Teams with 1st loss Week 14:
None
Teams with 2nd Loss Week 14:
Georgia
Percent of Undefeated Teams with 1st Loss
Week 0/1: 36.92% (48/130)
Week 2: 34.15% (28/82)
Week 3: 37.04% (20/54)
Week 4: 38.34% (13/34)
Week 5: 33.33% (7 of 21)
Week 6: 21.43% (3 of 14)
Week 7: 27.27% (3 of 11)
Week 8: 37.50% (3 of 8)
Week 9: 20% (1 of 5)
Week 10: 0% (0 of 4)
Week 11: 0% (0 of 4)
Week 12: 0% (0 of 4)
Week 13: 0% (0 of 4)
Week 14: 0% (0 of 4)
Undefeated Teams at End of the Regular Season:
4: Notre Dame, UCF, Clemson, Alabama
Maximum Number of Undefeated Teams at the end of bowl season:
2: UCF and Alabama/Notre Dame/Clemson
Week 14 Thoughts:
-We end the season with 4 undefeated teams and two 1-loss teams. Despite being favorites throughout, I am fairly amazed we did not lose a single undefeated the last 5 weeks. The last we lost was week 9 with South Florida losing to Houston.
-We held to form again this year and all teams entering bowl season with a chance at winning the national title have 0 or 1 loss and are from a major conference (or are Notre Dame). That’s been true every year for both the BCS and CFP except for in crazy 2007 when 2-loss LSU made it. From a list perspective, 2-loss Georgia being ranked over 1-loss Ohio State was interesting, although not necessarily telling. If Oklahoma had lost would they have put 2-loss Georgia in ahead of 1-loss Ohio State? I’m not sure the answer to that (Georgia has looked more impressive I’ll certainly grant), but it’s far easier to put Georgia ahead of Ohio State at 5 vs. 6 than I think it would have been at 4 vs. 5 (just as they had no problem lowering an undefeated Florida State several years ago, but never to the extent they would be out).
-Four of the six remaining teams on our list will be in the playoff bowls. Ohio State will be in the Rose Bowl and UCF in the Fiesta Bowl. Taken together this means after the bowl season our list will look like this:
Undefeated teams: 0-2. If any team except Oklahoma wins the national championship that’s 1 team and UCF will finish undefeated if they beat LSU in the Fiesta Bowl.
Whole list (Undefeated and 1-loss teams): 4-6: Our 4 undefeated teams will obviously finish at least on the 1-loss list. Ohio State will stay on it if they win the Rose Bowl and Oklahoma will stay on it if they win the national title.
Bowl Thoughts:
Cotton Bowl: Undefeated Clemson vs. Undefeated Notre Dame: Clemson is a big favorite here and I think they’ll win, but this will be a very motivated Irish team. They have heard all year they aren’t as good, and a win will prove a lot even if they don’t do well in the national championship. I think a win also goes beyond this year for them and helps people to more seriously consider the Irish other years as well (to an extent it won’t Clemson).
Orange Bowl: Undefeated Alabama vs. 1-loss Oklahoma: Likely the 2 Heisman top vote getters vs. each other. Alabama is a very big favorite in this game, but Oklahoma’s offense been truly impressive this year. If they are going to win this game, it will likely have to be a shootout.
Fiesta Bowl: Undefeated UCF vs. 2-loss LSU: Both teams highly motivated for this one. UCF does feel slighted for not being higher and more in the national championship conversation. They are going to want to prove that was wrong and feel like they are blowing up the system. LSU meanwhile had an unexpected good season and is going to want to prove that they are back. Being in this game a big deal for them. Winning it will push the narrative this was not just some fluke and they’ll continue to strengthen back into their old SEC west power status. Losing it will challenge that.
Rose Bowl: 1-loss Ohio State vs. 3-loss Washington: Big Ten champ vs. PAC-12 champ. As an old school fan (even though I started seriously following in the BCS era), I love it and am one of the few who was rooting for this over going to the CFP. The team won’t feel the same way and if they are not highly motivated here this will likely be a loss. Washington lost 3 but finished strong and is only a sight underdog here. This is Urban Meyer’s 1st Rose Bowl though and think the team will want to end strong.
Remaining Undefeated Teams: ACC: 1, American: 1, SEC: 1, independents: 1, total: 4
Clemson
Central Florida
Alabama
Notre Dame
1-Loss Teams: ACC: 0, American: 0, Big 12: 1, Big Ten: 1, SEC: 0, independents: 0, total: 2
Oklahoma
Ohio State
