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_THE__BOULDER_ Ballot for 2026 Week 7

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 12, 2026, 10:07 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Personal thoughts, combining my takes on SOS, SOR, and the Eye Test. Bias towards the Florida Gators.

Changes from Last Week
Teams In:
UCLA
Arizona
Kentucky
Northwestern
Boise
JMU

Teams Out:
LSU
Florida
Oregon
Pitt
Duke

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs Was hoping to get compensation for my boys losing. It didn't come. I hate this team.
2 Miami Hurricanes Bye
3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Dismantled Stanford. 3 TDs, no INTs for Carr. Jonaz Walton with 2 TDs, 181 yards over 13 carries, and a 97 yard long run. Offense looks high powered out there. Very much looking forward to the game against BYU this weekend.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes While Bo Jackson did put up 107 yards over 23 carries and scored twice, I'm a bit concerned over this offense's tendency to say "fuck it, #4 down there somewhere". Granted, Jeremiah Smith is good enough to be relied on like that, and this wasn't the game to necessarily be worried about that if you only look at the numbers - Smith was targeted 5 times, caught 4, and turned that into 93 yards. However, there was one play - the incomplete pass to Smith - that gives me pause. Sayin took a big hit there as he stood his ground to make the pass, but he really just chucked it and prayed it seemed, because he took the hit after he released the ball, and the throw was into double or triple coverage. It was thrown short and the only reason it wasn't picked was because the guy dropped it. This team's over reliance on Smith concerns me. While they haven't done anything to shake my faith in their current standing, I can't say that I'd be surprised if they end up losing another big game to big competition.
5 Indiana Hoosiers Tough game on the road against Nebraska. Like Cignetti said, good teams find ways to win. Indiana is a good team, I don't doubt it, but there has certainly been regression from last year to this. Hot take, I know. Josh Hoover somehow managed 263 yards on 12/22 for 2 TDs (Nick Marsh had 6 receptions for 187 yards, both of those passing TDs, and a long of 75 yards, that's how). The running game did not fare well, though - only 65 yards on 22 rushes. I don't think Nebraska or Northwestern are bad teams, not by any means. Indiana should also get credit for the adjustments they made after the half. That being said, Indiana plays Ohio State this weekend, and if they play like that I don't think they'll leave happy.
6 BYU Cougars Solid game for BYU. Bear Bachmeier had a career high 329 yards on 22/30 and 2 TDs. His brother, however, did lose a fumble. The Cougars move to 5-0 and play ND this week. Very curious to see what they can do. BYU is a good team, but I think that ND might be a different animal (and the same beast).
7 Alabama Crimson Tide The game was projected to be a toss up. It pretty much was. Alabama loses a couple spots (down from #5) for me for losing at home, but this was a good game they happened to lose.
8 Utah Utes I'm always pretty high on Utah. I like the Utes again this year. Utah put up a good result against a Kansas team that I don't think is bad. Despite the Jayhawks' attempts to cut into the Utah lead, Utah kept putting up points. While it did get within 3 points (27-24 towards the end of the 3rd), Utah stayed strong and scored twice in the 4th to win 41-24.
9 Texas Tech Red Raiders Bye. Moved up one spot from last week because Texas fell.
10 Texas Longhorns Arch Manning is feast or famine. And that's not even just from game to game. It seems that, sometimes, this occurs from drive to drive. The Interception followed immediately by a touchdown drive was a good example of that. But then a couple drives later threw another pick. Granted, he did put them into position to kick a long field goal, but it missed from 53 yards out. After forcing a 3 and out, he gave Oklahoma the ball with good field position, allowing the Sooners to win it with a walk off field goal. The defense is great. They did exactly what they needed to do. The offense and special teams are where they lost the game, as Oklahoma had also scored off a blocked punt which they returned for a TD.
11 Ole Miss Rebels They put a beat down on Vandy. I'm concerned with this team's defense this season, but those concerns did not come to play on this particular Saturday.
12 Missouri Tigers A beat down on a TAMU team that has some serious problems. Nevertheless, back to back good showings by Mizzou. They are rebounding well after that loss to Mississippi State.
13 Tennessee Volunteers Bit of a struggle against Arkansas, requiring a 4th quarter rally to win it. George MacIntyre had an interesting game - a lot of yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs. He played the entire game and I'm unfamiliar with the Vols' inner workings but it looks like Faizon is benched - at least while he recovers from that lingering injury I heard he picked up against Texas.
