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TheUltimate721 Ballot for 2026 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 13, 2026, 8:42 a.m.

Overall Rationale: The mid tier of the SEC remains confusing to me and frankly I'm not sure how good it actually is. I think LSU's falloff is something that we should seriously consider when we are evaluating how good Ole Miss is.

Rank Team Reason
1 Indiana Hoosiers Indiana proved why they've won 22 games in a row on Saturday, and they did in about as hostile of an environment as you can possibly get. You can criticize certain aspects of Indiana's play but the Charlie Becker/Nick Marsh combo is going to be incredibly difficult for any team to stop.
2 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia and Indiana had almost identical wins, when you think about it. A battle of 5-0 conference foes, super hostile environment, 20-17. The reason for my difference between them is mostly because I just rate Indiana's offense over Georgia's, but they are close enough that you could really interchange them.
3 Miami Hurricanes How many more weeks until that Notre Dame game...
4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish How many more weeks until that Miami game... Oh wait they play BYU that should be a good one.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes
6 Texas Longhorns And there goes the other shoe for Texas. What a disasterous fourth quarter by Arch. The only way that doesn't at least go to overtime for Texas is if Arch did exactly what he did and turns the ball over. People have been pointing out strength of resume for Texas but I feel like that's a bit misleading because their best two wins were pretty shakey. Like I did not come out of the OSU game going "Oh yeah Texas is clearly the better team." they really just outlasted OSU. I feel much more confident in Ohio State down the stretch with what has been shown which is why I have them above Texas despite the h2h.
7 Alabama Crimson Tide A bit of a sobering game for Alabama fans, but they're still in pretty good position despite the loss.
8 Utah Utes I think Utah is well deserving of the top spot in the Big 12 so far. They're the most consistent by far and have a very real shot at finishing above this.
9 BYU Cougars The ND game will be a true test of 1) how good the Big 12 actually is this year. 2) Whether BYU is actually a Top Ten team or if they should be one of many floating below that.
10 UCLA Bruins Bit of an ugly game for the bruins offensively, but they forced Dylan Raiola into the worst game by EPA we've seen in the last 20 years and they're looking like a serious contender for the Big Ten so far.
11 Texas Tech Red Raiders
12 Ole Miss Rebels I am simply still not convinced this Ole Miss defense is any good.
13 Missouri Tigers
14 Tennessee Volunteers
15 Nebraska Cornhuskers Am I allowed to quit pretending the Huskers aren't really good now? They were 13th in FPI going into the Indiana game, and despite the loss came out ranked 12th in FPI. They're 2-1 in the Big Ten so far, clearly above the middle class. The way they "kept it close" against Indiana was not the same as Northwestern. They were extraordinarily competitive in the trenches, shutting down Turbo Richard almost completely. Anthony Colandrea was extraordinarily difficult for them to stop all game. It wasn't just "plucky team that refuses to die" it was "We are going to take you to war and force you to earn everything." and they very nearly won.

We joke about "quality losses" but the only thing that really stinks for the Huskers is that they definitely could have won this game. But they were a 7.5 point underdog and lost by a field goal. They are 4-1 against the spread this year, and the one loss is by 0.5 to North Dakota who are a top ten FCS program and probably better than a lot of FCS or bottom tier P4s.
16 Kentucky Wildcats Kentucky is pretty indicative of the middle-class of the SEC this year in that I think they are pretty good, but not quite as good as everyone thinks they are. I don't have much faith against Kentucky to be able to hang on with the big dogs of the conference thanks to their performance against Alabama, but I could see them finishing 9-3 easily.
17 Iowa Hawkeyes
18 Mississippi State Bulldogs
19 Oklahoma State Cowboys
20 USC Trojans Lincoln Riley nearly had himself a Scott Frost moment, opening up the second half with an onside kick that went very poorly, but he made up for it by thoroughly out-coaching Matt Campbell in the fourth quarter. I am still not convinced their defense is any good.
21 Northwestern Wildcats As good as I think Northwestern is so far, I think them getting ranked in the AP for beating Ball State while Nebraska is still unranked is pretty stupid.
22 Wake Forest Demon Deacons
23 James Madison Dukes
24 SMU Mustangs
25 Boise State Broncos

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