College pigskin round-up, week 9

Top teams:

There were no real upsets among the top powers this week, although #4 Ohio State and #5 Texas went down to the wire. Undefeated powerhouse #1 Oregon breezed to victory and unbeaten #3 Penn State recovered from a shaky first half to post a two-touchdown win.

#6 Miami also maintained an unblemished record with a win over this year’s disappointing FSU squad (now 1-7 after a 13-0 regular season last year). FSU was technically not undefeated last year since they lost their bowl game, but that got me wondering whether any team has ever followed up a lossless season with a winless. I don’t think so.

• Southern Mississippi went from a 12-win season (12-2) to an 0-12 record not too long ago, a drop of 12 wins.
• In the other direction, Tulane went from 2-10 to 12-2 in one season, and I found that there were a couple of teams in the 1940s that went from a one-win season to an undefeated record in the following season (Purdue 1942-43 and Stanford 1940-41).
• In recent years, as far as I could find, no modern team has ever gone from no wins to no losses or vice-versa. This did happen occasionally back in the days when they would play very few games.  For example, Michigan was 1-0 in 1880, then 0-3 in 1881. Those don’t really count, not just because of the short schedules, but also because the sport they played was more comparable to rugby. The modern rules weren’t established until the early 20th century.

#2 Georgia and #7 Tennessee had the week off.

The #8 team (LSU) did lose, but that was no upset. They were conquered by a strong team, #14 Texas A&M. The Aggies, playing at home in College Station, roared back from a ten-point halftime deficit with a monster second half.

#15 Alabama is still hoping to make the playoff despite two earlier losses. They completely crushed #21 Missouri, 34-0.

The other undefeated teams:

#30 Liberty was revealed to have feet of clay. The Flames lost to 0-6 Kennesaw State, which came into the week as the second-worst FBS team in the nation, according to the computer rankings – barely ahead of Kent State. Liberty was a 26-point favorite in that game. That is truly an embarrassing loss for a Liberty team that made it into the Fiesta Bowl against Oregon last year. (OK, they lost to Oregon by about a thousand, but still …)

#24 Navy experienced a dramatic reality check when they finally stopped playing the toothpaste colleges and took on a real team. #12 Notre Dame crushed them 51-14.

#23 Army is expected to have the same experience next month when they have their own game against the Fightin’ Irish. For now, the Cadets were off this week and thus remained undefeated.

#10 Iowa State also had the week off.

#13 Indiana continued to show surprising strength with a 31-13 victory over Washington.

#11 BYU was actually a betting underdog against UCF, but led all the way in a 37-24 victory.

#19 Pitt had no trouble with Syracuse (41-13).

Kent State watch:

The Golden Flashes dropped to 0-8 with a 52-21 loss to Western Michigan. That was the fifth time this year that they have allowed more than 50 points. They are trying for their fifth winless season, which would not be the all-time record among the teams now in the FBS. Northwestern has done it six times, while Kansas State and Colorado State have each done it seven times. (Kansas State, once the weakest major program, is currently in the top 25!)

Kent State history

1982 0-11
1989 0-11
1993 0-11
1998 0-11

———

• Scoreboard.
• Computer rankings
• Poll rankings