It may be flawed, but apparently it works pretty well of that’s the only one that stood out to me.

But that begs the question, how do you determine the first top 25 teams if there’s no top 25 team to beat? 😋

Houston?

Lots of upsets means there is a lot of movement in my computer poll. Pitt 💩, A&M, Penn State, VT, Kansas State, and Iowa State plummet. Meanwhile Georgia is climbing the rankings, whether my computer likes it or not!

1. Oregon
2. Indiana
3. Miami (FL)
4. Notre Dame
5. Ohio State
6. SMU
7. Texas
8. Georgia
9. Tennessee
10. BYU
11. Ole Miss
12. Penn State
13. LSU
14. Alabama
15. Boise State
16. Pittsburgh
17. Texas A&M
18. Colorado
19. Army
20. Louisville
21. Tulane
22. Minnesota
23. Clemson
24. South Carolina
25. Washington State

I use https://collegefootballdata.com/ which has an API, though I don’t actually use it (yet). I just navigate to “Data” > “Games and Results” and export the 2024 FBS games to a csv file and use that.

It looks like one of the ballots double voted Notre Dame (9 & 10), Kansas State (19 & 21), and SMU (18 & 24), giving them an extra 16, 5, and 2 points respectively (if you remove the lower ranked).

Pretty much! It doesn’t have to be a computer poll, it can be just your opinion, or a hybrid.

I do a computer poll, because a) I don’t watch enough games to make an informed ranking and b) it’s a fun exercise in coding and tuning the algorithm(s) for me.

You also don’t need to share your ballot in the comments, but I also enjoy sharing and explaining what my algorithm is doing and if/where I disagree with it.

Here are the results from my computer poll. Oregon overtakes Indiana, and Notre Dame gets a big boost. Navy sadly falls out of the Top 25, but still on the bubble.

1. Oregon
2. Indiana
3. Notre Dame
4. Penn State
5. Miami
6. Texas
7. Texas A&M
8. Pittsburgh
9. Ohio State
10. BYU
11. Clemson
12. SMU
13. Kansas State
14. Iowa State
15. Tennessee
16. Georgia
17. LSU
18. Alabama
19. Colorado
20. Army
21. Virginia Tech
22. Ole Miss
23. Boise State
24. Washington State
25. Tulane

What Kennesaw State isn’t a quality loss?? /s

It’s okay, my poll has Alabama at #20, that should help balance things out a bit.

BTW, how did you format your full ranking? I can’t figure out how to get mine to do that.

My computer poll still really likes Indiana despite the relatively easy schedule and still really doesn’t like Georgia, despite their win against Texas (though it did help quite a bit).

1. Indiana
2. Oregon
3. Miami
4. LSU
5. Penn State
6. Notre Dame
7. BYU
8. Texas
9. Tennessee
10. Georgia
11. Ohio State
12. Clemson
13. Iowa State
14. Kansas State
15. Texas A&M
16. SMU
17. Pittsburgh
18. Illinois
19. Missouri
20. Alabama
21. Navy
22. Army
23. Vanderbilt
24. Ole Miss
25. Colorado

Here is my ballot from my computer poll:

1. Texas
2. Indiana
3. Oregon
4. BYU
5. Miami
6. Penn State
7. Army
8. Iowa State
9. Ohio State
10. Clemson
11. James Madison
12. Texas Tech
13. Pittsburgh
14. Navy
15. Kansas State
16. SMU
17. Notre Dame
18. Texas A&M
19. LSU
20. Nebraska
21. Boise State
22. Sam Houston
23. Arizona State
24. Ole Miss
25. Tennessee

Speak for yourself, my computer LOVES both of them!

Edit: Maybe not as much as I remember, but it has them in the top 30.

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Yeah, Georgia’s drop is in part due to my poll. It’s my first week submitting and my computer poll is really down on Georgia atm. I think it has them in the low 30’s right now.