11.01.06 2:23 PM CST
• Sports
• Gary Cole
I can’t remember a college football season in which there were so many undefeated and one-loss teams this late in the season. Of course, some of this will have to change when teams such as Louisville (7-0) faces off against West Virginia (7-0) this Thursday or the big one, Michigan (9-0) against Ohio State (9-0) on November 18. Two teams out of those matchups will have at least one loss at the end of the regular season. But what about Florida at 7-1? All the Gators remaining opponents appear imminently beatable. If Tennessee beats LSU on Saturday, the Vols could be a one-loss team at the end of the season. No one is likely to whip Wisconsin (8-1) between now and the end of the year. Texas is working on a one-loss season going and so is California, Boston College, Arkansas, Auburn, Tulsa, Texas A&M and Wake Forest. This is not to mention unbeatens Rutgers (8-0) and Boise State (8-0).
If the Buckeyes and West Virginia win out, the BCS will have an easy time matching them in the national title game (just as we predicted before the season began in the Playboy Pigskin Preview. If either or both falter, the BCS will once again have the unsatisfying job of trying to justify which of the one-loss teams deserves to play for the championship.
And how about all those two-loss teams who can’t even dream about a BCS bowl? LSU could knock off Tennessee and not qualify. Oklahoma and Virginia Tech could run the table and still not wind up in the top 10.
How much fun would it be to take the best (or at least arguably best) teams in the nation and play off to determine a national champion? We can only dream.
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