CFB: Nine unbeaten teams - will any team fall this weekend?
Last weekend provided some excitement in Columbus – while Virginia surprised North Carolina in Chapel Hill. As a result, Penn State and UNC fell from the ranks leaving only nine (9) teams with an unblemished record.
Which team(s), if any, will fall from the ranks of the unbeaten this weekend? Here’s the list – and their opponent. The unbeatens are bolded and AP rankings are in parentheses.
Georgia (1) vs Florida (26) – in Jacksonville - neutral site
Michigan (2) – bye week
Ohio State (3) at Wisconsin (35)
Florida State (4) at Wake Forest
Washington (5) at Stanford
Oklahoma (6) at Kansas
Air Force (19) at Colorado State
James Madison (25) hosting Old Dominion
Liberty (27) at Western Kentucky (on Tuesday)
Since inquiring minds want to know – specifically, who else is on the schedule for these teams, here are the above noted unbeatens remaining opponents:
Georgia: vs Florida - neutral (26), Missouri (16), Ole Miss (12), at Tennessee (21), and at Georgia Tech.
Michigan: bye, Purdue, at Penn State (10), at Maryland, and Ohio State (3).
Ohio State: at Wisconsin (35), at Rutgers (33), Michigan State, Minnesota, and at Michigan (2).
Florida State: at Wake Forest, at Pitt, Miami (29), North Alabama, and at Florida (26).
Washington: at Stanford, at USC (24), Utah (13), at Oregon State (11), and Washington State.
Oklahoma: at Kansas, at Oklahoma State (31), West Virginia, at BYU, and TCU.
Air Force: at Colorado State, Army, at Hawaii, UNLV, and at Boise State.
James Madison: Old Dominion, at Georgia State, UConn, Appalachian State, and at Coastal Carolina.
Liberty: at Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion, UMass, and at UTEP.
No single game jumps out at me – but, there are three that might be a bit more interesting. Those three are: Georgia vs Florida (Georgia without Bowers and who knows which Florida team will show up – my guess is that Georgia will roll), Air Force at Colorado, and Liberty at Western Kentucky (tomorrow – Tuesday, evening).
Enjoy the week and this weekend's games.
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:44 AM ^
USAFA is at Colorado State. USAFA will win. I don't see any unbeatens losing this weekend
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:47 AM ^
Chaco - thank you, that was a "mistype" on my part (in the last paragraph). Air Force will take the two hour drive to Fort Collins to play Colorado State (not Colorado) on Saturday evening. My apologies.
October 23rd, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
Clearly not a big deal; but CSU and Colorado bring different vibes. Maybe they’ll get a blizzard.
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:54 AM ^
Kansas might put a scare into Oklahoma, but Liberty may be the first to fall of the group.
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:45 AM ^
Michigan will remain undefeated. Bet the house!
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:01 AM ^
I will still be dissatisfied with the low amount of rushing yards.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:48 AM ^
Huge rumor going around that Michigan's official statistics after Saturday will indicate that - Michigan gained "zero" yards on October 28th. Oh, it also appears that JJ will become equally ineffective - and pass for "zero" yards this Saturday. This Saturday will rival the "least productive" games coached by Harbaugh and Moore (in tandem).
There's a lot of trust in the defense to put points on the board.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:45 PM ^
Michigan's defense will give up ZERO points for the second week in a row. Book it.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
JJ's zero incompletions and zero INTs, combined with James Turner missing 0 FGs or PATs, will more than make up the difference. Plus, the defense will once again pitch a shutout and will once again face ZERO goal-to-go situations!
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
This game is going to be an Iowa affair - all about punting. And Tommy Doman will not make a single punt.
Take that to the house.
October 23rd, 2023 at 9:47 AM ^
OU can have a dicey game if they play like they did last weekend. They were lucky to get out of that game. Kansas QB has missed games. Not sure if he will be available. If he is, this can be an interesting game.
I have zero faith in Wisconsin giving OSU a game. But if they do, it is bad sign for OSU for future games but not that game.
Georgia is still the favorite to come out of SEC but it will be interesting to see who is going to shine in their passing game. Losing a guy like Bowers is not easy to replace.
I would love for Stanford to pull out a magic like they did two weeks ago. If Washington sleep walks like last week, they may fall. Nah... Not seeing that happen.
