We’re nine weeks into the 2015 season, and there are still 11 undefeated teams. The jockeying at the top of the rankings for the best path to the College Football Playoff is as fierce as ever. No season in the past 20 years has featured this many undefeated teams through nine weeks.
There are twice as many undefeated college football teams as usual. Have fun, Playoff committee!
This is an interesting puzzle for the committee.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
It’s a far cry from last season, which had just three undefeated teams through Week 9 -- tied for the fewest in the past 20 years. In the initial Playoff rankings that year, undefeated Mississippi State was No. 1, undefeated Florida State ranked No. 2 and undefeated Marshall was unranked.
This year presents a very interesting scenario for the College Football Playoff committee as it unveils its first rankings Tuesday. Will it favor undefeated teams over one-loss teams, or can we expect multiple one-loss teams with particularly strong resumes to be ahead of undefeated teams -- even undefeated power conference teams like Iowa and Oklahoma State?
On average, there have been 6.15 undefeated teams at this point in the season over the past 20 years. It’s easy to blame 14-team conferences leading to diluted playing fields, but four of the seven years between 1996 and 2002 had at least seven undefeated teams, so we’re not that far away from previous years.
The real reason for the undefeated glut appears to be a randomly backloaded schedule. Seven undefeated teams still have to play undefeated opponents, and Iowa would have to play a potentially undefeated Ohio State or Michigan State in the Big Ten title game. Things should sort themselves out. The whittling down will start this week and continue throughout November.
- TCU plays Oklahoma State this week. Only one of the three undefeated teams in the Big 12 -- TCU, OSU and Baylor -- can possibly finish undefeated.
- LSU and Alabama play this week, which will either knock Alabama out of the Playoff or send LSU out of the ranks of the unbeaten.
- Michigan State and Ohio State still have to play each other, plus the winner has to play a possibly undefeated Iowa.
- Memphis and Houston still have to play each other, with the winner having to face a dangerous Temple team.
- Clemson plays Florida State this week.
- Toledo still has tough tests against Northern Illinois, Bowling Green and Western Michigan.
In 2013, there were eight undefeated teams after Week 9, but the Playoff committee did not exist yet. Just one remained after conference championships were finished. In 2014, there were three. Just one remained after conference championships were finished. Thanks to a backloaded schedule this season, we’ll get to see what “undefeated” really means to the Playoff committee, and how much of a boost that can give a resume, nine weeks into the season.
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