We lost plenty of unbeaten teams this week. Strangely, most of them were upsets against unranked teams. Only Rutgers lost to a ranked team. The SEC teams were the strangest. The SEC has plenty of tough teams, but only the Missouri loss was to a tough team. Both Alabama and Tennessee lost to relatively weak teams. That makes me wonder if the SEC champion will have two losses.
We have eleven unbeaten teams remaining. Four are in the Big Ten, two from the American Athletic, two from the Big XII, two from the ACC, and one from the SEC. Who those teams are is somewhat surprising. Some are not surprising (Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, Miami), but many are quite surprising. Both Army and Navy are among the unbeatens, as are Iowa State, Pitt, Indiana, and BYU. Historically, BYU has been in this position before, although it was been many years. The others face some new territory. Most of the unbeatens are in the Top 25.
Top 25 [Last week's rank]
1. TEXAS LONGHORNS (5-0) [1]
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) [2]
3. Penn State Nittany Lions (5-0) [8]
4. Oregon Ducks (5-0) [10]
5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-1) [5]
6. Oklahoma Sooners (4-1) [6]
7. Alabama Crimson Tide (4-1) [3]
8. Georgia Bulldogs (4-1) [7]
9. Miami Hurricanes (6-0) [9] : Barely avoided an upset themselves
10. Ole Miss Rebels (5-1) [12]
11. Tennessee Volunteers (4-1) [4]
12. Clemson Tigers (4-1) [18]
13. Indiana Hoosiers (6-0) [21]
14. Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-1) [19]
15. BYU Cougars (5-0) [15]
16. Iowa State Cyclones (5-0) [22]
17. Texas A&M Aggies (5-1) [NR]
18. UNLV Running Rebels (4-1) [17]
19. Arizona State Sun Devils (4-1) [20]
20. Army Black Knights (5-0) [NR]
21. Boise State Broncos (5-1) [28]
22. USC Trojans (3-2) [13]
23. Missouri Tigers (4-1) [11]
24. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-2) [14]
25. LSU Tigers (4-1) [25]
Dropped off: Louisville Cardinals [#16], Michigan Wolverines [#23], James Madison Dukes [#24]
On the Edge: Navy Midshipmen (5-0), Pitt Panthers (5-0), Kentucky Wildcats (3-2), Rutgers Scarlet Knights (4-1), Colorado Buffaloes (4-1), Toledo Rockets (4-1), Arkansas Razorbacks (4-2)
Upset Results
This was a week for tumbling unbeatens. Syracuse's victory over UNLV wasn't really an upset, as I predicted the likelihood, but it was still a loss by an unbeaten team. Missouri, Alabama, and Georgia all fell. Vanderbilt felt especially good. They had never beaten a Top 5 team, and this was their second upset win of the season. The Commodores are looking like a real threat. UL Monroe also knocked James Madison out of the ranks of the unbeatens, as Nebraska did to Rutgers (which was also not an upset).
Losses to unbeatens were not the only upsets this week, however. Houston won their first game by beating TCU, SMU knocked Louisville out of the Top 25West Virginia destroyed any chances Oklahoma State can reach the Top 25, and Florida wiped out UCF's hopes.
Big Ten Report
Indiana still leads the conference, as the only team with three conference wins. They are followed by the remaining unbeatens in the conference: Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State. Nebraska leads the 2-1 teams with a 5-1 overall record. Washington and Michigan have overall records of 4-2, with Washington holding tiebreaker status. Illinois and Rutgers lead the 1-1 teams with 4-1 overall records. Wisconsin is starting to strengthen, and could be better than their 3-2 overall record.
Based upon what we have seen, clearly Ohio State is favorite to win the conference. Penn State struggles against top teams, and they face Ohio State later in the season. Oregon faces Ohio State next week. They face them at home, so an upset win gives them the inside track, as the only two tough road opponents remaining are Michigan and Wisconsin. Indiana still has Nebraska, Ohio State, and Michigan to come. Nebraska looks good now, but they have four tough road games forthcoming, against Indiana, Ohio State, USC, and Iowa.
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