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Bank_Gothic Ballot for 2026 Week 6

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 5, 2026, 11:32 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Notable teams I've left off my ballot this week:

- Kentucky: Unranked based on loss to Bama + win over A&M losing some shine + barely beating a bad USCar team.

- BYU: undefeated but completely untested and the game against TCU did not impress. I'm getting to the point where I have enough data to look past the record and make some determinations about teams like BYU.

- NDSU: I love a plucky underdog and the Bison are undefeated, but at this point I don't think they're better than JMU or BSU, my two favorites from the G6.

- Nebraska: Dropped from my rankings despite the win this weekend. It's a bit unfair, but Nebraska allowed Maryland to hang around too long for me not to notice. Frankly, Nebraska probably deserves to be ranked but there's too many teams that "deserve" to be ranked. I'm happy to move them back in as the season progresses.

- Minnesota: I am THIS CLOSE to ranking Minnesota. The early season loss to MSU doesn't seem nearly as bad anymore, and they've shown a lot of grit. But gutty wins over bad teams (which is what I now think Michigan and Washington are) doesn't compel me to put the Gophers in my top 25. Not yet, anyway.

- USCal: Unranked because all their wins against bad teams + letting Rutgers and Washington be competitive + losing to Oregon at home with the backup QB and displaying poor culture.

- LSU: Unranked because the loss to Ole Miss puts them at the bottom of the Bama / MSU / Missouri / Florida / Ole Miss / LSU pecking order. Much like Nebraska, I think LSU probably deserves to be ranked, but there are too many teams ahead of them.

- Virginia Tech: It pains me to have Virginia Tech unranked. They all but won the game against Pitt, a team I hold in high esteem, and I struggle with holding that against them. But the close wins over BC and Maryland raise some concerns and there are too many good teams that I think deserve to be in the top 25 more than the Hokies. I'm still monitoring them and will gladly put them in my top 25 if they continue to play well.

