Ranking all 4 winless college football teams’ chances of finally winning

As we enter Week 7 of the college football season, there are still four winless teams in FBS. Two of those are a little more unexpected than others, as Nebraska and UCLA are still searching for their first wins under Scott Frost and Chip Kelly, respectively. The other two are San Jose State and UTEP.

Since the season is relatively close to being halfway over, let’s take a look at the best chances for each of these teams to get a victory, using S&P+ win projections.

Not only are the Huskers still winless in October, Nebraska still has the heart of its conference schedule left. There are a lot of factors that play into Nebraska’s slow start, but this slow of a start certainly wasn’t expected.

1. Oct. 27: Bethune-Cookman 97 percent: OK seriously, if Nebraska somehow doesn’t pull a win off against its currently 3-3 FCS opponent (scheduled on the fly due to the Akron game getting canceled), I just won’t even know what to say. Forfeit the rest of the season? Maybe!

2. Nov. 10: vs. Illinois, 68 percent: This Illinois team hung tough against Penn State last month for three quarters and easily won at Rutgers, so we’ll see exactly where Nebraska stands in the bottom of the B1G.

3. Oct. 20: vs. Minnesota, 47 percent

4. Oct. 13: at Northwestern, 36 percent

5. Nov. 17: vs. Michigan State, 32 percent

6. Nov. 23: at Iowa, 20 percent

7. Nov. 3: at Ohio State, 6 percent: Yes, you read that number correctly — Nebraska has a 6 percent chance to beat the Buckeyes. Six. Maybe just don’t watch that game, Husker fans?

Lots of change from last season and a lack of veteran impact are partially to blame for the Bruins’ slow start under Kelly, so it’s not time to hit the panic button in LA just yet. S&P+ predicts the Bruins to finish 2-10, but it won’t be all that easy to get those two victories.

1. Oct. 20: vs. Arizona, 49 percent: Having your best chance for a win be less than 50 percent seems bleak. Luckily, at least the Wildcats have been up and down this season.

2. Nov. 24: vs. Stanford, 30 percent

T3. Oct. 26: vs. Utah, 29 percent
Nov. 17: vs. USC, 29 percent

4. Oct. 13: at Cal, 28 percent

5. Nov. 10: at Arizona State, 27 percent: Who would’ve thought that Herm Edwards’ squad would be at .500 in October and Kelly’s UCLA team would still be winless? The Sun Devils look to have the upper hand in this one already.

6. Nov. 3: at Oregon, 19 percent

Also in a first year, with former Kansas State assistant Dana Dimel hoping to find the Miners’ first win since 2016.

1. Nov. 3: at Rice, 55 percent: The rest of UTEP’s games look really challenging outside of this matchup, so if the win doesn’t come against Rice, it might not come at all.

2. Nov. 10: vs. Middle Tennessee, 26 percent

3. Nov. 17: at Western Kentucky, 23 percent

4. Nov. 24: vs. Southern Miss, 17 percent

5. Oct. 20: at La Tech: 16 percent

6. Oct. 27: vs. UAB, 12 percent

The Spartans were oh so close to getting a win against Hawaii last month, but ended up falling in overtime, and they now have to go into the heart of their Mountain West schedule without a victory. The numbers aren’t too favorable, to say the least.

1. Oct. 27: vs. UNLV, 38 percent

2. Nov. 17: vs. Nevada, 28 percent

3. Oct. 13: Army 20, percent

4. Nov. 3: at Wyoming, 18 percent

5. Oct. 20: at SDSU, 8 percent: If you think that’s bad, just wait till you see the next two numbers.

T6. Nov. 10: at Utah State, 3 percent
Nov. 24 at Fresno State, 3 percent: I’m not even mad, this is impressive.

Whenever Kelly and Frost get their first wins, they will outweigh UTEP and San Jose State, but it’ll be interesting to see which team gets their first!