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Justanother_0 Ballot for 2026 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 12, 2026, 2:54 p.m.

Overall Rationale: I only consider the top half of each Power Four conference (plus the independents if they perform well enough), along with who I believe to be the best teams from the Group of Six in that given week. I then sort the teams by conference, ranking each team from best to worst within their own conference. The best of the G6 are all grouped into the same set for determining who the best among them are. The independents are also sorted into their own group as well. Finally, I use the six groups made (four P4 conference top 8's, 1 group for the best of the G6, 1 group for the independents) to create the top 25. Any teams absent that I think need explanation will be talked about in the [Notable Omissions] category below.

This is a resume first ballot. While the general vibes of a team are somewhat considered. What a team has accomplished matters more than their talent profile or their coaching staff (not to say that a team’s other stats or intangibles are irrelevant).

Notable Omissions:

[Tennessee] is a team with a very deceiving record. While their defense is playoff caliber, their offense is among the worst in the SEC. I'll reassess this should they be smoking cigars come Saturday.

[Oregon] was already on the bubble for me going into the UCLA game, so them getting unranked is a product of them getting nudged out rather than careening out of the top 15 or something.

[USC] is the inverse of Tennessee, and with their best win being a Campbell led Penn State I can't put them in over other teams

[LSU]'s best win right now is either a broken A&M team or a stagnating Clemson squad. Even Oregon has a win against USC and they're not even on this list, so how can I put LSU here?

[Oregon State] should be on everybody's radar. If they finish 11-2 (which I expect them to), they'll probably be punching a ticket to the playoffs with an offense that'll be me more than enough of a match for all but the stoutest of defenses. If only they had been able to close out either of their OOC openers...

[Penn State] wasn't even close to making this list. I just want to point out that the Nittany Lions are tied with Iowa State in record and are winless in power four play.

Conference Representation:

ACC: 3

XII: 7

B1G: 5

SEC: 7

PAC-12: 1

SBC: 1

Thank you for reading!

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs This one should be unanimous among the human voters. Nobody has a better win in the nation right now, and it's looking like the Bulldogs are on course to Atlanta once again.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide Despite the loss, Alabama looked to be Georgia's match for the whole game, with 50/50 calls and a break in discipline being the ultimate difference maker at home. While I'd pick Alabama to win a possible rematch, they'll have to wait to get it.
3 Ohio State Buckeyes Jeremiah Smith.
4 BYU Cougars These guys don't blow up the stat sheet, but they grind out wins in the same way that the late 2010's Georgia teams do. Granted, their toughest opponent was Arizona so far, but I've got them beating the Irish this coming week.
5 Utah Utes Just behind their Mormon counterparts, the Kansas game was enough to make me slink back a little in my confidence in the Utes. We'll see how they perform in the weeks leading up to the holy war
6 Ole Miss Rebels Kewan Lacy has to be the most underrated player in all of the FBS. People are too quick to attribute the florida loss to the Rebels coming off the LSU game, but truthfully the biggest difference maker in that game was Lacy being out. Chambliss might be one of the best QB's in the game right now, but if you're down your top running back there is only so much you can do. With Lacy back and Ole Miss seemingly coasting, I am willing to somewhat lessen the impact of the Florida loss.
7 Indiana Hoosiers After the Nebraska scare, Indiana has to host the most potent passing duo in the nation. We will see how the Hoosiers handle them.
8 UCLA Bruins UCLA could genuinely run the table from here on out and I wouldn't be surprised. Their toughest remaining opponent is probably USC, who isn't gonna be able to stop Wayne Knight at all.
9 Miami Hurricanes A lack of a marquee win is hurting Miami a bit here, and it's looking like they won't get their chance at one until November.
10 Texas Longhorns Not only did they give up the first touchdown to Oklahoma since the Big XII days, the Longhorns went and blew it entirely against the worst Oklahoma team of the 2020's.
11 Texas Tech Red Raiders They win, but not much more than that. I need to see how they do against Baylor and Oklahoma State before I put too much stock in the Red Raiders.
12 Northwestern Wildcats The Wildcats take a trip to Oregon on Halloween. Win that game and they'll be in the hunt for the playoffs.
13 Kentucky Wildcats The LSU win gives some legitimacy to Kentucky's placement in the mid 10's. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to push even further up the list...
14 Houston Cougars Can they get more than 70% capacity in TDECU stadium?
15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish This is it Notre Dame. If they win against BYU, then I'll accept that this is a good team with a weak schedule. If they lose, then I'll know that they're a team that lost a lot more from last years campaign than what was let on in the preseason.

(Those following my ballot specifically will know that I am overly critical on Notre Dame due to the schedule that they picked out for themselves, because if out of the six games you chose the only one that looks competent is BYU then I take it as an attempt to abuse being an independent in order to get an easier schedule. I will say that this ranking is paired with the the fact that I also wouldn't pick this team to beat BYU right now. Should I be right, I won't drop this team down more than a spot or two. If I am wrong, they'll be in the top 10 at minimum.)
16 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Given their fight against Miami, I expect the Deac's to both show up for and win the rematch against the canes in Charlotte.
17 Iowa Hawkeyes I flip-flop a lot between having either USC or Iowa in my top 25, but their drubbing of Washington convinced me that this team means business. At least, enough so that they've got a better resume than USC.
18 Oklahoma State Cowboys Beat Tulsa, top 5.

Lost to Tulsa, give me huge headache.

Pain.
19 Mississippi State Bulldogs Win over Mizzou, but blowout loss to Alabama.
20 Missouri Tigers Your second best win is still bum ass Kansas.
21 Arizona Wildcats Undefeated outside of their bout with BYU where they gave them all they could handle.
22 Boise State Broncos Great wins against the G6 contenders, but that Oregon loss is looking worse by the week.
23 Baylor Bears Is Baylor good? It looks like it, at least on defense. That alone guarantees them an 8 win season. Now can they do more than that?
24 SMU Mustangs The ACC is in a bad way if their third best team is #24 on my list. The Mustangs aren't horrible, but they've got a loss to Louisville that progressively becomes worse and worse.
25 James Madison Dukes Undefeated, but their SOS is preventing them from pushing further into this list.

The next 3 G6 teams were: Oregon State, Memphis, and UTSA

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