Teams with 1st Loss Week 3:
Louisville
South Florida
Tulsa
Georgia Tech
Georgia State
Appalachian State
Tulane
North Texas
Maximum number of Undefeated Teams at the End of the Regular Season:
10: The 7 conference champs (including Big Ten champ whom I'm not listing in undefeated teams till closer till they play), plus Liberty and maximum of 2 between Army/BYU/Air Force
Percent of Undefeateds with 1st Loss:
Week 1: 6.5% (5 of 77)
Week 2: 18.1% (13 of 72)
Week 3: 13.6% (8 of 59)
Week 3 Thoughts:
-Limited amount of action this week. I think most interesting things going on are on the Group of 5 conferences NY6 bowl spot. UCF beat a Georgia Tech team that beat Florida State last week. That's helps strengthen the American's position, which was always going to be the highest of the three conferences currently competing for the spot. An undefeated Sun Belt or Conference USA team will have an argument though and might even have one for a 2nd spot this year. With the Big Ten having a shorter season (which will hurt a bit in the rating by the committee) and the PAC-12 possibly still not playing at all, the idea of two Group of 5 conference teams in is much higher even with the Mountain West and MAC out of play. It's still unlikely, but worth following these results for still.
-Thinking of those other results, Conference USA got a good win with Marshall beating Appalachian State. The Ragin Cajuns did come back and win vs. Georgia State which is good as they are probably the Sun Belt's current best bet.
-On the mention of the Big Ten's vote to come back and schedule this week, I'll say that I think they are very much alive for a CFP playoff spot and bowls, but do think a smaller resume will hurt a tad. I think it's being somewhat overstated as most schools are not playing a full schedule, but the committee does have to use the resumes in front of them, and there is a bit less room for error in the Big Ten. Weirdest thing of all will be the committee having to judge teams with so few games between teams of different conferences.
Week 4 Thoughts:
-The SEC starts up this week which jump up our action some more.
-There are three games between currently ranked teams this week (although rankings will change tomorrow). We have:
#22 Army @ #13 Cincinnati: The Bearcats won big vs. a I-AA squad this week and are coming off two good seasons. Army is 2-0 with 2 easy wins over Sun Belt teams.
#23 Kentucky @ #8 Auburn: I will assume Auburn will be a heavy favorite here, but Kentucky has been better last couple of years (relatively speaking).
#18 Louiville @ #25 Pitt: Classic Big East match-up in the ACC. That said, Louisville might drop this week with their loss to Miami (FL).
Remaining Undefeated Teams: ACC: 9, American: 7, Big 12: 7, Conference USA: 6, SEC: 14, Sun Belt: 4, independents: 4, total: 51
Boston College
Clemson
North Carolina State
Miami (FL)
North Carolina
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Missouri
Baylor
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
West Virginia
East Carolina
Marshall
Memphis
Central Florida
Houston
Rice
Southern Methodist
Air Force
Brigham Young
Texas Christian
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Louisiana State
Mississippi State
Mississippi
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Louisiana-Lafayette
Troy
Louisiana Tech
Army
Notre Dame
Temple
UTSA
Georgia Southern
Coastal Carolina
Liberty
