Week 16 (Army-Navy):
No Changes to lists
Teams with 1st Loss Week in the Bowls:
None
Teams with 2nd Loss Week in the Bowls:
James Madison
Texas A&M
Ohio State
Georgia
Texas Tech
Mississippi
Oregon
Teams with 3rd Loss in the Bowls:
Oklahoma
Tulane
Vanderbilt
Miami (FL)
Percent of Teams with 1st loss of the Season:
Week 0/1: 36.0% (49 of 136)
Week 2: 36.8% (32 of 87)
Week 3: 29.1% (16 of 55)
Week 4: 23.1% (9 of 39)
Week 5: 33.3% (10 of 30)
Week 6: 25% (5 of 20)
Week 7: 26.7% (4 of 15)
Week 8: 45.5% (5 of 11)
Week 9: 0% (0 of 6)
Week 10: 33.3% (2 of 6)
Week 11: 25.0% (1 of 4)
Week 12: 0% (0 of 3)
Week 13: 0% (0 of 3)
Week 14: 33.3% (1 of 3)
Week 15: 50% (1 of 2)
Bowls: 0% (0 of 1)
Number of Undefeated Teams at the End of the Bowl Season:
1: Indiana
Number of Undefeated or 1-loss Teams at end of Bowl Season:
1: No one else has even just one loss.
Bowl Season Thoughts:
-It was a fun season that I will miss. Congratulations first for Indiana.
-Thinking of Indiana, they are in some ways a bit of a souped up version of when Clemson emerged a decade or so ago. Clemson had been higher in the ACC for sure than Indiana in the Big Ten, but Clemsoning it was an expression for messing up right before the big moments before that. Them breaking out of that might not have been a surprise, but them going onto multiple national titles was. To me, they were the same level of a Michigan State, Wisconsin, or Ole Miss where a jump up sure wasn't impossible, but you never expected it to that level. Indiana's rise is even more shocking, but the common theme seemed to be the right coach at the right time. Will be interesting to see if Indiana can maintain a high level for multiple years.
-Thinking of the various conferences, they all have something to take home for the year. The Big Ten is riding high with 3 different national champions in three years. Ohio State has been taken seriously as a national title contender for most years the past couple of decades, but most years it seemed like it was going to take a good amount of overachieving for anyone else to win everything. Times of have changed though and nothing shows that more than the last three champions (none of whom were even new additions).
-The conference that might have had the biggest perception change from beginning to end of the bowls was the ACC. The conference finished with no teams with fewer than 3 losses, had its champion be the first power conference champ left out a major bowl in the new era, and seemed to luck into getting one team in the last spot in. The conference did decent in bowl games though and Miami beat Texas A&M on the road in a game that was huge for the school, beat the overall favorite to win the CFP, won a close one vs Ole Miss, and then was the only one in the CFP to give Indiana a game. Given how much the top effects perceptions of a conference, that was very much needed and did wonders for the ACC.
-The SEC is being kicked around a bit now after a disappointing end to the season and after being left out of the championship for three years. It was unquestionably a bad bowl season for them overall. That said, they had 5 playoff teams (the first to do so) and a bowl schedule that was tough as nails for everyone else (we are now to the point the #6 SEC team was playing in the Citrus Bowl for crying out loud). Talent is dispersing more than it used to, but the SEC is still probably the toughest top to bottom. It's biggest problem right now is maybe a bit too much parity. If they had the Alabama of a few years ago and that led to only 3-4 playoff teams, they would probably have a better bowl record and a much higher chance of a national title even though the conference as a whole might not be much different.
-From the Group of 5 conferences, we saw the American and Sun Belt Champs make the playoff, we saw Ohio beat a decent UNLV team, Hawaii have a few comeback win over Cal in Christmas Eve, North Texas win a game San Diego State tried hard to come back in, and Conference USA finish with a positive bowl record. I would go more, but need to get this done.
Thanks for a great year everyone.
Remaining Undefeated Teams: Big Ten: 1, total: 1
Indiana
1-Loss Teams: Big 12: 0, Big Ten: 0, SEC: 0, Sun Belt: 0, total: 0
none
2-loss Teams: ACC: 0, American: 2, Big 12: 3, Big Ten: 2, SEC: 3, Sun Belt: 1, independents: 1, total: 22
Navy
Utah
Notre Dame
North Texas
Brigham Young
James Madison
Texas A&M
Ohio State
Georgia
Texas Tech
Mississippi
Oregon
Remaining Winless Teams: MAC:1, total: 1
Massachusetts
