Back to poll results >>

bladefencer Ballot for 2026 Week 11

Ballot Type: Computer

Submitted: Nov. 8, 2026, 8:40 a.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: Florida (20 -> 26), Missouri (21 -> 27), Northwestern (23 -> 30), UTSA (24 -> 38)

Next 10: Florida (0.791), Missouri (0.786), Oklahoma (0.779), Liberty (0.774), Northwestern (0.770), Auburn (0.767), Oklahoma State (0.766), North Texas (0.764), Louisiana Tech (0.758), Illinois (0.754)

Ranking violation % (% of played games with winner ranked below loser): 18.33%
Top 25 ranking violation %: 12.07%

My poll continues to love Alabama. Personally I would rank Utah #1 with Notre Dame, Miami and UCLA in the 2-4 range. I do think the SEC is far and away the best conference this year but losing two games or losing to a 5-4 unranked team is not #1 material. So Alabama and Georgia would be in the 5-7 range with Indiana. My poll also likes Boise St way more than I do.

Still have too many violations especially ones that are right next to each other in rank (Georgia > Alabama, Tennessee > Kentucky, Oregon > Boise St, Ole Miss > LSU and two apart Ohio St > Iowa). I'm looking at adding some head-to-head adjustment for next year.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide 0.977, +4, Pow: 1, Off: 2, Def: 4, SOR: 3
2 Georgia Bulldogs 0.964, +7, Pow: 2, Off: 3, Def: 8, SOR: 4
3 Utah Utes 0.955, -1, Pow: 6, Off: 7, Def: 16, SOR: 1
4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 0.941, +3, Pow: 3, Off: 6, Def: 5, SOR: 7
5 UCLA Bruins 0.938, -1, Pow: 9, Off: 25, Def: 11, SOR: 2
6 Texas Longhorns 0.937, +2, Pow: 4, Off: 15, Def: 1, SOR: 8
7 Miami Hurricanes 0.928, -6, Pow: 8, Off: 1, Def: 32, SOR: 6
8 Kentucky Wildcats 0.911, -5, Pow: 15, Off: 22, Def: 28, SOR: 5
9 Tennessee Volunteers 0.898, +8, Pow: 7, Off: 21, Def: 6, SOR: 12
10 Indiana Hoosiers 0.889, +0, Pow: 16, Off: 45, Def: 3, SOR: 9
11 Boise State Broncos 0.878, +4, Pow: 10, Off: 16, Def: 57, SOR: 10
12 Oregon Ducks 0.871, +10, Pow: 13, Off: 19, Def: 14, SOR: 15
13 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 0.859, +1, Pow: 27, Off: 12, Def: 23, SOR: 14
14 Texas Tech Red Raiders 0.859, +2, Pow: 23, Off: 17, Def: 49, SOR: 11
15 BYU Cougars 0.854, -2, Pow: 25, Off: 43, Def: 15, SOR: 13
16 LSU Tigers 0.850, -5, Pow: 5, Off: 5, Def: 13, SOR: 23
17 Ole Miss Rebels 0.849, -11, Pow: 12, Off: 10, Def: 27, SOR: 16
18 Houston Cougars 0.846, +1, Pow: 17, Off: 27, Def: 20, SOR: 17
19 Iowa Hawkeyes 0.842, +6, Pow: 20, Off: 48, Def: 2, SOR: 19
20 USC Trojans 0.839, -2, Pow: 29, Off: 20, Def: 48, SOR: 18
21 Ohio State Buckeyes 0.832, -9, Pow: 11, Off: 9, Def: 17, SOR: 22
22 South Carolina Gamecocks 0.821, +4, Pow: 22, Off: 11, Def: 39, SOR: 20
23 Arizona Wildcats 0.814, +4, Pow: 14, Off: 30, Def: 29, SOR: 24
24 New Mexico Lobos 0.797, +6, Pow: 37, Off: 54, Def: 37, SOR: 21
25 Wisconsin Badgers 0.792, +3, Pow: 30, Off: 69, Def: 10, SOR: 27

Back to poll results >>