Ballot Type: Computer
Submitted: Nov. 1, 2026, 12:21 p.m.
Overall Rationale: TERR-Q (Transitive Extrapolated Round Robin Quicksort):
1) Construct a simulated round robin amongst all FBS teams
2) For each simulated "game", if Team A has beaten Team B more times than Team B has beaten Team A, Team A records a simulated "win" and Team B records a simulated "loss". If Team A has not played Team B or they have played twice and split their games, we look at first-layer transitive wins: i.e. we look at the number of teams x such that Team A has beaten x where x has beaten Team B and we look at the number of teams y such that Team B has beaten y where y has beaten Team A. The simulated "win" goes to Team A if |x| > |y| and Team B if |x| < |y|. If |x| = |y|, we look at second-layer transitive wins: i.e. we look at the number of chains x,x' and y,y' such that Team A > x > x' > Team B and Team B > y > y' > Team A. If |(x,x')| > |(y,y')|, Team A records the simulated "win". If |(x,x')| < |(y,y')|, Team B records the simulated "win". If |(x,x')| = |(y,y')|, we move onto third-layer transitive wins. We continue this process until either Team A or Team B has recorded a simulated "win" or until we've looked up to eighth-layer transitive wins.
3) We split the ranked teams at the largest adjacent gap between simulated round robin records, preferring the gap whose midpoint is closest to .500 when multiple gaps are equally large. We run steps (1), (2), and (3) within each subset until subsets contain only one team, using the entire season's results at each layer of recursion.
[Last-resort tiebreakers are last season's final TERR-Q standings]
(Transitive round-robin W-L-T record provided)
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Miami Hurricanes
|
135-0-2 |
| 2 |
UCLA Bruins
|
134-0-3 |
| 3 |
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
|
134-1-2 |
| 4 |
Georgia Bulldogs
|
130-6-1 |
| 5 |
Alabama Crimson Tide
|
129-7-1 |
| 6 |
Utah Utes
|
122-0-15 |
| 7 |
Kentucky Wildcats
|
131-5-1 |
| 8 |
South Carolina Gamecocks
|
127-9-1 |
| 9 |
Florida Gators
|
126-10-1 |
| 10 |
Indiana Hoosiers
|
122-15-0 |
| 11 |
LSU Tigers
|
127-9-1 |
| 12 |
Michigan Wolverines
|
110-27-0 |
| 13 |
Oklahoma Sooners
|
119-18-0 |
| 14 |
Texas Longhorns
|
126-11-0 |
| 15 |
Tennessee Volunteers
|
124-12-1 |
| 16 |
Ole Miss Rebels
|
123-13-1 |
| 17 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs
|
122-15-0 |
| 18 |
Auburn Tigers
|
122-14-1 |
| 19 |
Missouri Tigers
|
118-18-1 |
| 20 |
Ohio State Buckeyes
|
111-26-0 |
| 21 |
Minnesota Golden Gophers
|
109-28-0 |
| 22 |
Texas A&M Aggies
|
112-22-3 |
| 23 |
UTSA Roadrunners
|
109-23-5 |
| 24 |
Arkansas Razorbacks
|
114-22-1 |
| 25 |
Houston Cougars
|
115-21-1 |
Teams Ranked:
| Rank | Team | Unusualness |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Miami Hurricanes
|
0.00 |
| 2 |
UCLA Bruins
|
0.09 |
| 3 |
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
|
1.55 |
| 4 |
Georgia Bulldogs
|
0.00 |
| 5 |
Alabama Crimson Tide
|
0.88 |
| 6 |
Utah Utes
|
-1.13 |
| 7 |
Kentucky Wildcats
|
0.00 |
| 8 |
South Carolina Gamecocks
|
8.75 |
| 9 |
Florida Gators
|
7.58 |
| 10 |
Indiana Hoosiers
|
-0.71 |
| 11 |
LSU Tigers
|
0.12 |
| 12 |
Michigan Wolverines
|
13.23 |
| 13 |
Oklahoma Sooners
|
12.22 |
| 14 |
Texas Longhorns
|
0.00 |
| 15 |
Tennessee Volunteers
|
0.00 |
| 16 |
Ole Miss Rebels
|
-0.01 |
| 17 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs
|
8.21 |
| 18 |
Auburn Tigers
|
7.22 |
| 19 |
Missouri Tigers
|
0.00 |
| 20 |
Ohio State Buckeyes
|
-1.50 |
| 21 |
Minnesota Golden Gophers
|
4.14 |
| 22 |
Texas A&M Aggies
|
3.20 |
| 23 |
UTSA Roadrunners
|
0.00 |
| 24 |
Arkansas Razorbacks
|
1.25 |
| 25 |
Houston Cougars
|
-1.49 |
Omissions:
| Team | Unusualness |
|---|---|
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
6.33 |
BYU Cougars
|
5.18 |
Texas Tech Red Raiders
|
3.53 |
USC Trojans
|
1.53 |
Boise State Broncos
|
0.81 |
Iowa Hawkeyes
|
1.12 |
Arizona Wildcats
|
0.54 |
New Mexico Lobos
|
0.29 |
Northwestern Wildcats
|
0.20 |
Total Score: 92.80