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Welcome to October! Temperatures (for many) will soon be falling into a more comfortable range very soon.
Sadly, it will remain well over 90 degrees in my area for at least another week. Drat.
Most college football teams have played at least four games thus far. The college season has been stretched to 12 games, so that means we’re only 1/3 of the way home. A conference championship game and the 12-team playoff will await the “lucky” survivors.
The Associated Press boldly provided a preseason Top 25 ranking nearly two months ago and now shuffles the deck every week.
You might remember that preseason poll featured Clemson (now 1-3) as the #4 team. Ouch!
Here are the AP’s top 5 teams for this week:
- Ohio State 4-0
- Oregon 5-0
- Miami (FL) 4-0
- Ole Miss 5-0
- Oklahoma 4-0
The American Football Coaches Association had the same #1-4 teams but elevated 4-0 Texas A&M into their #5 position. The AP had the Aggies at #6.
Sorry, A&M fans. It isn’t a big “whoop!” to be #6 right now.
That’s because there are still twenty unbeaten FBS teams out of the total of the 136 college football teams playing in the NCAA’s upper division!
Any one of these unbeaten teams that could finish at 12-0 would be a virtual lock to participate in the 12-team College Football Playoffs in December.
Let’s meet those 20 unbeatens! First, the 5-0 teams (alphabetically)
Georgia Tech (5-0) – The AP’s #17 team has been one of the biggest surprises of the college football season.
The Ramblin’ Wreck had to rally in the final two minutes last week, avoid its first accident (loss), and eventually defeated a tough 2-2 Wake Forest team. G-Tech’s remaining ACC schedule does not include Miami or Florida State, but the Yellow Jackets must face rival Georgia in the final regular season game of the season.
Indiana (5-0) – These Hoosiers appear to be for real. The AP’s #8 team clobbered formerly unbeaten Illinois 63-10 and will next play at unbeaten Oregon in two weeks. IU must also travel to AP #7 Penn State in November. The Hoosiers do not have #1 Ohio State on this year’s regular season schedule.
Iowa State (5-0) – The Big 12 Cyclones are the AP’s #14 team this week.
A favorable schedule shows BYU (currently at #23) and Arizona State (#25) as the only ranked teams blocking Iowa State’s path to an unbeaten season. The Cyclones’ defense has played exceptionally well in each of the first five games.
Memphis (5-0) – American Conference leader Memphis took down Arkansas (now 2-3) a few weeks ago but has yet to crack the AP Top 25. These blue-clad Tigers have a very favorable schedule and could run the table.
Missouri (5-0) – Would you believe that Missouri Tigers (the AP’s #17 team) have played their first five games at home?
Mizzou’s sixth game of the season will also be at home on October 11 against 4-1 Alabama. Missouri’s next six SEC games will find the Tigers traveling to play four of them. Oof!
North Texas (5-0) – The Mean Green are 5-0? Indeed, they are! The American Conference’ second 5-0 team has scored 33 or more points in each game this season (did you catch that, LSU?). Unranked North Texas does not have a Top-25 team on its remaining schedule.
Ole Miss (5-0) – Coach Lane Kiffin’s team has zoomed out the gate to another impressive start in 2025.
The Rebels took down formerly unbeaten LSU last week to move into the AP’s #4 spot. Back-to-back road games at Georgia and Oklahoma in mid-October will be crucial for Ole Miss to position itself for a playoff spot.
Oregon (5-0) – This year’s NIL champion ($40 million paid to its players) finds #2-ranked Oregon in an excellent position after five games.
An October 11 meeting with unbeaten Indiana is the only remaining Top 25 game on the Ducks’ schedule.
Vanderbilt (5-0) – The good news? Vandy is 5-0 for the first time since 2008!
The bad news? The #16-ranked Commodores must face four Top 25 opponents in its remaining seven games.
There are 11 additional teams which are 4-0 as of October 1
BYU (4-0) – The Cupcake Cougars of the Big 12 have enjoyed several games against lesser competition. A trio of Big 12 games against rival Utah, at Iowa State, and at Texas Tech will test #23 BYU.
Houston (4-0) – This other Big 12 team of Cougars narrowly avoided cat-astrophe last Friday night.
