I was thinking about doing that for my algorithm. But at the same time, if you get absolutely embarrassed in your CCG (cough Bama & BYU cough), maybe your rating should drop at least a bit...
And here's the poll after championship weekend. It's pretty harsh on the losers, even Ohio State, who only lost by 3 to an equal opponent... And Notre Dame sits there at #4.
Fun fact: If you run my algo in reverse chronological order, ND ends up at #15. It was kind of by design for more recent games to matter more, but I didn't expect THAT much difference. I might play with ways to reduce that effect in the future.
Here are my rankings for this week. I will hold off submitting a poll until the Championship games have been played.
No real surprises here. OSU retakes the top spot, Texas A&M drops, putting them on the bubble. Pitt, SMU, and ASU drop out of the Top 25, being replaced by Navy, USF, and Iowa. ND persists at #4.
If you used this to CFP seeding, the Top 10 all make it in, with North Texas and JMU over any ACC team.
The race at the top tightens, with Indiana, Ohio State, and Texas A&M basically tied. Texas Tech falls behind slightly despite the win. Mizzou and GT are the only ones to drop out of the Top 25; Pitt and SMU take their place.
Currently, this would put the top 10 in the CFP, with North Texas and JMU taking the #11 and #12 spots, leaving the ACC without a representative. BYU and Bama are the first two out.
I don't like it ranking ND that high, and higher than all the 10-win teams. But losing early to really good teams is working in their favor.
I'm still surprised how well my algo has been working, especially since it's backward looking.
I do wonder how the standings would pan out if there were 3/2/1 points for 1st/2nd/3rd place...or for each correct guess...or 1/2/3/4 point for 4/5/6/7 correct guesses... Not trying to add more to your plate, just wondering! 😂
Texas Tech jumps into 2nd, all but tied with Texas A&M and Ohio State. Bama and Texas drop as expected. But the big movement can be found in the back half and beyond. Miami, Arizona, and Mizzou shoot up into the rankings, with honorable mentions to ECU and Navy who don't quite make it in. USF, Iowa, Pitt, and Cincy plummet to 35+.
And let's not forget about North Texas, who continues to creep up, now sitting at 14! This really highlights how I built the poll for the most deserving (vs. best) teams. Do I think they are the 14th best team: probably not. But, outside of their one loss, they've won big, compensating for their relatively weak schedule. I might look into tightening the margin of victory guardrails a bit more next year, though...
I'm not really convinced Oregon is a Top 5 team. And I'm not sure about Houston being ranked. I mean they lost to a bad (but improving!) WVU. Otherwise, it looks pretty reasonable to me!
The top six teams stay put, with the top half generally pretty stable... the bottom half is anything but. Oklahoma, North Texas, and USC rocket into the top 25. Meanwhile Navy (-14), Tennessee (-12), and Houston (-18) plummet. GT and Cincy hang on by a thread. Unsurprisingly, Washington State is the biggest loser (-26) , but UTSA (not Oregon State) gains the most spots (+27).
Not necessarily disagreeing, but I am curious of your reasons for having both Indiana and Texas A&M over Ohio State. Does it have to do with how many games they've played or do they just look better to you?
I just did it, but it's listed as #29, not #30. Don't know what that's about. Also played in hard mode.
WordWavr #29 2/6 🟠🟢 Can you beat me? 🌊 https://wordwavr.app/
Congratulations, you finished puzzle #666 in 4 minutes, 5 seconds
I was thinking about doing that for my algorithm. But at the same time, if you get absolutely embarrassed in your CCG (cough Bama & BYU cough), maybe your rating should drop at least a bit...
And here's the poll after championship weekend. It's pretty harsh on the losers, even Ohio State, who only lost by 3 to an equal opponent... And Notre Dame sits there at #4.
Fun fact: If you run my algo in reverse chronological order, ND ends up at #15. It was kind of by design for more recent games to matter more, but I didn't expect THAT much difference. I might play with ways to reduce that effect in the future.
