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Maladroit44 Ballot for 2026 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 12, 2026, 2:28 p.m.

Overall Rationale: the SEC really spent the whole offseason talking up its depth and then proceeded to have two good teams huh

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Good news: Georgia found a way past DeBoer! Bad news: it involved some extremely questionable officiating that left it entirely unclear whether the Bulldogs actually *should* have won. Still, they played Alabama more or less to a standstill on the road, which in my opinion is now the most impressive result any team has so far. I've had them #1 for four straight weeks now, and I expect the consensus will now agree on that point.
2 Miami Hurricanes DNP this week. 2024, 2025, and now 2026 have all seen Miami spend some time in the top five, and yet I still don't think anyone's 100% sure that Mario Cristobal is capable of putting together a true top-five team here. It's hard to be certain when 2024 ended in a late-season collapse, 2025 featured a mid-season collapse brushed aside by an unlikely run to the championship, and 2026 hasn't seen any slam-dunk proof of the Hurricanes' elite status. Still, somebody has to be here, and I don't trust anybody else to deserve this ranking either.
3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Miami/ND is a thoroughly meaningless ranking debate, given that these two teams will settle it on the field in the first week of November. But in the meantime, I've leaned towards the Canes over the Irish mostly on the strength of Miami's win over Wake Forest, a ranked victory that only gets better with every passing week. The best win ND has to compare is over 4-1 Wisconsin, which...*could* be good, but it's a precarious thing to balance an elite's resume on the strength of another team that has no meaningful results yet otherwise. The Badgers play UCLA, USC, and Iowa next, though, which could prove instructive about whether the Irish's win over them should be given a bit more respect.
4 Indiana Hoosiers Speaking of teams that haven't played anybody, aside from other teams that *really* haven't played anybody! Indiana has no resume outside of one-score wins over the Big Ten's two NUs, which is pretty solid on paper considering those teams are otherwise 9-0...but the best of those nine wins is either 3-3 Penn State or 4-2 Ohio. You might ask why I believe in Northwestern and Nebraska enough to rank them highly when I don't extend the same confidence to Wisconsin; the answer mostly comes down to how close they played Indiana. But it's important to keep perspective that it'd be kinda silly to have the Hoosiers ahead of ND because they beat their best opponents by *less*, so for now, they fall behind. The meeting with Ohio State this week, of course, will make a lot of this irrelevant.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide I don't love that it happens for an SEC team that certainly doesn't need the ranking help, but I do appreciate that a number of ballots this week seem to be taking Bama's loss in stride without dropping them, and sometimes even raising them (as I've done). I should be clear that—at least in my case—this isn't a matter of treating the Georgia game like it's *not* a loss because of that nonsense no-PI call, because those things happen and there's really no way of knowing how the game would've played out if it had gone another way. The reason is much more straightforward: they proved very clearly that they can hang with #1 for a full 60 minutes, and I can't imagine anybody who watched that game really thinks *less* of them as a result.
6 Ohio State Buckeyes As with Indiana, a lot of what we know about OSU now is about to get substantially less relevant when the two face off. In the meantime, though, I'm feeling a little harsher about the Buckeyes' loss to Texas. I haven't punished them much for it until now because, well, a one-point loss in a hostile road environment early in the season against an undefeated top-ten team is about as excusable as it gets. But the Longhorns have shown a lot of cracks, even more so in their first loss of the season against OU. If the Sooners could expose Texas for their faults, and Tennessee almost could, it does reflect a bit poorly on Ohio State that they failed to do so, doesn't it?
7 Utah Utes I still love college football, I do, but *man* are the schedules brutal this year. Alabama and Georgia didn't play a real contender until this week; Indiana won't until next week; Miami and Notre Dame won't until several weeks from now. Utah is waiting for that same date, when they'll face off against rival BYU in the Holy War to start November, and they might not have a ranked win on the resume at 8-0 heading into that matchup. Realignment hasn't left us with a whole lot of truly meaningful, like-versus-like games for the elites, and that makes it hard to evaluate a team like this for long stretches of the season.
8 BYU Cougars At least BYU, unlike their rival, gets more than one true test. The Cougars welcome Notre Dame this week for a showdown of unbeatens, and the excitement I've seen around this matchup is a nice reminder that marquee matchups *do* still happen outside the SEC and the Big Ten, once in a while. There are some signs that BYU might still be a step below the true contenders, as was the case last season, but they could put that narrative to bed in a hurry depending how they look against the Irish here.
