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ChBass Ballot for 2026 Week 9

Ballot Type: Computer

Submitted: Oct. 25, 2026, 11:11 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Each team's performance is compared to their opponent's opponents' performances, with adjustments for wins & losses depending on the quality of the opponent. FCS games are not taken into consideration.

After this week, it's worth noting that the win/loss adjustments are weighted based on the difference between the opponent's power rating and the top power rating. So, losing to the top power rated team doesn't hurt at all; everyone is expected to lose to them. When there's parity, losses don't hurt as much as when there are incredible teams at the top and everyone else at the bottom. These adjustments allow me to make comparisons between the values of losses and gains.

Rank Team Reason
1 Indiana Hoosiers Indiana has a top 20 offense, the 2nd best defense, and the loss to Ohio State hurts as much as 2 wins against Rutgers would help. They are in the lead place by a hair.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Then why are the Buckeyes #2? Because they’re better than the longhorns, and they lost to the longhorns. They are one of 3 teams with both a top-10 offense and defense.
3 UCLA Bruins Undefeated UCLA with a win over now Good Wisconsin (more on that below) isn’t #1? Their power rating is #14 & their offense isn’t in the Top 25.
4 Utah Utes Undefeated Utah (yes, I’m an alliteration fan) with a win over Houston isn’t #1? Their power rating is #13 & their defense isn’t in the top 30.
5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish In a world where losses don’t matter, the Irish would be #1. But losing to BYU takes away about 3/4 of the credit for beating Good Wisconsin, even if you are one of the three teams with both a top-10 offense and defense.
6 Miami Hurricanes I’m going to get dinged for undefeated Miami being outside the top 5. While they have the 3rd best offense in cfb, they’re power rated #9 and who have they beaten? Their best win? #15 Wake Forest. Their second best win? #44 Clemson.
7 Kentucky Wildcats Losing to Bama took away half of what they gained from the LSU win. They have a middling offense and slightly better defense, but they keep winning.
8 BYU Cougars Losing to UCF took away about 3/4 of what BYU gained from beating Notre Dame. They still have a top-10 defense.
9 Texas Longhorns Adding the Ole Miss win to Tennessee & Ohio State almost exactly offsets the OU & Florida losses. They still have the best defense in cfb.
10 Ole Miss Rebels The longhorn loss essentially offsets the Mizzou win. The top-20 offense is getting pulled down by a middling defense.
11 Northwestern Wildcats Losing to Indiana hurts as much as beating Michigan State helps. The offense doesn’t run or pass exceptionally well, but they can score, and the defense doesn’t stop the run or pass exceptionally well, but they can stop you from scoring, so here we are.
12 Wisconsin Badgers I’m sure I’ll get dinged for rating Wisconsin higher than everyone else but finally people can come around. Good Wisconsin (upgraded from Pretty Good) has the third best defense in cfb; the loss to top power rated ND doesn’t hurt, and the loss to UCLA hurts about as much as 2 Penn State wins would help.
13 Georgia Bulldogs Another one where I’m out of the mainstream. The Auburn loss hurt twice as much as the Bama win helped, and the best win on the resume after that is… Oklahoma?
14 Alabama Crimson Tide Bama’s wins and losses almost exactly offset each other. They have a top-25 offense and defense, but their biggest win is South Carolina.
15 Wake Forest Demon Deacons The Miami loss hurts Wake the same amount as 2 Louisville wins would’ve helped. They have a top-15 defense, but a middle of the road offense.
16 Texas Tech Red Raiders The loss to Cincinnati more than offsets the Houston win. They can run and they can score, but the pass defense is holding them back.
17 LSU Tigers In a world where wins and losses don’t matter, LSU could be a top-5 team. They are one of three teams with a top-10 offense and defense. But their best win against Cowbell is losing value and their losses add up.
18 Houston Cougars The Coogs still have the best offense in cfb, but the loss to Tech alone offset all their wins, and that was before the loss to Utah.
19 Tennessee Volunteers The loss to South Carolina more than offset the win against Bama. Tennessee still has a top-10 defense.
20 Florida Gators Either the Mizzou or SC losses offsets the win over the longhorns; the gators’ mid-level defense continues to hamper their success.
21 UTSA Roadrunners The sum of their low quality wins offset one high quality loss. Traylor has UTSA in the G5 lead.
22 Nebraska Cornhuskers The Oregon win doesn’t look as good now, but Nebraska still has a top-15 offense.
23 Arizona Wildcats The sun of their wins have made up about half of what they lost to BYU.
24 Boise State Broncos The sun of their wins have made up about half of what they lost to Oregon.
25 New Mexico Lobos Beating ND State got New Mexico back about half of what they lost to Oklahoma.

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