Back to poll results >>

Justanother_0 Ballot for 2026 Week 8

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 18, 2026, 2:46 a.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:

[Oklahoma State] should've beaten Tulsa. Had they done so, they'd still be alive for an at-large bid in the playoffs.

[Baylor]... All you had to do was beat your rivals that were staring down the barrel of a losing season, and you go out there and lay a paper plate out on the field.

[Florida] is about as bipolar as Tulsa, it'll take more than beating Texas to get me to forget the SCar and Mizzou performance.

[Mizzou]'s second best win is still bum ass Kansas.

Conference Representation:

ACC: 3

XII: 5

B1G: 6

SEC: 7

PAC 12: 2

SBC: 1

Go listen to some Unprocessed.

Thank you for reading!

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes There isn't a single team in the nation right now that doesn't have a massive question mark. That being said, The Ohio State (good job on finally winning back the THE) has the least amount of questions. Their only loss being a late collapse against a talented Texas team doesn't do enough to dampen their two wins against ranked Indiana and Iowa, so they take the crown.

One must wonder how much Jeremiah Smith can carry the team...
2 BYU Cougars Refball aside, BYU proved that they belong in the upper echelon of the sport with their showing against the Irish at home. Bear Bachmeier is one of the best QB's in the sport right now with a unique playstyle that could very well lead the Cougars deep into January, and their defense is top 3 in the nation.

MVOS said it best though, "You can have a good offense, you can have a good defense, but special teams win national titles." The Cougars are lucky that their punting miscues only costed them six points.
3 Texas Tech Red Raiders Undefeated with a strong defense. I still stand by the belief that this team folds when they face someone that can both stuff their average offense and can keep pace with their defense, but until that day comes the Red Raiders will sit pretty in the upper strata of my ballot thanks to just about everybody in front of them taking an L.
4 Ole Miss Rebels Given that Kewan Lacy was out for the Florida game and that the Rebels have been handling business ever since his return, I am willing to give some benefit of the doubt to Ole Miss. The SEC has suddenly become theirs to take outright with Georgia stumbling in spectacular fashion.
5 Utah Utes Undefeated, but they were given the Colorado special of "we lock in for absolutely no reason for a full four quarters despite being the worst team in the conference" in a chaotic thriller. The Utes avoid the upset, but they will have to slink down a bit in my ballot for that performance.
6 Indiana Hoosiers Throw that final pass to the right by a foot and the Hoosiers are at least #2. Hoover might not be the QB X-Factor that Cignetti was hoping for, but this is still a very solid team that I expect to get a home game come December.
7 Miami Hurricanes Undefeated, but that FSU game gave me some pause on trusting Miami to sweep the ACC.
8 Houston Cougars Still alive for the Big XII title race after besting one of the best offenses in the nation from Oklahoma State, Houston is looking more and more like a complete team with each week. I expect the Utah game to be a season defining game for the Cougars, so lets see if they stay the course and pull it off...
9 Kentucky Wildcats SEC chaos has led to Kentucky landing the #2 spot in the SEC in my ballot...

A solid team overall. If they didn't collapse against Alabama in the second half then they'd probably be closer to #5.
10 UCLA Bruins Down their QB1 but they remain undefeated against a pretty soft schedule. If Wayne Knight can take UCLA to Indianapolis then he deserves the Heisman, I do not care how many game-winning catches Jeremiah Smith pulls off.
11 Tennessee Volunteers From Unranked to #11? How?

The combination of the entirety of the SEC taking losses ahead of them and the surprising dominance of the win changed my mind on the Vols. While I wouldn't call their offense great, it works well enough to grind out points against solid defenses. Also, their defense is utterly insane and the sole reason they don't lose by 20 every game.
12 Wake Forest Demon Deacons #2 in the ACC, Wake Forest's best win is Louisville...

They've got a good offense, but a quality loss being the best thing on a resume can only do so much.
13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Promise made, promise kept. I had Notre Dame at #15 last week under the assumption that they'd lose the BYU game, and while I pinky promised to not drop them for losing, they actually surprised me with how competent they looked down the stretch, especially on offense. Their running game looked solid, and CJ Carr played a good enough point guard to drive down the field. That being said, Carr has the makings of an extremely talented QB that just needs another year in the oven. The Irish earned my respect this weekend, and if they beat Miami then they'll probably be in the top 8.

Regarding the final play of the game, I am typically in the school of thought of "don't let the game come down to a ref call", but the ref's not being able to tell the time is inexcusable. At the same time, it's no guarantee that ND would've scored on a hypothetical final play, so what more can be said?
14 Georgia Bulldogs Of all the Auburn teams to lose to, it was this one?!

I don't care that Georgia looked dominant for the last few weeks and was undefeated going into this game, this is a flat out inexcusable loss.
15 Alabama Crimson Tide Color me shocked. I had the Tide as my #2 team going into this game, but the double whammy of the blowout loss to Tennessee and Georgia taking a nasty loss kinda guts their resume. The Kentucky win is keeping the Tide above water, and now Alabama needs to win out to stay alive for the playoffs.
16 Arizona Wildcats Their only loss so far is to BYU. Without a marquee win though, Arizona is stuck in the mid 10's.
17 Iowa Hawkeyes Bye week, no change.
18 Texas Longhorns Jimmy Haslam is gonna break into the war room like The Undertaker on draft day and force Andrew Barry to draft Manning with the Browns' first round pick. That should tell you how ass and overrated Arch has been this year.

On a more serious note, Texas' playoff hopes are on the ropes now. While the Longhorns are still talented, playcalling and mistakes down the stretch have been this team's undoing.
19 Boise State Broncos Best resume in the G6 with wins against the best of the other G6 conferences. On Bye this week, so they advance up the list while idle due to some teams ahead of them taking L's.
20 Northwestern Wildcats I've cooled on my confidence on Northwestern after realizing that the best part of their resume was a loss to Indiana. no other ranked wins and a three point win over Michigan State isn't really a resume worth putting a team in the mid to upper 10's for.
21 USC Trojans The defense might be atrocious, but the Trojans only have a single loss. Given how many teams got kneecapped this weekend, W-L record starts to become enough of a factor in ranking teams.
22 James Madison Dukes Undefeated with a weak schedule, JMU could yank the G6 bid out from under the Broncos if they stay the course and Boise loses a game.
23 SMU Mustangs They handle business against Virginia, no notes.
24 LSU Tigers A shutout over Mississippi State is certainly a quality win, even if Super Kamario was out for the game.
25 Oregon State Beavers Two quality performances against the class of the Big XII and sweeps of their PAC 12 slate so far. If OSU wins out they might be a sleeper pick for the playoffs with some help from JMU...

The next three G6 teams were UTSA, New Mexico, and NDSU.

Back to poll results >>