The Thrilling Thirty-One

Last year, throughout the college football season, I had a weekly feature here on BrendanLoy.com called "The Unbeatens," in which I would list Division I-A's remaining undefeated teams, along with their opponent for the next week. I started it after Week 3, when there were 29 unbeatens remaining. We're at that point again -- indeed, Week 4 technically starts tonight, and Miami vs. Texas A&M involves one of the Thrilling 31 -- so I guess I'd better get crackin'. 

This year, there are two more unblemished records than last year at this time: 31. That number will decrease to no more than 29 after this weekend, though, as there are two games between fellow unbeatens: Oklahoma at Tulsa tomorrow night, and South Carolina at LSU on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, there are four games Saturday between an undefeated team and a winless team: Kansas vs. Florida International, Texas vs. Rice, Cincinnati vs. Marshall, and (ahem) Michigan State vs. Notre Dame.

Anyway... what is the significance of this list? Well, at least for the teams from BCS conferences (28 of the 31), being on this list means your hopes of an undefeated run to the national championship have not yet been extinguished. For some of these teams, those hopes are a realistic possibility (e.g., USC, LSU, Oklahoma), while for others, they are a ridiculous pipe dream (e.g., UConn, Indiana, Kansas). For most, they're somewhere in between those two extremes. But regardless, in every one of these fan bases, you know there are a bunch of fans -- delusional fans, perhaps, but fans nonetheless -- asking the question: "What if? What if we won all our games?" And that's the beauty of college football: it affords everyone (well, er, except the non-BCS teams) the opportunity to dream big... and then affords everyone else the opportunity to laugh their heads off when those dreams are cruelly extinguished (e.g., when UConn visits Pitt on Saturday).

Anyway, without further adieu, here is the list...

Records based on ESPN.com standings page. Schedules based on ESPN.com schedules page. Please let me know if you spot any errors!

ACC:
Boston College (3-0) -- at N.C. State (1-2), 12:00 PM
Clemson (3-0) -- vs. Army (1-2), 1:00 PM

Big 12:
Kansas (3-0) -- vs. Florida International (0-3), 7:00 PM
Missouri (3-0) -- vs. Illinois State (Div 1-AA; 2-1), 2:00 PM
Oklahoma (3-0) -- at Tulsa (2-0), 8:00 PM Friday
Texas (3-0) -- vs. Rice (0-3), 7:00 PM
Texas A&M (3-0) -- vs. Miami of Florida (2-1), 7:30 PM Thursday
Texas Tech (3-0) -- at Oklahoma State (1-2), 3:30 PM

Big East:
Cincinnati (3-0) -- vs. Marshall (0-3), 7:30 PM
Rutgers (3-0) -- idle
South Florida (3-0) -- vs. North Carolina (1-2), 12:00 PM
UConn (3-0) -- at Pittsburgh (2-1), 7:00 PM
West Virginia (3-0) -- vs. East Carolina (1-2), 12:00 PM

Big Ten:
Indiana (3-0) -- vs. Illinois (2-1), 12:00 PM
Michigan State (3-0) -- at Notre Dame (0-3), 3:30 PM
Penn State (3-0) -- at Michigan (1-2), 3:30 PM
Purdue (3-0) -- at Minnesota (1-2), 9:00 PM
Ohio State (3-0) -- vs. Northwestern (2-1), 3:30 PM
Wisconsin (3-0) -- vs. Iowa (2-1), 8:00 PM

Pac-10:
Arizona State (3-0) -- vs. Oregon State (2-1), 10:00 PM
Cal (3-0) -- vs. Arizona (1-2), 6:00 PM
Oregon (3-0) -- at Stanford (1-1), 10:00 PM
USC (2-0) -- vs. Washington State (2-1), 8:00 PM

SEC:
Alabama (3-0) -- vs. Georgia (2-1), 7:45 PM
Kentucky (3-0) -- at Arkansas (1-1), 6:00 PM
Florida (3-0) -- at Ole Miss (1-2), 12:30 PM
LSU (3-0) -- vs. South Carolina (3-0), 3:30 PM
South Caroilna (3-0) -- at LSU (3-0), 3:30 PM

Non-BCS:
Air Force (3-0) -- at BYU (1-2), 3:00 PM
Hawaii (3-0) -- vs. Charleston Southern (Div 1-AA; 1-2), 12:05 AM Sunday
Tulsa (2-0) -- vs. Oklahoma (3-0), 8:00 PM Friday

NOTE: Every conference except the Big Ten either plays a full round-robin or has divisional round-robins followed by a conference championship game, so it's impossible for more than one team per conference to finish the season undefeated. In the Big Ten, it's hypothetically possible that Indiana and Ohio State could both go undefeated, or that Wisconsin and Purdue could both go undefeated. So, at this point, the maximum hypothetically possible number of undefeated teams at season's end is 10: six from each BCS conference plus one extra from the Big Ten, and the three non-BCS teams (none of whom play each other). That number will doubtless decline steadily as the season goes on, probably starting tomorrow when Tulsa takes on Oklahoma. (That said: Go Golden Hurricanes!!!)

Comments

[Fax Paladin]

A&M is currently down 21-0 to Miami...