9 Northwestern Wildcats The Big Ten, to my dismay and consternation, still has not amended their scheduling approach to enshrine Northwestern vs. Nebraska as an annual rivalry, and the two don't play this year. It's a real shame, because at least right now, it's looking like it would've been a real doozy of an NU-NU showdown—potentially the first with both teams ranked since the 2000 Alamo Bowl. Alas, it's not to be.
10 Nebraska Cornhuskers The True NU, a title defended by last year's edition of a storied rivalry that I refuse to accept nobody else cares about, was perhaps even more competitive than the False NU in their loss to defending national champs Indiana. The Huskers led 17-6 at one point in the fourth quarter...but only briefly, and Cignetti's Hoosiers came back the way they always seem to in spots like this. Still, there's no debating that it was a solid result, and as with Northwestern, I'm moved to bring Nebraska *into* the rankings on the strength of losing their undefeated status in just about the most impressive way possible. The road ahead is light for NU, with Oregon their only real test between now and a date with Ohio State in the second-to-last week of the regular season, so their 5-1 record could turn into 9-1 and a soaring ranking real quick.
11 Texas Longhorns Cassandra, of Greek mythology, was cursed with the gift of foretelling the future but never being believed. Certain teams make me feel that way, and Texas is one of them. All three seasons the Longhorns have been in the SEC, they've been ranked #1 in September. The 2024 team wasn't bad, but lost three times to the two best teams they played; the 2025 team didn't even make the playoff; and now the 2026 team looks like a bit of a paper tiger too. I can't blame people for seeing the championship potential here, but one of these years, Texas needs to earn their spot at the top before we start calling them the best team in football. Most of this team wasn't born the last time they were *actually* that good.
12 Oklahoma State Cowboys Well, Eric Morris has passed the all-important Mike Gundy test: do you inexplicably lose a winnable game in favorable conditions against a bad team when the program's momentum is at its peak? It was a bit touch-and-go, but the answer is a fairly emphatic no, as the Cowboys put away UCF with a 21-7 second half to secure their fourth win, as many as they had in the previous two years combined. Next up is the biggest test of OSU's Big 12 contender status between now and mid-November: a trip to Houston, which is fresh off a dominant win over K-State. I'm excited, and kinda nervous, but getting me to feel this number of emotions about Cowboy football is an undeniable improvement over the end of the Gundy era.
13 Boise State Broncos You've gotta credit Boise State's offense for their consistency: they're *gonna* score 30-something points on you. The Broncos have done that in all five of their wins this season, putting up 38, 38, 32, 37, and most recently 38 in a victory over 4-2 Fresno State. It's hard to shut down a team that can hit you this hard through the air and on the ground: longtime BSU QB Maddux Madsen has yet to throw a pick this year, and up-and-comer Dylan Riley is quietly leading the nation in rushing yards, just as Ashton Jeanty did two years ago. This is the only team of whom I think you can undeniably say "college football is better when they're good"...and they're good.
14 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa is technically up five spots in my ballot this week, so let me be very clear: that's because other teams fell around them. I don't want anybody thinking I put any stock whatsoever in a win over Washington! I mean, okay, I will concede it's a *bit* impressive to do it on the other side of the country, given how intense Big Ten travel can be...but c'mon, this UW team just sucks. Is anybody really surprised Iowa beat the brakes off 'em? The Hawkeyes are still the best team that I feel confident isn't beating any of the top tiers, and that might remain the case a while, judging by their upcoming schedule.
15 Wake Forest Demon Deacons I'm starting to think Jake Dickert is just a good damn football coach, man. For all the success Dave Clawson had at Wake, their 9-4 finish in Dickert's first season was better than all but one of Clawson's teams, and they look even better this year. I'd say I'm hesitant about ranking them this high due to the mid-top-25 attrition this week, but I'm honestly just...not? They look the part, and not only are they blowing teams out, their close wins at Purdue and at Louisville both look better after this week.
16 UCLA Bruins Okay, okay, I'll rank 'em. Do I believe in them? Uhhhhh...well, I don't *not* believe in them. Bob Chesney obviously knows what he's doing, and the Bruins are so much better than they've been in a long time that I can't really feel confident in putting a lid on their potential. That being said, I'm a little thrown by just how much stock is being put in a messy, ugly 17-15 brawl between two teams that were down to their QB2 and QB3 by the end of the game. I wanna see UCLA prove themselves against more reliable competition, but we've got the schedule problem again: up next are Wisconsin, MSU, Nevada, Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan. This team could start 11-0 and I wouldn't know if they're all that good!
