It's time to check in on college football's undefeated teams again as we did last week. First, here's how our count this year compares with the previous five seasons.
- 2006 (7): Ohio State, USC, Michigan, West Virginia, Louisville, Boise State, Rutgers
- 2007 (6): Ohio State, South Florida, Boston College, Arizona State, Kansas, Hawai'i
- 2008 (9): Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Utah, Boise State, Ball State, Tulsa
- 2009 (7): Florida, Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, Boise State, Iowa, TCU
- 2010 (7): Oregon, Boise State, Auburn, TCU, Michigan State, Missouri, Utah
Teams are listed in order of rank in the AP Poll.
We lost three unbeaten teams last week, which brought the count more in line with past years. We knew two of them were going down thanks to the Oklahoma-Missouri and LSU-Auburn games being match ups of unbeaten teams. As a bonus, Oklahoma State kept its tradition alive by losing to the first good team it played.
Someone must fall
Except that no one must fall, as there are no games of all undefeated teams. For what it's worth though, all the undefeated teams that are playing this weekend are going on the road. That counts for something, right?
Danger, Will Robinson!
Two of the undefeated teams are facing really tough tests this weekend.
Perhaps the most in trouble is Missouri, who gets rewarded for its big win over the Sooners by getting to go to Lincoln to face Nebraska. Mizzou is not used to being ranked this highly, last doing it in 2007 when few players on this year's team were even in college. The national spotlight has shone on the Tigers some this week, and now we get to see how well they handle it.
Also going on the road is the surprising Michigan State Spartans, who go to Iowa City to play... wait for it... Iowa. The Hawkeyes haven't won a really big game yet, losing to Arizona and Wisconsin while beating Michigan. Still, Iowa's no slouch and MSU has been winning games in the way that Iowa did last season, close with great fourth quarter play. It won't be easy for Sparty to take this one.
Not quite on red alert are a few others.
Oregon is going on the road to face USC, a team it hasn't beat in Los Angeles since 2000. Now, the Trojans' basic problem this season is defense, which portends doom when going up against Oregon's hypercharged offensive attack. Throw into that mix the fact that the fossil of Monte Kiffin running the USC defense doesn't fare well against spread attacks and you've got trouble. But, USC's offense has quietly been playing very well, so we could see a shootout this weekend.
In the same bucket is Auburn, who is facing a defensively challenged yet offensively potent Ole Miss team on the road. The Rebels aren't quite where the Trojans are, but they could push Auburn is the Tigers aren't ready. See more here.
Also in the intriguing category is Utah-Air Force, which is going down in Colorado Springs. Utah has made a habit of blowing out bad teams, but that's about all the Utes have faced this season. The best team they've played is Pitt, who took them to overtime in Week 1. Air Force, while having three Ls, hasn't lost to anyone with more than two losses (really; San Diego State is 5-2). It's hard to say how good Utah is in absence of many real tests, so we should learn something about it this weekend.
A midler warning to you, sir
TCU is going away from home, but it's to Las Vegas to face UNLV. They might as well be going on a road trip to hit the casinos The Hangover style, because "moribund" might not be strong enough to describe where UNLV is this time.
Enjoy the couch
Boise State beat Louisiana Tech on Tuesday, so they get to enjoy the couch this weekend again. Get comfy, because that's where it'll be during the national title game*! ZING!
*It's entirely because of the BCS system on every level. The enemy, as always, is the BCS.