team in the top 25 over Duke or Kentucky or VT but at the end of the day they have 3 P4 wins and I think that should count for something, even if all 3 of those P4 teams are probably in the bottom 15 P4 teams in the country they beat them all by pretty significant margins so I still think this team looks better than my other 3 options. They will probably lose to Oregon next week but I do not think its an impossible game to win

Back to poll results >>