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns Still undefeated with the best wins in the country. Offense is off to a sluggish start but defense is elite and defense, proverbially, travels and wins championships.
2 Miami Hurricanes Haven't played the toughest schedule but have looked amazing. The win over Wake Forest is aging well. I think the Pitt game will be the first real measuring stick, which is disappointing, but Miami has looked the part in its other performances. Absolutely dominating Clemson tells me that Miami is who I think they are.
3 Georgia Bulldogs Could almost copy and paste the same note that I made above for Miami (swapping Vandy for Clemson). Haven't played a truly dangerous opponent yet, but have looked good in their games. A win over Alabama will cause UGA will move up. Even up to No. 1 if Texas continues to flounder on offense.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes The wins over Illinois and especially Iowa are impressive. The loss to Texas (by 1 point and on the road) doesn't really ding the Buckeyes for me. They deserve to be No. 4 and my top ranked 1-loss team.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide Demolished a good MSU team, after another slow start. I was worried that the slow starts were a sign of something negative, but now I just think that's Bama's style this season. They're throwing jabs in the first half to figure opponents out, then delivering the knockout blows in the second.
6 Indiana Hoosiers The win over NW continues to age well and Indiana treated Rutgers like a good tea should. Indiana moving up in my poll is mostly about other teams moving down, but I like where I have the Hoosiers.
7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Wisconsin win continues to age well, but the weak schedule is catching up to ND. The UNC game was a bit disconcerting - it was raining and UNC has a solid defense, so ND's offense scoring 37 is a good sign. But I just don't understand how ND's defense gave up 26 to a bad UNC team (both in terms of offense and special teams). ND is still a top-10 team, but they looked sluggish and flawed against UNC this weekend.
8 Texas Tech Red Raiders I don't know what to make of Tech. The win over UH was a coin flip at home, and that game against CU was ugly. I'm not fooled by the final score. They still have a great roster, but I will need to see more or they are going to slip in my poll.
9 Pittsburgh Panthers I'm still too high on Pitt, and their undefeated record is more about a lucky win over Virginia Tech, but I'm just really enjoying this team's brand of football. I won't apologize for having them where I do because I think they're the second best team in the ACC and the late October game against Miami is going to be great.
10 Utah Utes Utah is quietly great this year, and might be the best team in the Big 12. The win over ISU looks better and better.
11 Mississippi State Bulldogs MSU falls back to earth after a tough loss to Bama. I didn't expect MSU to win, but I didn't expect them to get absolutely thrashed in the second half. I still think MSU is the best team in the "middle class" of the SEC, but they aren't in my top tier. I'm using head-to-heads in order to rank MSU, Missouri, Florida, Ole Miss, and LSU (who is currently unranked) in that middle tier.
12 Missouri Tigers If MSU is the best in the SEC middle class, then Missouri must be just below them. The win over Florida was impressive, but the jury is still out on how good Florida actually is. MSU has the head-to-head, so they're at the top, but Missouri is close behind.
13 UCLA Bruins Bruins win with gawdy numbers against bad teams. Part of me wants to put them higher, but the wins just age badly as the season goes on. Which sucks for UCLA, because 3 of their 4 wins are against P4 teams, they just happen to be some of the worst P4 teams. I'm looking forward to UCLA's major tests against Oregon and Wisconsin.
14 Duke Blue Devils Duke is the reigning ACC champ with two P4 wins. The games against Illinois and Tulane were closer than I want to see from a top-15 team, but I will respect the Blue Devils until they give me a reason not to.
15 Florida Gators Florida lost to Missouri but they beat Ole Miss. That puts them third in my SEC middle tier. I'll give them the nod over Tennessee for now, based on performance against common opponent Auburn, but I just hate that these two don't play each other this season.
16 Tennessee Volunteers I'm probably a bit low on Tennessee, given how good they looked against Texas and the nice win over Auburn. But they were ranked No. 22 in my poll last week, so sitting at No. 16 is a solid step up. Are they better than the "middle tier" of the SEC, or are they firmly in the middle tier? And if so, where do they sit? Need to see more, but I think the Vols are a dangerous team this year and will continue to move them up in poll if they continue to win.
17 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss was off this week, but they dropped in my poll due to how the other middle tier games shook out. The loss to Florida puts them below Florida, Missouri, and MSU.
18 Iowa Hawkeyes Can't fault the Hawkeyes for losing to OSU. The offense actually looked pretty solid and it's not like any other team has a Jeremiah Smith. But Iowa still slips a couple of spots due to a big loss at home.
19 Oklahoma State Cowboys OSU was off this week, but have moved down a bit due to where other teams have moved. I still think they're a good team, we just need to see more. The head-to-head over Oregon continues to prop OSU up in my poll and I've more or less forgiven the Pokes for their week 1 loss to Tulsa (who might actually be decent).
20 Oregon Ducks The Ducks were off this week, so they sit just below OSU for the same reasons discussed last week. The upcoming game against my No. 13 UCLA will tell me a lot about both teams.
21 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Wake is great! I've wanted to rank them since the close loss to Miami and the wins over Louisville (close, but Louisville's not bad) and Stanford (murdered 'em) give me confidence that Wake Forest is a top-25 team.
22 Northwestern Wildcats The close loss to Indiana is actually doing more for NW in my opinion than the win over PSU. Nonetheless, I don't think PSU is a terrible team and NW looked dominant. Colorado is a terrible team, and NW dominated them in week 2.
23 Houston Cougars The Coogs are an enigma wrapped in a mystery. They looked great in a close loss on the road to my No. 8 Texas Tech, but then struggled at home against a UCF team of uncertain quality (though maybe the Citronauts aren't as bad as I thought). The talent and coaching is there, but UH's defense may be worse than I had hoped and that will make it hard for them to crack the top-15 in my poll.
24 James Madison Dukes The Dukes are still undefeated after thrashing Marshall, and the win over Liberty has aged well. They are my top ranked G6.
25 Boise State Broncos BSU could be higher. The loss to Oregon will age better as time goes on. I still think the wins over Memphis and WMU are good wins, although I don't like how close SDSU kept things. I want to move BSU up in my poll, but I don't know how many tests are left on their schedule. Oregon State is a strong teams, but BSU will need to win convincingly if it wants to move up head of the quality P4 teams. Teams like Utah State don't move the needle, and the CSU and TXST games don't look like real tests anymore. If both JMU and BSU win out, then I think I will end up ranking BSU ahead of JMU due to differences in competition, but I doubt BSU will be able to crack the top-10 of my poll this year.

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