17 Missouri Tigers The SEC pileup is starting to resolve itself now, thank goodness. Florida is now pretty clearly mediocre, which takes a lot of the shine off Mizzou's best win, but I'm not gonna drop them more than a couple spots about it. Considering what a mess the SEC standings are, just having avoided any double-digit losses in league play is a badge of honor. One that will definitely survive as the Tigers face Ole Miss, Texas, and Georgia in three of their next four games, I'm sure.
18 Texas Tech Red Raiders DNP this week. Texas Tech's schedule is undeniably pretty week, but depending how you look at the Big 12, almost everyone probably sees one or two meaningful tests in their next six games: vs ASU, at Cincy, vs UA, vs WVU, at OSU, and at BU. As an objective observer with no skin in the game, that trip to Stillwater looks like the big one to me, but a Halloween date with Arizona (who I currently have a single spot below TTU) will be worth watching too. I believe this can be a playoff contender, but they've gotta prove it to me in those matchups.
19 Arizona Wildcats Speaking of Arizona, they continue to quietly impress, having now won four straight after a competitive loss to BYU. The Wildcats' most recent conquest came in a high-scoring shootout on the road over West Virginia, one in which the Mountaineers somehow lost by nearly 20 points despite running over 100 (!) offensive plays. This team strikes me as very similar to Wake Forest: quietly 9-4 last season, and now taking care of business against the mid/low tiers of their conference while carrying a single, close-ish loss against the league's highest-ranked team. If the Deacons are ranked for that, why shouldn't the Cats be too?
20 Ole Miss Rebels Every passing week, I find myself with less and less faith in this team. It feels a little mean dropping them repeatedly when they've only had one really bad result, but we can't sit around and pretend down-to-the-wire wins over Louisville and LSU are as impressive, or a blowout loss to Florida as excusable, as they were at the time. The Rebels' best win and their only loss both got substantially worse this week, and they should drop for it, but in most polls they'll stick around in the top ten as a matter of blissful ignorance.
21 Oregon Ducks On the other side of the 17-15 slugfest that I'm surprised people are taking so seriously is Oregon, who a lot of folks are now ready to declare dead in the water. I get it—they looked horrible in this game—but I don't think it needs to be said that the Ducks are a vastly different team when Dante Moore is healthy. That's not inherently a great credit to Moore or anything; it's more that Dylan Raiola just had maybe the worst performance by any QB, in any game, in the last few years. UCLA defenders averaged more yards on his intercepted passes (3.0) than Oregon receivers did on his completed ones (2.3). It's unclear if/when Moore will be back, but I have to believe the Ducks will find *some* solution better than just throwing Raiola out there again.
22 Tennessee Volunteers Oh god it's Alabama week. You might look at Tennessee and see that they're 5-1, with that one loss by just three points at home against a top-ten team. You might think that means they'll be competitive against Bama. If you believed any of that, you probably said the exact same thing when the Vols were in the exact same position last year, right before they got embarrassed by the Tide and finished 3-4. I'd like to believe history won't repeat itself, but I'm bracing for disappointment.
23 Kentucky Wildcats I'm not sure what it is about this fanbase in particular—maybe all the basketball success warps their perceptions a bit?—but Kentucky fans seem kinda comically overconfident right now. I saw hordes of them crying out in protest that a last-play-of-the-game win over god-awful South Carolina dropped them from #24 to #26, and now a lot of them seem mad that they're only up to #15 for another last-play-of-the-game win over an LSU team that might not even be good. I get that this success is exciting, I do! But I also think when you have a 45-17 loss on your resume and a single somewhat impressive win, you ought to have a little more perspective.
24 LSU Tigers Speaking of LSU, yeah, it turns out ranking them in the top ten was premature. Who could've guessed? It's not like this happened last season, or the season before that, or the season before that, or the season before that...oh, wait. The Tigers at least have a decent chance to win their next two (vs Mississippi State, at Auburn) before they face Alabama and Texas in back-to-back weeks at the start of November. You might ask while I have them ranked at all, but I do feel that narrow losses against two low-ranked top 25 teams on the road suggest LSU is another, slightly lower-ranked top 25 team. They're just not anything more.
25 Houston Cougars I promise, I'm not debuting Houston this week because my team plays them next! A dominant road win at Kansas State is way more than I've seen out of the Cougars at any point this season until now, and I'm tentatively ready to call them a Big 12 contender on that basis. Obviously, though, they have to win at least one of the next two against Oklahoma State and Utah, both to prove that status and to stay ever-so-slightly alive in the conference championship race. Surely they can pack the stadium for *this* game, at least. Right?

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