One hundred and thirty-eight FBS teams began the season undefeated.
We crossed the midway point of the 2026 regular season on Saturday afternoon, and by nightfall only nine of those 138 survived the first half unbeaten. A maximum of seven will survive all the way to 12-0, but history and logic tell us the number will be closer to zero than seven. Two teams went 12-0 in 2025, after only one did in 2024 (ironically enough, all three played in the Big Ten.) The 2023 season gave us five.
How many will survive that long in 2026? I've ranked the nine remaining candidates in order of most to least likely to remain unbeaten.
1. James Madison (6-0, 3-0 Sun Belt): The Dukes may well have survived their toughest scare this past weekend, rallying from a halftime deficit to beat Georgia Southern in Statesboro. James Madison ranks 40th in Bill Connelly's SP+; none of their remaining opponents are higher than 78th. The program as a whole has won 19 straight games against non-Power 4 opponents.
2. Miami (5-0, 3-0 ACC): The Nov. 7 trip to No. 2 Notre Dame will not be easy (duh), but the Hurricanes will are no less than 80 percent likely to win each of their remaining games. Florida State comes to town Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), and then a Pitt team that was dangerous until Mason Heintschel went down. Outside of the visit to South Bend, Miami's most difficult game is their Nov. 14 home date against defending ACC champion Duke. Think Manny Diaz's crew might be out for some revenge in that one.
3. Notre Dame (6-0): The LJ Martin injury significantly swings Saturday night's showdown in Provo in Notre Dame's favor; the Irish are 10-point road favorites over No. 8 BYU (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC). Still, the Irish have to go to the mountains, and then welcome No. 2 Miami and No. 24 SMU to town in November. Notre Dame has won 16 straight games overall, a program-record 16 straight games by double digits, and hasn't lost to an unranked opponent since the Northern Illinois stunner back in Week 2 of 2024.
4. Georgia (6-0, 4-0 SEC): No one has gone undefeated in the ESS EEE CEE since Georgia did it back-to-back in 2022-23 and, obviously, those were done against 8-game schedules. But, um, Georgia is already 4-0, two of their remaining five are against bottom-third teams Auburn and South Carolina, and who knows when or where reeling Florida is going to find its equilibrium. (The Dawgs have won the last five in Jacksonville, anyway). That leaves the Nov. 7 visit to Oxford and home against No. 13 Missouri the following week, plus the finale against Georgia Tech. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but Georgia will be a touchdown-plus favorite in every remaining game except Ole Miss.
5. Utah (5-0, 2-0 Big 12): Five Big 12 teams are ranked at midseason. Two are on Utah's schedule, both have to come to Salt Lake City and -- here's the best part -- neither of them are the league's most terrifying team, Oklahoma State. Miami, Notre Dame and Utah are the only teams to win every game thus far by double digits, and the Utes are the only team in FBS to rank among the national top 10 in rushing offense and rushing defense.
6. Indiana (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten): IU's only ranked opponents left both come to Bloomington. If this was a ranking of teams most likely in my opinion to remain undefeated through Oct. 17, the Hoosiers would be seventh or eighth. However, if Indiana is undefeated at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, they would immediately rocket to first in these same rankings. So, sixth seems fair for now.
7. Texas Tech (5-0, 2-0 Big 12): This team isn't the dominant force it was defensively last season, as to be expected when losing the No. 2 pick in the draft and the likely Rookie of the Year on the same side of the ball. That would be fine if the offense could pick up the slack, which was the plan until, ahem, events intervened. As it stands today, Tech's yards per play, passing efficiency, and rushing numbers are down across the board on both sides of the ball.
8. UCLA (5-0, 3-0 Big Ten): A path exists for Bob Chesney to pull a 2024 Curt Cignetti on all of us, aided by the fact that UCLA doesn't have to play Ohio State. However, news breaking Monday afternoon of Nico Iamaleava's season-ending injury makes the path that much more treacherous. The Bruins have only one ranked opponent on the schedule, the finale against No. 19 USC, but Saturday's game against Wisconsin (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC) might be the most difficult on the schedule.
9. BYU (5-0, 3-0 Big 12): If the Cougars upend Notre Dame on Saturday night, they still have to go to Salt Lake City on Nov. 7, although Martin could be back in time for that game. (BYU has taken three straight from the Utes, for what it's worth.) Still, since the Big 12 went to a 9-game schedule in 2011, only two teams in league history have gone 9-0 in conference play.