Those are the games that I am looking for to see if there is an upset possibility. One out of those 4 would be nice.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^
Don't think anyone goes down this week. Perhaps Kansas can make a run at Oklahoma if Jalon Daniels is back but that's sounding unlikely.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:13 AM ^
Might be the cold meds kicking in, but I think Wisc makes a game of it in Madison.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:31 AM ^
Sound like Wisconsin will be without their starting QB.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
Wisconsin has no offense. I don't care how good the UW defense might be, UW is not Iowa. And OSU doesn't care if they were Iowa, anyway. Offense wins, and UW has no offense.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:13 AM ^
Georgia could lose, depending on which version of their team shows up. Especially now that Brock Bowers is out until probably the SEC Championship game. If the Georgia that played Kentucky shows up, Florida has no chance. But if its the same Georgia that allowed Vanderbilt to hang around into the fourth quarter, the one that barely beat Auburn (and only won because of Brock Bowers, frankly) and allowed South Carolina to hang around at home....then Florida could make this interesting.
Not predicting Florida to win, but I'm not going to say they can't win, either. But it does depend on which Georgia team shows up.
Only other team that could come close is Oklahoma. This past Saturday may have just been an emotional letdown from the Red River Rivalry, but Kansas is a decent to good team.
Wisconsin may have had a chance with Tanner Mordecai, but that's all out the window now.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:41 AM ^
GA tendency to sleepwalk might catch up with them if they're not careful. Otherwise AL will be waiting and Saban will see his opportunity to backslide into the CFP with the right combination of other teams losing.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:17 AM ^
You missed Slippery Rock at 8-0, they'll be playing Clarion.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:23 AM ^
Fair point - and, I should have noted - the teams above were Division 1 - Slippery Rock plays in Division II. And, there are fourteen (14) Division II teams that are unbeaten.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:23 AM ^
I think Wisconsin's defense is good enough to slow OSU down for a while, but isn't Mordecai still out? Even with him I doubt they have enough offensive firepower to beat OSU.
At the end of the regular season, there's usually only 2-3 unbeatens left so some of these teams are gonna start losing some games. Kansas beats OU, Colorado State beats Air Force, and WKU beats Liberty
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:25 AM ^
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Kansas give Oklahoma a bit of a run, but I’m not seeing much beyond that.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:26 AM ^
We could see multiple undefeated teams from the mid-majors this year.
- AF doesn't seem like a team that beats itself and has a pretty easy out with only UNLV and Boise being okay-ish.
- Liberty has a really easy path.
- JMU has Ga State and Coastal. Coastal will give them issues as their main card is passing and JMU is just decent at defending the pass.
Michigan and Georgia look to have the toughest remaining path with PSU/ OSU and UF/Mizzou/Ole Miss/ TN remaining. I expect both to get through though as they are superior teams. FSU was in trouble and keeps playing with fire, so was OU. I think they both find a way to lose a game down the stretch. Washington looked horrible last weekend and has 3 ranked teams plus a game at Wazzou.
At this point - it looks like UGa, Michigan/OSU winner and any of Washington, FSU, or OU, with Bama, Oregon and Texas waiting like buzzards for one to fall.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:39 AM ^
Was PSU/OSU two great defenses, or two incompetent offenses?
Neither quarterback could hit a WR in stride with any regularity, and PSU's running game showed flashes, but was doomed almost more by bad play-calling than execution. I think we beat both teams by two TDs or more. The Game:48-20 (extrapolating)
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:49 AM ^
I like the way you think!
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^
Daft - great comment - and, IMO, worthy of it's own discussion topic.
The one play call that really surprised me was - Franklin / Penn State going for it on a 4th & 4 in the middle of the fourth quarter - from their own 43 yard line. OSU was ahead 13-7. I thought that play call - which resulted in a turnover on downs - changed the entire landscape of the game.
That call - and failure to pick up the first down - gave OSU a short field - and, one play later put the Buckeyes in field goal range. My view then (and now) is - play the field position game - punt it - hold the Buckeyes (ideally a three and out - or limit them to one first down) - get the ball back and try to get it into the end zone.
Questionable game management, IMO. It seemed like "usual" James Franklin.
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:14 PM ^
The 4th down call was awful. Frankly, the entire PSU game management/offensive philosophy was awful.
Going in, that game was about an obvious TresselBall situation as there is. Trust that your defense will hold them to 20 or so (and they did), and hope the offense can get there themselves. Play call aiming to minimize potential mistakes, when in doubt play the field position game.
I said this elsewhere: 2008 was the last time PSU beat a Top 10 team in Columbus. And they played TresselBall --- that despite having a older, veteran QB (Daryll Clark) and a few WR on the roster that eventually played in the NFL. 20 passes, 37 rushes, only 4.1 YPC, but converted every 3rd-down-and-less-than 3, 0 turnovers. That only got them 13 points, but it was enough.
On Saturday: 42 passes, 26 rushes, 4.1 YPC between Singleton & Allen (sacks brought the total YPC down to 1.9), convered no 3rd-down-and-less-than-3s (passed on all of them!), 0 turnovers (they did this right, but lucky there wasn't at least 1 INT).
