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KevinDoesSports Ballot for 2026 Week 8

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 18, 2026, 12:09 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Head-to-head matchups, strength of schedule, point margins

Rank Team Reason
1 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State might've only just barely won, but they still beat the defending national champions. With all the chaos that happened, Ohio State has to jump up to 1.
2 Miami Hurricanes It took Miami two overtimes to put down Florida State. FSU might be unranked but that rivalry game will always be hard. They were able to survive and beat an unranked opponent (something Georgia and Texas couldn't do), so they have to be #2.
3 BYU Cougars BYU won maybe one of the biggest games in program history. Flag or no flag, BYU outplayed Notre Dame in Provo. They were already top 10, make them top 3.
4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish I really wanted to drop them lower, but in reality they stayed close with BYU. With everyone else's failures, Notre Dame has to stay here.
5 Georgia Bulldogs This team is still great, but losing to unranked Auburn at home is bad. I still think they're better than Alabama and Ole Miss.
6 Alabama Crimson Tide They did lose to Tennessee but the Vols are better than people think. I will still put them behind Georgia, but I expect a SEC championship rematch coming soon.
7 Ole Miss Rebels A really big win over Mizzou. Missouri was definitely overrated but Ole Miss still destroyed a SEC team. A good comeback win after the Florida disaster.
8 Indiana Hoosiers Just lost to Ohio State. I had them at #7 last week and I'm inclined to drop them after a loss so to 8 they go.
9 Texas Tech Red Raiders Texas Tech destroyed a Big 12 opponent. With the rest of the chaos Texas Tech stabilized and moved forward.
10 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee showed us how good the are against Texas. After a few rough weeks, a big statement win against Alabama puts them back in top 10 conversation.
11 Utah Utes Utah just keeps rolling. They survive a close one with Colorado, which shouldn't have been that close, but a win is a win.
12 UCLA Bruins Still undefeated. They put down a good Wisconsin team, UCLA looks really good.
13 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa is still a top 15 team to me. Only loss has come against Ohio State, who is now the #1 again. They beat Washington handily last week.
14 LSU Tigers A big win against a hurt Miss State team. They still move up, but not because of they're win against Miss State, but because everyone else went down.
15 Oregon Ducks Their win against Nebraska should be talked about more. I had Nebraska ranked last week and Oregon put them down. Many people still have this team low on their rankings but frankly, they are still one of the best.
16 USC Trojans Only loss against Oregon. Pulled out a close win against Penn State at the white out. Still in the running for a conference championship.
17 Houston Cougars Houston's first ranked win of the year came at a great time. A lot of people have been against this team but their close loss to Texas Tech doesn't look as bad as it did earlier.
18 Kentucky Wildcats I still think this team is overrated, but they move up from #24 for me. Kentucky did beat Oklahoma, which has proven a tough opponent for SEC teams.
19 Boise State Broncos Still the best in the Pac-12, but they definitely have some competition.
20 Northwestern Wildcats Survive a close one with Michigan State but beating the Big 10 will never be easy. With so many teams dropping, they rise to top 20.
21 Wake Forest Demon Deacons I've been sleeping on this team for some time now. Convincing wins against a lot of ACC teams, with only loss coming #2 Miami. I like this team.
22 Oklahoma State Cowboys Oklahoma State's second loss of the year came to a fellow ranked Big 12 opponent. OKSU is still a good team, but they need some convincing wins in the next couple weeks.
23 Arizona Wildcats Only loss was to a really good BYU team. Arizona has looked good against everyone else, they move into my rankings.
24 SMU Mustangs I was reluctant in ranking this team because of the loss to Louisville. But they've looked good against Boston College and Virginia who are some decent teams this year.
25 James Madison Dukes Another team I didn't really want to rank, but they did score 83 points at one point this year. They'll never play anyone good this year, but with everything that happened, they'll become ranked

DROPPED: Texas, Missouri, Nebraska, Miss State

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