Dolphinz811's Week 8 Ballot
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona | (-) It's a clear top 2 for me and even though Michigan's been dominant, so has Arizona. I think their wins are against more impressive opponents. |
| 2 | Michigan | (-) Could easily be #1. Wouldn't oppose it, I just think Arizona is better. |
| 3 | Iowa State | (+1) They move up cause Duke lost. Even though I think there's a gap between the top 2 and them, I think the top 3 are definitive. |
| 4 | UConn | (+1) They have the best loss according to my poll with their lone loss to Arizona. |
| 5 | Gonzaga | (+1) They have the second best loss according to my poll with their lone loss to Michigan. |
| 6 | Purdue | (+2) They have the third best loss according to my poll with their lone loss to Iowa St. |
| 7 | Duke | (-4) They still have many quality wins so I have faith that this is an elite team, but I'm not super high on Texas Tech so the loss moves them a bit down. |
| 8 | Michigan State | (-1) They have to be below Duke since their lone loss is to them, and I had Purdue jump them cause their loss has more quality than Michigan St currently. |
| 9 | Nebraska | (-) I want to move them up, I really do, but the top 8 all have really superb resumes. With time, if they continue to win, they'll rise. They just need more quality games to test them. |
| 10 | Vanderbilt | (-) I want to move them up, I really do, but the top 8 all have really superb resumes. With time, if they continue to win, they'll rise. They just need more quality games to test them. |
| 11 | BYU | (-) I just wanna preface that it's basically a crapshoot between #8-#11. They're all basically even for me. Nebraska & Vanderbilt benefit from being undefeated and Michigan St has better wins to me. |
| 12 | North Carolina | (-) Solid win against Ohio St this past week. They look good so far! Maybe they'll deserve their bid this year... |
| 13 | Houston | (+2) I'm super hard on Houston but they got their first win that impressed me this week AND that loss to Tennessee looks better now. Still skeptical, but they deserve to move up. |
| 14 | Alabama | (+2) Even though Houston & Alabama are moving up together, I do think with Houston's win, there's a gap between the top 13 and below. That said, Alabama has the best resume for a 3-loss team. |
| 15 | Kansas | (+2) That said, Kansas rivals them and I could see an argument to flipflop them. They're very even to me. |
| 16 | Illinois | (+3) I think both Kansas & Illinois benefitted this week via having won against Tennessee after they got that big win over Louisville. |
| 17 | Arkansas | (-3) I'm lower on Houston than most so you would think Arkansas losing to them would come with a bigger drop, but ironically the game made me respect Houston which made the loss better for Arkansas. |
| 18 | Tennessee | (NEW) They were the last team out last week with my late poll so it was obvious they were re-entering my top 25. That said, my #18 has dropped out of my poll 2 weeks in a row now. Is this spot cursed? |
| 19 | Louisville | (-6) Is Tennessee a good team? Yeah, that's why they're in my top 25. So is Tennessee not a bad loss? Yep.........but they got killed and lost by 20+. Oof. |
| 20 | UCF | (-) I want to move them up, but they're kinda here solely off the fact their sole loss is to Vanderbilt. Both them AND Vanderbilt will show if they're for real in the coming weeks. |
| 21 | Iowa | (-) Like UCF, their losses are some of the better ones to have against Iowa St & Michigan St, but I hope to see some quality wins coming up soon. Xavier & Ole Miss isn't gonna cut it. |
| 22 | USC | (-) That Washington loss is dragging them down for me admittedly, but that Seton Hall win continues to look good! |
| 23 | Seton Hall | (-) And speaking of Seton Hall, here they are! And with USC staying at only 1 loss, Seton Hall's lone loss to them continues to look good! |
| 24 | California | (+1) I wish they had more, but the UCLA win continues to look sneakily good and they continue to win. A real test will be next week against Louisville. |
| 25 | Texas Tech | (NEW) They were in my first 5 out last week so, after beating Duke, it felt wrong to not include them here. My biggest gripe with TTU was that they didn't have that true quality win and now they do. |
Overall Rationale
OUT: Auburn (18), St John's (24) - 26: Auburn, 27: Kentucky, 28: Oklahoma St, 29: Georgia, 30: Villanova