Switch up the pass/run ratio to a 2008 level and convert a couple 3rd-and-shorts by running the ball, and I think PSU could (would?) have won. Shoot, OSU only got to 20 after that 4th down call you reference.
But, nope. Idiot coaches. Brain-dead game plan.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
My feel from watching was PSU's offense is actually inept. OSU's defense is probably improved from last year, but I don't think we can draw conclusions due to PSU's incompetence.
On the other side, I think PSU's defense was legit until they finally wore down, probably pretty comparable to ours. I think OSU's offense is more competent than PSU's by a good margin. But PSU was able to shut down most aspects of OSU's offense outside of MHjr stuff, which we all kind of anticipated.
I agree with your overall conclusion. I came away from that game feeling better about both of those games for Michigan.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:45 AM ^
I think Co State wins. Based on nothing at all. Boom #interneted
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:54 AM ^
With those schedules, playoffs will probably be UGA, UM/OSU, FSU, OU.
If Washington comes through that undefeated, they will be replace one of FSU or OU.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:09 AM ^
UGA, UM, FSU, OU
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:01 AM ^
I think (hope) OSU gets taken down at Wisconsin. They will still be celebrating the PSU win and overlook Wisconsin, and Allen will torch them up. OSU's run-defense is very good, but Allen is talented enough to take advantage of the defense's lack of focus on Wisconsin's offense.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:16 AM ^
Naw, I think we're in for a repeat of PSU/OSU. Wisconsin's defense is disciplined enough to keep the score low and keep OSU contained for most of the night until they collapse from exhaustion late. I don't see Wisconsin's offense staying on the field, they're too 1-dimensional. OSU can safely run the "sellout against the run" defense they used on us last year without risking giving up 45 points.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^
Fickell probably wants redemption against born on 3rd and Ohio.
Madison is a tough place to play.
Double MHJ and it should be a game
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:39 AM ^
Great point about Fickell. Not only will the game be in Madison (a great college town, by the way) - but, it's at night - and, the forecast is for cooler temperatures - low 40's with a chance of rain.
That game will be worth watching - at least for a while.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:21 AM ^
My pick is Liberty to go down to Old Dominion.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:31 AM ^
None of the undefeateds are losing this week.
October 23rd, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
For all the talk of schedules among the ranked teams, currently Michigan's schedule is ranked rougher than Georgia's (73 to 94).
Sagarin has Michigan ranked #1 now.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:06 PM ^
Decent chance that all of these teams remain unbeaten after this weekend. In my mind, the teams at greatest risk of losing:
- Liberty. Will be a tough conference opponent for them.
- Oklahoma. I could see Kansas being a sneaky tough game.
- UGA - decent opponent in Florida.
October 23rd, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^
I wouldn't say losses for the remaining umbeatens is likely, but the most likely would probably be James Madison and Liberty. The entire sec has been so inconsistent its almost impossible to guess, but I would be surprised if Georgia didn't have another off night while any one of their remaining opponents has an on night. Washington v Utah will be the game to watch. FSU v Florida could be good as well, buckeyes get stomped in Ann Arbor.
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:02 PM ^
The typical number of undefeated teams by the end of the season is usually no more than three, so you know that most of these teams are going to lose. It is only a matter of when.
On paper, none of them should lose this weekend, but UNC should not have lost to Virginia either, and yet they did.
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:02 PM ^
CSU pulling an upset at home vs AF. An in-state MWC rivalry game of sorts, I could see CSU selling out on the run to stop the option offense. AF has attempted 33 passes all year long over 7 games, only completing 24. Don't get beat deep on obvious passing downs, get off the field of 3rd down, don't leave too many empty possessions on offense and you can win that game.
October 23rd, 2023 at 2:00 PM ^
Georgia (1) vs Florida (26) – in Jacksonville - neutral site - Can see this happening with Bowers gone. Bowers is their number 1 option and saved them against Auburn. Depends more on what version of Florida they get.
Ohio State (3) at Wisconsin (35) - Wisconsin QB needs to have a GAME, but this is possible. OSU seems to have trouble early with nearly every game and pulls away at the end. Maryland, ND, and PSU had the chances to win. Wisconsin isn't really that bad either.
Florida State (4) at Wake Forest - Not happening. They played Clemson fairly evenly, but I don't think Wake can keep up with them
Washington (5) at Stanford - No chance
Oklahoma (6) at Kansas - Not happening. Kansas looks like a rushing team, and Oklahoma is STRONG against the rush.
Air Force (19) at Colorado State - After blowing a lead to UNLV, I can see CSU coming in wanting to get one back. Air Force scheme is annoying to play, but if they play like they did earlier in the season CSU is winning this.
James Madison (25) hosting Old Dominion - NOPE
Liberty (27) at Western Kentucky (on Tuesday) - Tossup here being an away game.