Teams with 1st Loss Week 5:
Duke
Southern California
Memphis
Wake Forest
Virginia Tech
Texas Tech
Minnesota
Teams with 2nd Loss Week 5:
Iowa State
Illinois
Northwestern
Indiana
Iowa
Southern Mississippi
Eastern Michigan
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Louisiana State
Mississippi State
South Carolina
Mississippi
Northern Illinois
California
Colorado
Teams with 1st Win week 5:
Florida State
Percent of Undefeated Teams with 1st Loss
Week 0/1: 36.15% (47/130)
Week 2: 37.35% (31/83)
Week 3: 28.85% (15/52)
Week 4: 35.13% (13/37)
Week 5: 29.17% (7 of 24)
Maximum possible Undefeated Teams at End of the Regular Season:
8: No change from last week.
Week 5 Thoughts:
-Once again, the PAC-12 North is left looking like the stronger division despite more initial attention in the south. That seems to have happened a lot last few years with UCLA never living up to potential and USC not quite able to regain its dominance. For the moment, 2 of the 3 PAC’s undefeated teams are in the north with Washington and Washington State (Utah is in the south).
-Florida State started the season as the clear leader in the ACC, but that role is completely Clemson’s now. The Seminoles are struggling and will be a long shot vs. the Tigers if things continue this way while Clemson now has a lot of its tougher games already played (that said, they have talent to turn this around).
-San Diego State vs. Northern Illinois was a game that had potential importance for the Group of 5 NY6 bowl. Northern Illinois already had a loss, but also had a win vs. Nebraska (which might or might not be good). San Diego State was the last undefeated team from the Mountain West and there weren’t even any 1-loss teams left. San Diego State won.
-Speaking of the G5 bid to a NY6 bowl, the American has the most teams in the running and is looking more and more to me like the race will be between Central and South Florida as being best in the conference.
Week 6 Thoughts:
-We have no games between undefeated teams this week. We have some games between undefeated and 1-loss teams or between 1-loss teams. Louisville plays North Carolina State Thursday. Wake Forest plays at undefeated Clemson, Duke plays at Virginia, West Virginia plays undefeated TCU, Maryland plays at Ohio State, SMU plays at Houston, undefeated Alabama plays at Texas A&M, Michigan State plays at undefeated Michigan, undefeated Washington State plays at Oregon.
-The game that stands out most to me there from a wider perspective is actually Washington State vs. Oregon. Washington State is only a slight favorite here, but win this and they really do look like Washington’s biggest challenger in the north.
-Other game to watch: Miami vs. Florida State got moved to this weekend because of Hurricane Irma. It wasn’t listed above as Florida State has 2 losses, but while undefeated Miami is only about a 3 point favorite. Will be a very good test to see how much a factor Miami might be for the ACC Championship race this year.
Remaining Undefeated Teams: ACC: 2, American: 3, Big 12: 2, Big Ten: 3, Conference USA: 1, Mountain West: 1, PAC-12: 3, SEC: 2, total: 17
Clemson
Miami (FL)
Oklahoma
South Florida
Michigan
Penn State
Wisconsin
Central Florida
San Diego State
Texas Christian
Utah
Washington
Washington State
Georgia
Alabama
Navy
UTSA
One-Loss Teams: ACC: 7, American: 3, Big 12: 4, Big Ten: 4, Conference USA: 2, MAC: 2, Mountain West: 0, PAC-12: 2, SEC: 4, Sun Belt: 1, independents: 1, total: 30
Southern Methodist
Virginia
Georgia Tech
Louisville
North Carolina State
Kansas State
West Virginia
Ohio State
Marshall
Florida International
Notre Dame
Ohio U.
Toledo
Texas A&M
Auburn
Florida
Troy
Oklahoma State
Kentucky
Oregon
Houston
Maryland
Michigan State
Duke
Southern California
Memphis
Wake Forest
Virginia Tech
Texas Tech
Minnesota
Remaining Winless Teams: ACC: 0, Big 12: 1, Conference USA: 2, MAC: 1, Mountain West: 1, Sun Belt: 1, independents: 1, total: 7
Baylor
Charlotte
UTEP
Massachusetts
Bowling Green
Nevada
Georgia Southern
