College football’s Super 11? Perhaps.
One team this week already has ensured its unblemished mark will stretch to the final days of October, while another gets its crack tonight at extending its perfection.
The landscape: 11 current Football Bowls Subdivision teams remain undefeated at or beyond the midpoint of the 2023 season. Three teams – Louisville, Oregon and USC – were exorcised from the list last weekend; the Cardinals were upset at Pittsburgh while the Trojans were bludgeoned on the road at Notre Dame. Oregon nearly upset host Washington before it succumbed, 36-33.
James Madison, which continues to absurdly be excluded from postseason contention or conference championship eligibility due to its transitional status, is at Marshall tonight in a contest that sees JMU favored by less than a touchdown per Las Vegas oddsmakers in a game that arguably stands as the Dukes’s toughest remaining test.
Alas, only Nevada – still winless at 0-6 – is yet to snag that ever-elusive win in this campaign. The Wolf Pack, two-touchdown underdogs Saturday at San Diego State, unfortunately are mired in an nation’s-worst 16-game losing skid.
As for those unbeatens? Well, Liberty also pushed its mark to 7-0 on the year when it outlasted MTSU earlier this week. The Flames conceivably face the most daunting test to their hopes of an unbeaten year on Tuesday when they travel to face Tyson Helton’s Western Kentucky squad.
The season finds itself with yet another weekend guaranteed to further whittle the number of unbeaten teams. Saturday’s top contest features undefeated Penn State at similarly undefeated Ohio State.
The winner owns control for its Big Ten and College Football Playoff dreams; all is not lost for the loser, but the margin for error instantly becomes nonexistent.
Top-ranked Georgia, the lone SEC team still standing with unbeaten status, is open this weekend before its annual rivalry clash Oct. 28 against Florida in the contest formerly known as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” The Bulldogs have owned the Gators since Kirby Smart arrived, but Florida is coming off an impressive come-from-behind win at South Carolina.
Additionally, Georgia still has notable contests at home against Missouri and Ole Miss as well as on the road at Tennessee. All three foes are ranked. The one-loss Vols are at one-loss Alabama Saturday.
Michigan, suddenly under NCAA investigation yet again for the alleged transgressions of coach Jim Harbaugh – who already sat the first three games of this season as part of his ongoing rules ruckus with college athletics’ governing body, faces in-state rival Michigan State in a contest that, despite Harbaugh’s apparent flaunting of the rules, could not feature two teams in more opposite directions.
The Wolverines have never been better under Harbaugh and are on track for a third-straight CFP appearance; the Spartans are in shambles after they were forced to fire coach Mel Tucker amidst a salacious scandal earlier this season. And even before that, Michigan State had stumbled and bumbled the last year-plus under Tucker.
Florida State hosts 16th-ranked Duke and still has potential landmines awaiting against in-state rivals Miami and Florida, contests that are at home and away, respectively, for the No. 4 Seminoles.
After dispatching Miami last week by 10 points, North Carolina is projected for three likely victories in its next three games – Virginia, FCS program Campbell and Georgia Tech – before a fairly strenuous closing trio of Duke at home and then road clashes at Clemson and heated rival North Carolina State.
Washington gets Arizona State this weekend but still has daunting contests left against ranked foes USC, Utah and Oregon State, as well as the specter of a PAC-12 Conference Championship game appearance.
Oklahoma has UCF at home in a one-year Big 12 meeting; the Sooners, of course, transition to SEC residency in 2024. Road tests at Kansas and in the ever-intense “Bedlam Rivalry” at Oklahoma State also await.
After it struck late to stay unblemished a week ago against Wyoming, Air Force remained perfect heading into this weekend’s leg of the “Commander in Chief” trophy series at rival Navy; the Falcons also have a road game at Colorado State and host Army.
Finally, Sam Houston State -- like James Madison, in its transitional phase of going from FCS power to FBS resident -- remains winless. The Bearkats have had two extremely close calls, including just Wednesday night in an overtime-loss to visiting FIU; they also lost in overtime to Jacksonville State.
They host UTEP next week and then face Kennesaw State Nov. 4 -- a game that just might be the Bearkats' top opportunity for their first FBS win.