In one week, we lost nearly half of our unbeaten teams. Week 4 of the college football season was a chaotic mess of the best kind, and it took us from 43 blemish-free programs to a mere 26.
Some of this was expected. For starters, a lot of the unbeatens played against each other. Others, such as California (at Florida State) and Louisiana (vs. Tulane), were at least slight underdogs.
As it turned out, though, some simply weren’t meant for this unbeaten life and fell as favorites. Kansas State imploded in a late Saturday loss at fellow unbeaten BYU. Memphis, caught dreaming playoff dreams, got sliced up for 379 rushing yards by a Navy team not ready to leave this list. Toledo threw two interceptions in the final minute and fell to Western Kentucky. Northern Illinois fell asleep at the switch and lost to Buffalo. North Carolina gave up 70 — 70! — to unbeaten James Madison.
So here we are. Among them, the Terrible 26 don’t face too many massive Week 5 tests, so maybe the band can mostly stick together this time. Regardless, it’s time to rank college football’s remaining unbeatens!
SP+ and FPI rankings: first and first
SP+ strength of schedule to date: 77th
What the Longhorns did in Week 4: def. Louisiana-Monroe 51-3
Last week’s ranking: first
Why they’re ranked here: First in the computers, first in the polls. Sounds like a pretty good No. 1 team, no? With Quinn Ewers out, backup QB Arch Manning did just fine against ULM, and now Texas heads into SEC play — well, sort of: The Longhorns play Mississippi State — ranking ninth in points per drive and second in points allowed per drive. They’re dominating from an efficiency standpoint, they’re making more big plays, they’re nearly perfect in the red zone … this has been a mostly flawless team in the run-up to the October combo of Oklahoma in Week 7 and Georgia in Week 8.
Next test (next game with SP+ win probability at 75% or lower): Week 8 vs. Georgia
SP+ and FPI rankings: sixth and fifth
SP+ strength of schedule to date: 67th
What the Volunteers did in Week 4: def. Oklahoma 25-15
Last week’s ranking: second
Why they’re ranked here: In its first test against an SP+ top 50 team (Oklahoma), Tennessee survived a loud Norman crowd and a strong OU defense and won comfortably. The Vols were content with taking few offensive risks because they knew the Sooners were never going to score enough on a defense that now…
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