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bladefencer Ballot for 2026 Week 8

Ballot Type: Computer

Submitted: Oct. 18, 2026, 3:02 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Using only results from this year, I compute 1) a power rating, 2) an offensive rating, 3) a defensive rating and 4) a rating from the difference of the offensive and defensive ratings. I use the power rating to compute 5) a strength of record (SOR)/resume rating and 6) a rating that gives very small merits and demerits for particular results (e.g merits for postseason wins or beating a top 15 power rating team; demerits for getting blown out by a team with a similar power rating).

I normalize the six ratings and combine them in a weighted average to determine the final rating which increasingly values the SOR component the further into the season. The weights for the other ratings are static during the season. The result is not normalized, so the best possible final rating is 1.000 if a team is #1 in all six ratings.

Dropped: Missouri (15 -> 29), Nebraska (19 -> 27), Wisconsin (20 -> 30)

Next 10: Arizona (0.792), Nebraska (0.791), Auburn (0.784), Missouri (0.772), Wisconsin (0.771), UTSA (0.764), North Carolina (0.756), Oregon State (0.747), Oklahoma State (0.739), SMU (0.735)

Ranking violation % (% of played games with winner ranked below loser): 14.18%
Top 25 ranking violation %: 8.66%

A large increase in top 25 violations. 9 of the 11 top 25 violations involve 3 teams: Texas, Alabama and Florida. 10 of 11 involve an SEC team

Rank Team Reason
1 BYU Cougars 0.940, +10, Pow: 16, Off: 36, Def: 10, SOR: 1
2 UCLA Bruins 0.923, +4, Pow: 10, Off: 24, Def: 8, SOR: 2
3 Miami Hurricanes 0.918, +2, Pow: 5, Off: 2, Def: 24, SOR: 5
4 Texas Tech Red Raiders 0.908, +3, Pow: 12, Off: 20, Def: 28, SOR: 4
5 Kentucky Wildcats 0.905, +3, Pow: 17, Off: 19, Def: 21, SOR: 3
6 Ohio State Buckeyes 0.903, +7, Pow: 3, Off: 7, Def: 5, SOR: 7
7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 0.902, -6, Pow: 2, Off: 3, Def: 6, SOR: 10
8 Indiana Hoosiers 0.894, -4, Pow: 6, Off: 28, Def: 2, SOR: 6
9 Tennessee Volunteers 0.882, +15, Pow: 11, Off: 13, Def: 16, SOR: 12
10 Alabama Crimson Tide 0.882, -8, Pow: 1, Off: 4, Def: 4, SOR: 14
11 Utah Utes 0.877, +1, Pow: 18, Off: 8, Def: 26, SOR: 9
12 Ole Miss Rebels 0.871, +9, Pow: 15, Off: 10, Def: 22, SOR: 8
13 Georgia Bulldogs 0.862, -10, Pow: 7, Off: 1, Def: 25, SOR: 15
14 Houston Cougars 0.859, +0, Pow: 19, Off: 11, Def: 31, SOR: 11
15 Texas Longhorns 0.845, -5, Pow: 9, Off: 26, Def: 1, SOR: 25
16 Northwestern Wildcats 0.839, +1, Pow: 13, Off: 18, Def: 30, SOR: 17
17 LSU Tigers 0.834, +9, Pow: 4, Off: 5, Def: 9, SOR: 28
18 Oregon Ducks 0.833, +9, Pow: 20, Off: 14, Def: 12, SOR: 23
19 Florida Gators 0.826, +13, Pow: 23, Off: 6, Def: 59, SOR: 22
20 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 0.826, -4, Pow: 22, Off: 35, Def: 15, SOR: 16
21 Boise State Broncos 0.825, -3, Pow: 14, Off: 25, Def: 56, SOR: 18
22 James Madison Dukes 0.824, +0, Pow: 32, Off: 27, Def: 61, SOR: 13
23 USC Trojans 0.811, +2, Pow: 26, Off: 12, Def: 66, SOR: 21
24 Iowa Hawkeyes 0.810, -1, Pow: 30, Off: 37, Def: 14, SOR: 20
25 Mississippi State Bulldogs 0.801, -16, Pow: 29, Off: 21, Def: 43, SOR: 24

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