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ResearchFlaky5912 Ballot for 2026 Week 11

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Nov. 8, 2026, 10:28 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Dropped out: Missouri ; Cincinnati ; Florida ; Northwestern
Honorable Mentions: Missouri ; Illinois; Northwestern ; one-loss group teams

Utes and Bruins take the top two spots as the last unbeatens. Notre Dame back into top 4. Tennessee takes a huge leap upwards. SMU and Duke re-enter, so does Oregon.

Rank Team Reason
1 Utah Utes Undefeated team with the best win [#10 BYU]
2 UCLA Bruins Undefeated power 4 team
3 Georgia Bulldogs Despite the loss to Auburn, has looked incredible in every other game. Dominant win over Ole Miss confirms that they are the real deal. The loss keeps them from being above an undefeated team, but definitely the eye-test best team in the country.
4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Won a must-win game over Miami. Single loss is forgivable [#10 BYU] and now has the third-best win in the country.
5 Miami Hurricanes Single loss to ND keeps them below ND. Above TTU for better overall win [#13 WF] and more forgivable loss [#4 ND].
6 Texas Tech Red Raiders One-loss Power 4 team with a solid win over #12 Houston. Has not looked as shaky as Indiana despite having a worse loss.
7 Indiana Hoosiers One-loss Power 4 team that has needed some luck and last minute heroics to scrape past some bad Big 10 teams.
8 Tennessee Volunteers Beating #14 Kentucky in similar fashion to how Alabama did, while having a win over #9 Alabama, causes them to leap upwards in my rankings. Losses to #11 Texas and #21 SCAR are not as bad as they were earlier in the season. I don't see any reason to keep them behind Bama at this point.
9 Alabama Crimson Tide Solid win over LSU, but stays put as there is nowhere for them to go upwards. Not feeling putting them over their H2H loss.
10 BYU Cougars The second loss is rough for BYU, but they still have the second best win in the country [#4 ND] and the loss was to the current #1. Dropping 5 spots feels good, and it makes sense to me that they should be above Texas.
11 Texas Longhorns Texas stays put after knocking Missouri out. #8 Tennessee replaces their previous best win [#18 Ohio St]. Below BYU because BYU has the better win. BYU has the worst loss and most forgivable loss of the four losses between these two teams. Best win as a tiebreaker.
12 Houston Cougars Despite Cincinnati's falling out, Houston's win over them is still a boost. Houston rises in the ranks here on account of multiple teams falling out in front of them.
13 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Like Houston, not so much of a huge jump from a good performance (tune-up game) as it is that a bunch of teams in front of them lost.
14 Kentucky Wildcats Kentucky doesn't fall too far, since a few other teams in this region also lost, stemming the bleeding. Having two losses - to #8 and #9 - is certainly not the worst position to be in.
15 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa takes a huge leap after beating now unranked Northwestern, not because that feat is impressive in and of itself, but because, again, a bunch of teams in front of them in the rankings lost. Having two losses at this point in the season is good enough to keep rising.
16 USC Trojans After a bye, they naturally float up to fill the space made by the losers. I swap the Trojans and Hawkeyes after Iowa gets an additional win over a outside-looking-in team.
17 Arizona Wildcats I move Arizona below USC and Iowa (reversing the order of the three relative to each other) after they needed a miracle to beat TCU. A win is a win, so no plummet, but certainly not rewarding them for a should-be loss to a bad team. If it weren't for the losses in front of them, they would have slid a bit more.
18 Ohio State Buckeyes Third loss of the season for the Buckeyes, who are my highest ranked 3-loss team. Win over #7 Indiana keeps them afloat. After re-ranking Oregon, all three losses are to ranked teams.
19 Ole Miss Rebels Slides down after a whooping from Georgia. Not much else to say.
20 LSU Tigers Slides down after a whooping from Alabama. Stays below Ole Miss, yet again, as I think their game was a display of the best of both teams, and the result indicative of their strength relative to each other. Both get three losses on the same day.
21 South Carolina Gamecocks SCAR gains a couple spots after beating A&M, but not enough to get in front of the Ole Miss-LSU duo. Mississippi St loss is really holding them back - Ole Miss and LSU have more forgivable losses.
22 Oregon Ducks Win over Ohio St puts the Ducks back in the top 25. Also has a win over #16 USC. 2 point loss to #2 UCLA. Wins over a couple bubble teams. Loss to Illinois not as bad as some other losses that ranked teams have. In fact, Illinois is on my bubble.
23 SMU Mustangs SMU re-enters after winning against VaTech, which is now their best win of the season. Finally a solid win from a team that really just needed a sloid win to re-enter. Loss to Syracuse is still problematic, but not enough to keep them out of the top 25.
24 Wisconsin Badgers USC and Iowa's rise makes their record look a little better. Not much else to say. 3 losses just is not prohibitive of re-entry at this point. Better resume than Illinois or Missouri when considered overall.
25 Duke Blue Devils Duke re-enters after continuing to win. The losses earlier in the season were brutal, but not unforgivable, as North Carolina is clearly getting back on track. With Illinois being on the bubble, that win is also pretty solid, alongside their Virginia win. Being a Power 4 team with 2 losses is also a huge boost.

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