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dukemetoo Ballot for 2026 Week 6

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 5, 2026, 12:30 p.m.

Overall Rationale: All Human Baby!!

26. Minnesota
27. Wisconsin
28. USC
29. New Mexico
30. Northwestern

We now have teams that are 5-0. I feel that going 5-0 is hard enough that you should be ranked. This year, there aren't many teams with that record, so they all fit easily. There isn't really a big stealer. The only movement because of it was Minnesota (24 ->26), Duke (25-> 24) and Nebraska (26->25).

This is also the halfway through the prediction into resume shift. I put 5 games as the halfway point, and by 8 it will be all resume. Each should have at least 3 conference level games now, and after another 3, I call it good enough to focus on resume exclusively. There will be a gradual shift of course, but we aren't there yet.

Below is my normal copy/paste.

I guess I should share my methodology since I am part of the poll now. Here is my current methodology. It will change as I mature, gain more experience, etc. For now though, this is my methodology.

My method changes as the season progresses, but it is all a human poll. Preseason is purely speculative, as in, who would be favored on a neutral field. The team that I think is hypothetically better will get the better ranking. Early on this is recruiting ranking, talent retained, etc.

Slowly through the season, I add in more weight to the resume. When teams have played 5 games, is when I weigh expectations and resume equally. I also view 9 games played as the marker when resume will have 100% weight, and expectations have none.

By resume, I try to look purely at how difficult I think providing that resume would be. This takes into account strength of schedule and margin of victory. I tend to favor consistent teams over streaky ones. In practice, that means I punish teams with bad losses more than teams that don't have good wins. I also do not take head-to-head into consideration. I look hard at the resume if the team's name was missing.

I also try to "overreact" a bit when it comes to rankings. While I try to be fair, if a team gets a bad loss, if I struggle where to put them between 2 spots, I will end up putting them lower. The reason is, I am scared of poll momentum being a crutch, where teams just stay where they are. Moving them forces me to get out of the rut, and actually analyze them.

One other quirk I have is, I believe winning is hard. Any team that is 5-0 or better will be ranked. It causes some silly rankings that first week, but I think it is important. Mainly because if forces me to pay attention to smaller schools.

I'm also leaving notes on games I watched, or have significant opinions. I won't try to guess on explanations where I have no real opinion.

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns
2 Georgia Bulldogs
3 Miami Hurricanes
4 Ohio State Buckeyes
5 Alabama Crimson Tide
6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
7 Indiana Hoosiers
8 BYU Cougars
9 Utah Utes
10 Texas Tech Red Raiders
11 Pittsburgh Panthers Great win on Friday night. I am debating how to treat them when their QB is now out for the season with an ACL tear. A win over a 4-0 Virginia Tech team is a good win though. I am giving them too much of the benefit of the doubt, but I can change later. If they keep winning, they will stay here.
12 LSU Tigers
13 Ole Miss Rebels
14 UCLA Bruins
15 Iowa Hawkeyes
16 Tennessee Volunteers
17 North Dakota State Bison
18 Oregon Ducks
19 Missouri Tigers This might be the most impressive win of the season. The game was close until right at the end of the second quarter. I still don't love this team, but putting that performance on a team I thought was good (Florida) is impossible to ignore. They proved me wrong.
20 SMU Mustangs
21 Oklahoma State Cowboys
22 James Madison Dukes
23 Boise State Broncos I feel like I may be over-rating them a bit, but their wins should put them here. Their secondary still relies on pass interference to save them. The bigger concern is that Dylan Riley got injured in the game. With Sire Gaines still questionable, they are now looking at their bench for running. The program seems to develop running backs well, so they might be OK, but it just puts more pressure on Maddux Madsen to make throws, which I don't have a lot of faith in.
24 Duke Blue Devils
25 Nebraska Cornhuskers

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