14 Houston Cougars Houston achieves a good result against a Kansas State team that I kind of like. I wouldn't say Kansas State is great, but I don't think they're bad. Connor Weigman looks good out there - 4TD Passes all to Patrick Overmyer to put up a great offensive showing.
15 Mississippi State Bulldogs Bye. They play LSU this weekend.
16 Oklahoma State Cowboys This game was close until it wasn't. A 1 score game until the 4th quarter UCF fumble that was returned for a TD and OK State was able to put it out of reach. UCF has put up decent showings against other good teams like Houston, so I am not surprised they did so here. Good work by OKST to meet the challenge. Mestemaker has 304 yards on 19/28 and 2TDs. Hawkins and Bowick also had some good showings, with Bowick achieving 98 yards and 1 TD on 6 receptions.
17 Iowa Hawkeyes Washington kinda sucks but I was really surprised to see Iowa pulling off this many points. I'm not going to say this was an offensive renaissance for the Hawkeyes just yet, but Kamari Moulton ran for 208 yards and for 2 TDs, which I'm pretty sure is record day for him, and Jeremy Hecklinski was very efficient by throwing 14/19 for 202 yards and 3 TDs.
18 Wake Forest Demon Deacons I think Wake is kinda slept on. They have a good offense. They're not Miami good, but they're still good. And they look like they can be a potential contender for 2nd place in the ACC (assuming Miami locks in and doesn't do anything dumb like they usually do). Good win over NC State and, looking at the rest of their schedule, they'll have some tests in Virignia, SMU, and Duke, but these are all very doable.
19 UCLA Bruins Took down the Ducks. This game had a total of like 8 turnovers which is crazy, only 3 of which came from UCLA so they managed to win this game with the help of the turnover battle. Both Dylan Raiola AND Nico Iamaleava got injured in this game too. I don't know if UCLA will keep it up given the injury - they play a 4-1 Wisconsin team next - but it was a good win this week.
20 Arizona Wildcats Arizona is now 5-1 with their only loss being a decent game @ BYU - a game where they, unfortunately, had and then surrendered the lead. Arizona is another offense that looks ready to score - barring that game against BYU they have scored at least 34 points a game. They may not have what it takes to be elite - and they have some big tests against TTU and Utah still left on the schedule - but they might be a good contender for 4th or 5th in the Big 12.
21 Kentucky Wildcats Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in. I had dropped Kentucky from last week's rankings after the close win in OT over SCAR. Now they beat LSU at home in an OT win by converting a 2 pointer where LSU only went for 1. Well done Wildcats. Putting you back in the rankings to enjoy your time in the Sun.
22 Boise State Broncos Boise's loss at Oregon again takes a hit to its credibility, but there are other things at work when it comes to Oregon (as discussed earlier, their backup QB is now hurt, leaving them on 3rd string). Boise has a win over Memphis though, which puts them well within reach of top G6 team. JMU is one that is coming up and could be a contender if they keep rolling, but I have Boise as the highest ranked G6 for now. However, that game against Fresno State was a bit tight - Fresno was able to hang the entire game, despite being down since Boise's first touchdown. Boise may need to clean up a bit in order to maintain this spot.
23 Northwestern Wildcats I've been saying it for a bit this year - they put up a great fight against Indiana, for example - but I think Northwestern might just be kinda good. They are now 4-1 with a game against Sparty, they have scored at least 30 points in every game BUT the Indiana game. Granted, Ball St this past weekend was nothing to write home about, but I don't see why Northwestern can't challenge for somewhere between 3-5 in the B1G this year. They may fall short, but they can challenge for it with how they've been playing.
24 Nebraska Cornhuskers A tough fight against Indiana at home where, ultimately, the Cornhuskers gave up the lead and lost. I don't feel as if Nebraska should move down for this loss - they were expected to lose and lost in a tight game. I think it was respectable and Nebraska is still deserving of a ranking at this point in time.
25 James Madison Dukes JMU is now 6-0 after a tough win @ Georgia Southern. Prior to that, they have been blowing out their opponents. If it were not for Boise, this would likely be the top G6 team as of this moment. They will also be joining the AAC in a couple of years, which is interesting, but doesn't particularly affect their ranking today. Curious to see what happens here and if they can challenge/knock off Boise. Sun Belt Billy might be back to reclaim that name.

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