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redrumsoxLoL Ballot for 2026 Week 9

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Oct. 26, 2026, 1:34 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Miami Hurricanes Miami backed up their #1 ranking with a dominant victory over a strong Pittsburgh team on Saturday. They have looked vulnerable so I don't think they escape this season undefeated, if I was a Miami fan I'd just hope for their bad game loss to come in the regular season and not in the playoffs.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes The Buckeyes did not play last week and benefit from BYU losing ahead of them to jump back into the Top two.
3 Georgia Bulldogs Similarly Georgia did not play but jump up to #3 because BYU ahead of them fell.
4 UCLA Bruins If you anticipated that halfway through the season that UCLA would be undefeated and an undisputed Top 10 team you'd be lying. UCLA actually has a pretty favorable season until their final week against USC so UCLA is in control of their own destiny this year.
5 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama had to fight it out against A&M on Saturday but cleaned up the mistakes and locked up the game against the Aggies in the second half.
6 Utah Utes The Utah vs Houston game did start off as a potential snoozer in the first half but both teams showed life in the second half and even more so did Utah led by the arm and legs of QB, Devon Dampier.
7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Irish did not play, but with BYU falling to UCF their loss in retrospect looks worse and this leads me to punish them a bit.
8 Indiana Hoosiers While Indiana did manage to win, their offense looked very weak against Michigan in a game that they should have more comfortably won. They move up due to other teams ahead of them losing.
9 Texas Longhorns Texas moves back into my Top 10 after beating Ole Miss. Their very strong first half allowed them to close out the game and claim another ranked victory.
10 BYU Cougars BYU lost in overtime against UCF so they fall but not quite out of my Top 10 yet. The offense looked fine but didn't make the clutch plays and the defense could not handle the mobile QB from UCF.
11 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Wake Forest keeps slowly climbing these rankings having only 1 loss to #1 Miami and multiple dominant victories against their ACC rivals.
12 Kentucky Wildcats Kentucky also continues its climb up the rankings with their only loss coming against Alabama. They have a stretch of games that would be considered tough for anyone with Tennessee, Florida and then Missouri in their next 3 match ups. I would be surprised to see them get through that without dropping at least one.
13 Texas Tech Red Raiders Texas Tech drops it's first game of the season against Cincinnati. They are still a strong team but the defense is a bit weaker and the lack of a true QB #1 hurts their offense.
14 Tennessee Volunteers The Vols lost a close game on a last second field goal to South Carolina on Saturday. They held the lead in the closing moments but allowed the Gamecocks to score a touchdown to tie it and then fumbled the ball to set up SC's field goal at the buzzer. A tough way to lose but their season is not over.
15 Ole Miss Rebels The Rebels led a strong comeback attempt against Texas in the second half but ultimately fell short and lost their second game of the season.
16 LSU Tigers The Tigers won again and move up due to some losses ahead of them.
17 Houston Cougars Houston lost another heartbreaker in conference against Utah and move down the rankings but they are still in the hunt for a playoffs spot. They have no room for error anymore though and might need a bit of help around them,
18 Florida Gators Florida did not play this past weekend and have a very difficult matchup in Georgia on Halloween.
19 Boise State Broncos The Broncos continue to look impressive and are in the driver's seat to take a playoff spot if they run the table in the Pac-12. They play Texas State on Halloween on the Blue Turf.
20 Northwestern Wildcats Northwestern is another surprising Top 25 team out of the B1G. They have a difficult schedule ahead of them including games against Iowa and Ohio St. My concern for these Wildcats is that their wins in conference have come against the bottom of the conference and their best win comes against Penn St.
21 Oregon State Beavers After two early losses, the Beavers in my eyes still control their own playoff destiny. They are behind the Broncos in all polls but if they can defeat them in the regular season they'd be the favorite to win the Pac-12 and likely make the playoffs.
22 Arizona Wildcats Arizona only has one loss against BYU but their schedule isn't easy for the rest of the season with Texas Tech and Utah still ahead.
23 SMU Mustangs SMU actually trailed at the half on Saturday against California 20-17 but dominated the second half 42-0 and ended up winning very comfortably in the end.
24 Minnesota Golden Gophers The Gophers play very entertaining football and managed to defeat Iowa adding on their 3rd win against pre-season ranked teams in the B1G. They have back to back games against Top 10 teams in Indiana and UCLA coming up so this is their time to prove they are a contender.
25 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin had a surprising victory against USC that was decided in the trenches as they gained 142 rushing yards and USC's total rushing offense was negative as a result of multiple sacks.

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