U of H rallied from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat winless Oregon State. A nationally televised game this Saturday night (6PM CDT on ESPN) has unranked Houston playing host to #11 Texas Tech.
Louisville (4-0) – The preseason pastries have now vanished from Louisville’s remaining schedule. The unranked Cards will host AP #24 Virginia this Saturday (2:30PM on ESPN2) and then travel to play the #3-ranked Miami Hurricanes on Friday, October 17.
Maryland (4-0) – Terrapins aren’t known for being very quick creatures. Maryland’s first month schedule was incredibly easy, so the AP does not have them ranked yet.
The Terps should move (slowly, of course) up the national rankings should they defeat three Top 25 teams over their next six games.
Miami (FL) (4-0) – It just feels like #3-ranked Miami is ready to hoist a national championship banner in South Florida. They bought (with the help of pirate-sized NIL loot) top-tier quarterback Carson Beck away from Georgia. The Canes play exceptional defense and allow less than 12 points per game. Saturday night’s clash with #18 Florida State (6:30PM CDT on ABC) will be the final game on Miami’s schedule against a Top 25 opponent.
Navy (4-0) – The third team from the American Conference with an unblemished record this week is the Naval Academy. The unranked Midshipmen could sail through October. Navy must will face a trio of tough road games in November by traveling to North Texas, Notre Dame, and Memphis.
Ohio State (4-0) – Last year’s national champion sits atop the polls much like King Kong on the Empire State Building.
The #1 Buckeyes vanquished Texas 14-7 in the opening week. The Big Ten schedule for Ohio State is always filled with cream puffs. A month from now will find the Buckeyes playing Penn State and then traveling to rival Michigan.
Oklahoma (4-0) – Boomer Schooner is sailing along this week with a lofty #5 AP ranking after a fairly easy first month.
Don’t look now, but OU’s final seven games will feature six teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25. We might consider handing the national championship trophy to Oklahoma if they (somehow) emerge at 12-0 at the end of November!
Texas A&M (4-0) – Former Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher is playing golf somewhere right now and enjoying his $70 million contract buyout. Second year skipper Mike Elko must navigate his surprising #6-ranked Aggies through four very tough road games (at Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, and arch-rival Texas) during the final six weeks of the season.
Texas Tech (4-0) – The fourth unbeaten team from the Big 12 Conference might have the easiest path to a perfect regular season.
Road games at Houston (this Saturday) and at Arizona State along with a home game against BYU appear to be the biggest remaining hurdles. The #11-ranked Red Raiders are seeking to ride into the College Football Playoff corral for the first time in school history this season.
UNLV (4-0) – The Rebels are the lone Mountain West team with an unbeaten record. UNLV has scored 30 or more points in each of its first four games. A Saturday, October 18 road game at 3-1 Boise State appears to be the biggest hurdle remaining for the unranked Rebels to clear.
Don’t forget about the 11 unbeaten FCS teams!
This year, SwampSwamiSports will provide a weekly Top 25 ranking for both the FBS (large school division) and (new for this year) the smaller FCS grouping of teams.
October 1 finds just 11 of the 129 FCS college football teams without a loss.
There are only four FCS teams with a 5-0 record starting October:
Lehigh Mountain Hawks (Patriot Conference)
Presbyterian Blue Hose (Pioneer Football League)
Tarleton State Texans (United Football Conference)
West Georgia Wolves (United Football Conference)
Four additional teams have a 4-0 mark through last weekend’s games:
Montana Grizzlies (Big Sky Conference)
North Dakota State Bison (Missouri Valley)
South Dakota State Jackrabbits (Missouri Valley)
Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (Ohio Valley/Big South)
Three Ivy League teams are now 2-0 as those schools didn’t play a game until September 20:
Dartmouth Big Green
Harvard Crimson
Yale Bulldogs
Will any FBS or FCS team emerge with a perfect record at the end the season?
The 2024 FBS champion Ohio State finished with 14-2 record in January as the winner of the first 12-team College Football Playoffs.
Last year’s FCS winner was North Dakota State – which also finished with a 14-2 season mark.
It is incredibly difficult to navigate 16 (or, possibly, 17) games to a perfect season.
The number of unbeaten teams will start to dissipate as the college football season continues.
Come back on Monday (October 6) to check out this season’s initial SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 rankings for EVERY FBS and FCS team for games played through Saturday, October 4.