::: spoiler Full Rankings
If only you didn't have the unfair disadvantage of being a Vol... 🤣
Here are my rankings for this week. I will hold off submitting a poll until the Championship games have been played.
No real surprises here. OSU retakes the top spot, Texas A&M drops, putting them on the bubble. Pitt, SMU, and ASU drop out of the Top 25, being replaced by Navy, USF, and Iowa. ND persists at #4.
If you used this to CFP seeding, the Top 10 all make it in, with North Texas and JMU over any ACC team.
::: spoiler Full Rankings
Agreed! Enjoy the holidays!
The race at the top tightens, with Indiana, Ohio State, and Texas A&M basically tied. Texas Tech falls behind slightly despite the win. Mizzou and GT are the only ones to drop out of the Top 25; Pitt and SMU take their place.
Currently, this would put the top 10 in the CFP, with North Texas and JMU taking the #11 and #12 spots, leaving the ACC without a representative. BYU and Bama are the first two out.
I don't like it ranking ND that high, and higher than all the 10-win teams. But losing early to really good teams is working in their favor.
::: spoiler Full Rankings
Shuffalo, 6m 24s
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https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/shuffalo/2025/11/25
The easiest/fastest one I've played.
::: spoiler Probably because... every word other than the first ended in "ing" :::
Shuffalo, 0m 41s
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https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/shuffalo/2025/11/24
No worries, thanks for putting the work in.
Also, I put them ahead of bama... By one spot.
One of the better scores I've gotten! I normally have at least one really bad round.
#WhenTaken #633 (21.11.2025)
I scored 823/1000🏅
1️⃣📍32.3 m - 🗓️9 yrs - 🥇187/200 2️⃣📍5.5 km - 🗓️10 yrs - 🥇185/200 3️⃣📍371 km - 🗓️13 yrs - 🥈164/200 4️⃣📍630 km - 🗓️4 yrs - 🥇177/200 5️⃣📍14.6 km - 🗓️31 yrs - 🥉110/200
I'm still surprised how well my algo has been working, especially since it's backward looking.
I do wonder how the standings would pan out if there were 3/2/1 points for 1st/2nd/3rd place...or for each correct guess...or 1/2/3/4 point for 4/5/6/7 correct guesses... Not trying to add more to your plate, just wondering! 😂
Texas Tech jumps into 2nd, all but tied with Texas A&M and Ohio State. Bama and Texas drop as expected. But the big movement can be found in the back half and beyond. Miami, Arizona, and Mizzou shoot up into the rankings, with honorable mentions to ECU and Navy who don't quite make it in. USF, Iowa, Pitt, and Cincy plummet to 35+.
And let's not forget about North Texas, who continues to creep up, now sitting at 14! This really highlights how I built the poll for the most deserving (vs. best) teams. Do I think they are the 14th best team: probably not. But, outside of their one loss, they've won big, compensating for their relatively weak schedule. I might look into tightening the margin of victory guardrails a bit more next year, though...
::: spoiler Full Rankings
I'm not really convinced Oregon is a Top 5 team. And I'm not sure about Houston being ranked. I mean they lost to a bad (but improving!) WVU. Otherwise, it looks pretty reasonable to me!
Plenty of movement in my poll, as expected. Surprisingly, Texas Tech didn't get as much of a bump from the win versus BYU as I would've expected.
::: spoiler Full Rankings
The top six teams stay put, with the top half generally pretty stable... the bottom half is anything but. Oklahoma, North Texas, and USC rocket into the top 25. Meanwhile Navy (-14), Tennessee (-12), and Houston (-18) plummet. GT and Cincy hang on by a thread. Unsurprisingly, Washington State is the biggest loser (-26) , but UTSA (not Oregon State) gains the most spots (+27).
::: spoiler Full Rankings
Alright, who did it? Who ranked Indiana so low, that Ohio State took #1 despite Indiana getting 3/4 first place votes?
It's okay, you can't always expect keep up with those big football schools. 😂
Not necessarily disagreeing, but I am curious of your reasons for having both Indiana and Texas A&M over Ohio State. Does it have to do with how many games they've played or do they just look better to you?