Remaining Undefeated Teams Before Week 3
Teams with 1st Loss Week 2:
Illinois
UNLV
Alabama
Southern Mississippi
Stanford
Tulsa
North Carolina State
Troy
Appalachian State
Southern Methodist
Wisconsin
Tulane
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
Virginia Tech
Iowa State
Western Michigan
Texas State
Northern Illinois
UAB
Florida Atlantic
Louisiana-Lafayette
Pittsburgh
(Jacksonville State)
Houston
Charlotte
Eastern Michigan
Arizona
Temple
San Diego State
California
Arizona State
Percent of Teams with 1st Loss of Season
Week 0/1: 37.6% (50 of 133)
Week 2: 38.6% (32 of 83)
Maximum number of Undefeated Teams at the End of the Regular Season:
11: Nine conference champs (all except the MAC), James Madison (not eligible for Sun Belt Championship), and Notre Dame
-We lost Arizona State (who could have theoretically went undefeated, but not played in PAC-12 Championship, and our possible MAC Champion this week.
Week 2 Thoughts:
-We already see our first conference eliminated as our last three undefeated from the MAC lost this week.
-Biggest story of the week was certainly Texas beating Alabama. This was large in so many ways. It definitely hurts the SEC's chances at getting in two. They still can, but the scenarios are being limited quite a bit for this early in the year. On the flip side, it is good for the Big 12 chances as it either it is directly a huge benefit to Texas or beating Texas is a bigger deal to someone else (the latter being the Big 12's preference).
-The biggest story to me with Alabama seems to be them coming back down to Earth. They have been the team of the last decade and a half. Ohio State has been steadily fantastic and Clemson was just as high a few years there, but not even they were quite at the level of Alabama year in and year out. It is feeling more and more like the Saban era of dominance though is lowering a bit now. The Tide can certainly still win out and get to the playoff bowls and win it all. It is not really expected now though, which is a turn from how it would have been not to long ago. Don't get me wrong, Alabama is still in a position almost the entire rest of college football would trade places for, but it feels to me like something has changed and Alabama now has one of the top programs in the sport instead of the top program in the sport. Now watch them blow out the rest of the schedule and make this whole paragraph seem silly.
-Washington State beat a ranked Wisconsin, Colorado made easy work of old Big 8/Big 12 rival Nebraska, Oregon held on at Texas Tech, Utah won a close one against Baylor. In its final traditional year, the PAC-12 has 8 ranked teams, 2/3 the whole conference. After struggling mighty the past few years, the PAC-12's swan song is looking more and more like a banner year for the league. Now the key is for them not to knock themselves all down too much in conference play.
-Miami (FL) beating Texas A&M gives the ACC another ranked team (although Clemson slid out). That could end up being very relevant. An undefeated ACC champ is certainly in, but a 1-loss champ might need some help. More wins vs. ranked or close to final ranked teams will matter.
-In it's last year with divisions, the Big Ten East looks to be the stronger division again. Only Indiana has a loss on that side. On the West, Minnesota and Iowa are the last two. Things will get more complicated as week go by between the two divisions, but for now most the CFP chances are in the east.
-As we go into week 5, all five of the major conferences have strong contenders for the playoff bowls.
Group of 5 Auto-NY6 bid: The MAC, as said above, has no undefeated teams left and unless a team from it gets a monster win, I think the MAC is out of NY6 contention.
The American is now down to just one undefeated . The American can certainly still take the top spot with a 1-loss team, but for the first time in years, I would put my money on a different conference. The Sun Belt still has 5 undefeated teams, the Mountain West still has 3, and Conference USA has 2. There are plentiful of possibilities for the future, but I would narrowly lean to the Sun Belt taking it this year right now. That said, the conference would have been helped if Appalachian State could have pulled off the upset vs. North Carolina and there probably are individual teams in other conferences with better odds than any single Sun Belt team.
Week 3 Thoughts:
-If my quick count was right, we have 6 games between undefeated FBS teams this week.
Undefeated Kansas State @ Undefeated Missouri: An old Big 8/Big 12 game. Kansas State is the 2nd highest ranked Big 12 team after Texas. Keeping them unbeaten out of conference is very much in the Big 12's interest. Meanwhile, it is hasn't been a banner out of conference year for the SEC, so a win against a ranked opponent would be nice.
1-Loss LSU at Undefeated Mississippi State: LSU is a 10 point favorite here. Florida State is better if the tigers keep winning now. The SEC chances at 2 in the playoff bowls will probably be better if we have Mississippi State doing well than LSU.
-Undefeated Minnesota at undefeated North Carolina: Could be a good Big Ten/ACC game. North Carolina is coming off a decent win against South Carolina and a scare vs. Appalachian State. Minnesota beat Nebraska and then Eastern Michigan. Minnesota could be one of the top teams of the Big Ten west. North Carolina is one of the ACC's ranked teams. The win here would be good for either program and conference.
Undefeated Washington at undefeated Michigan State: Given the turmoil at Michigan State, this game it probably going to be a decent Washington win, but it would be yet another PAC-12 win. This is also a conference game next year.
Undefeated Tennessee at 1-loss Florida: Will the winner of this game be the one most likely to give Georgia a run for their money in the SEC east?
Undefeated BYU at Undefeated Arkansas: Decent SEC/Big 12 game. BYU pulling off the upset would further help the Big 12's playoff chances, while Arkansas would help the SEC's out of conference results.
1-loss Pitt at 1-loss West Virginia: The resumption of the Backyard Brawl which was especially huge in the Big East days.
Undefeated Fresno State at 1-loss Arizona State: Fresno State is favored and this would help Mountain West's NY6 chances.
Undefeated Western Kentucky at Undefeated Ohio State and Undefeated Wyoming at Undefeated Texas: The Longhorns and Buckeyes are both around 4 touchdown favorites, but would be massive wins that would put Wyoming or Western Kentucky on top of NY6 race if they occurred. Ohio State has looked so-so (by their standards) on offense and Texas is coming off a huge win.
Remaining Undefeated Teams: ACC: 7, American: 1, Big 12: 8, Big Ten: 8, Conference USA: 2, MAC: 0, Mountain West: 3, PAC-12: 8, SEC: 8, Sun Belt: 5, independents: 1, total: 51
Florida State
Maryland
Wake Forest
Duke
Miami (FL)
North Carolina
Colorado
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Cincinnati
Louisville
Rutgers
Syracuse
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Ohio State
Penn State
Marshall
Memphis
Central Florida
Air Force
Brigham Young
Utah
Wyoming
Oregon
Oregon State
Southern California
UCLA
Washington
Washington State
Georgia
Kentucky
Tennessee
Arkansas
Auburn
Mississippi State
Mississippi
Louisiana-Monroe
Fresno State
Notre Dame
Western Kentucky
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Liberty
(James Madison)
(This post was last modified: 09-12-2023 10:32 AM by ohio1317.)
|