Ballot Type: Computer
Submitted: Oct. 4, 2026, 1:03 p.m.
Overall Rationale: TERR-Q (Transitive Extrapolated Round Robin Quicksort):
1) Construct a simulated round robin amongst all FBS teams
2) For each simulated "game", if Team A has beaten Team B more times than Team B has beaten Team A, Team A records a simulated "win" and Team B records a simulated "loss". If Team A has not played Team B or they have played twice and split their games, we look at first-layer transitive wins: i.e. we look at the number of teams x such that Team A has beaten x where x has beaten Team B and we look at the number of teams y such that Team B has beaten y where y has beaten Team A. The simulated "win" goes to Team A if |x| > |y| and Team B if |x| < |y|. If |x| = |y|, we look at second-layer transitive wins: i.e. we look at the number of chains x,x' and y,y' such that Team A > x > x' > Team B and Team B > y > y' > Team A. If |(x,x')| > |(y,y')|, Team A records the simulated "win". If |(x,x')| < |(y,y')|, Team B records the simulated "win". If |(x,x')| = |(y,y')|, we move onto third-layer transitive wins. We continue this process until either Team A or Team B has recorded a simulated "win" or until we've looked up to eighth-layer transitive wins.
3) We split the ranked teams at the largest adjacent gap between simulated round robin records, preferring the gap whose midpoint is closest to .500 when multiple gaps are equally large. We run steps (1), (2), and (3) within each subset until subsets contain only one team, using the entire season's results at each layer of recursion.
[Early-season tiebreakers are last season's final TERR-Q standings]
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Alabama Crimson Tide
|
|
| 2 |
Texas Longhorns
|
|
| 3 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs
|
|
| 4 |
Missouri Tigers
|
|
| 5 |
Florida Gators
|
|
| 6 |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
|
| 7 |
Nebraska Cornhuskers
|
|
| 8 |
Ohio State Buckeyes
|
|
| 9 |
Tennessee Volunteers
|
|
| 10 |
BYU Cougars
|
|
| 11 |
Ole Miss Rebels
|
|
| 12 |
Indiana Hoosiers
|
|
| 13 |
Kentucky Wildcats
|
|
| 14 |
Utah Utes
|
|
| 15 |
Miami Hurricanes
|
|
| 16 |
Texas Tech Red Raiders
|
|
| 17 |
Wisconsin Badgers
|
|
| 18 |
Iowa Hawkeyes
|
|
| 19 |
Arizona Wildcats
|
|
| 20 |
LSU Tigers
|
|
| 21 |
Auburn Tigers
|
|
| 22 |
Michigan State Spartans
|
|
| 23 |
James Madison Dukes
|
|
| 24 |
UCLA Bruins
|
|
| 25 |
UTSA Roadrunners
|
Teams Ranked:
| Rank | Team | Unusualness |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Alabama Crimson Tide
|
0.72 |
| 2 |
Texas Longhorns
|
0.00 |
| 3 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs
|
2.02 |
| 4 |
Missouri Tigers
|
2.30 |
| 5 |
Florida Gators
|
2.13 |
| 6 |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
-0.12 |
| 7 |
Nebraska Cornhuskers
|
1.73 |
| 8 |
Ohio State Buckeyes
|
0.00 |
| 9 |
Tennessee Volunteers
|
1.14 |
| 10 |
BYU Cougars
|
0.00 |
| 11 |
Ole Miss Rebels
|
0.14 |
| 12 |
Indiana Hoosiers
|
-1.18 |
| 13 |
Kentucky Wildcats
|
3.02 |
| 14 |
Utah Utes
|
-0.15 |
| 15 |
Miami Hurricanes
|
-4.79 |
| 16 |
Texas Tech Red Raiders
|
-1.09 |
| 17 |
Wisconsin Badgers
|
2.75 |
| 18 |
Iowa Hawkeyes
|
0.00 |
| 19 |
Arizona Wildcats
|
5.65 |
| 20 |
LSU Tigers
|
-0.35 |
| 21 |
Auburn Tigers
|
4.20 |
| 22 |
Michigan State Spartans
|
3.21 |
| 23 |
James Madison Dukes
|
0.00 |
| 24 |
UCLA Bruins
|
-0.59 |
| 25 |
UTSA Roadrunners
|
0.18 |
Omissions:
| Team | Unusualness |
|---|---|
Georgia Bulldogs
|
7.51 |
Oregon Ducks
|
1.35 |
Pittsburgh Panthers
|
0.43 |
Oklahoma State Cowboys
|
0.48 |
USC Trojans
|
0.25 |
Duke Blue Devils
|
0.16 |
Houston Cougars
|
0.25 |
Total Score: 47.88