What do Army, Navy, Indiana, James Madison, Duke, BYU, UNLV and Rutgers have in common?
All of them, shockingly, are undefeated more than a month into the college football season. Those eight schools are 35-0: two military academies, a private, religiously affiliated university in the mountains of Utah, three basketball schools, a Big Ten basement dweller in New Jersey and a school in Virginia named after the fourth U.S. president.
But after another crazy Saturday in college football, these programs are listed as a total of 18 FBS undefeated.
Army and Navy are 4-0 for the first time since World War II. Indiana is 5-0 for the first time since the Vietnam War. JMU is 4-0 in its second year in FBS. BYU leads the Big 12 with an undefeated record. Rutgers is 4-0 for the first time in more than ten years.
UNLV, without QB Matthew Sluka, cruised to a 59-14 victory over Fresno. Trailing 20-0, Duke stormed back to beat North Carolina and improve to 5-0 in Manny Diaz’s first season.
Who would think so?
Meanwhile, Mark Stoops’ Kentucky Wildcats pulled off the most stunning upset of the day on Saturday, beating Ole Miss in Oxford. Out West, Boise State running back and Heisman hopeful Ashton Jeanty continues his early season tear. His 259 yards against Washington State gave him 845 on the season. He averages a whopping 10.3 yards per carry.
Enough already! It’s about our rankings.
One final reminder: we don’t consider preseason polls or past results. What happened in the past is in the past. It’s about who you beat and how you beat them!
1. Alabama Crimson Tides
This week: Defeated Georgia 41-34
Next week: at Vanderbilt
The Tide now owns perhaps the nation’s best win streak of the season. Kalen DeBoer’s team outscored the Bulldogs for a 28-0 lead, got a record-setting performance from their quarterback, Jalen Milroe, and ultimately survived with some incredible catches from two true freshmen. A win in Wisconsin is already in the offing, Bama has a resume good enough to claim our top spot.
2. Tennessee Volunteers
This week: Goodbye
Next week: in Arkansas
The Vols got their quality wins against NC State and at Oklahoma – two convincing wins in the power conference – but they will be tested even more in Fayetteville, where the Hogs are feeling frisky after winning at Auburn. It’s a big game for Arkansas coach Sam Pittman’s future. Can Tennessee’s pesky defensive front slow down OC Bobby Petrino’s offense with QB Taylen Green?
3. Penn State Nittany Lions
This week: defeated Illinois 21-7
Next week: vs. UCLA
After Illinois scored on the game’s first drive, the Nittany Lions defense forced the Illini into four punts, a fumble, interception and missed field goal. They never posted a drive longer than 50 yards after the opening score. PSU’s win at West Virginia to start the year and smothering of previously ranked and undefeated Illinois put them firmly in our rankings.
4. Texas Longhorns
This week: Defeated Mississippi State 35-13
Next week: See you later
No Quinn Ewers; No problem. Arch Manning started his second straight game and led the Longhorns to victory over a struggling Bulldogs team. Manning failed on just five passes, throwing for 324 yards and throwing two touchdowns. The Longhorns get a bye before their annual game against Oklahoma in Dallas. That’s enough time for Ewers to regain enough strength for a return against the Sooners.
5. Miami Hurricanes
This week: Beat Virginia Tech 38-34
Next week: See you later
Survive and move forward! The Hurricanes stormed back to avoid a devastating home loss to a Tech team that had already lost two games. And they needed a controversial replay of what would have been a game-winning Hail Mary for the Hokies. Miami QB Cam Ward threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.
6. BYU Cougars
This week: Defeated Baylor 34-28
Next week: See you later
Some in the industry thought coach Kalani Sitake — in his ninth season — needed a strong year to cool his chair after going 5-7 in Year 1 of the Big 12 in 2023. Here are the Cougars, four games into the season, and without a loss. They led 21-0 against the Bears before holding on for the win. Combine that with wins at SMU and against Kansas State and the Cougars have a pretty strong resume so far.
7. Cyclones in the state of Iowa
This week: defeated Houston 20-0
Next week: vs. Baylor
The Cyclones are not spectacular. They don’t have an all-world quarterback or truly incredible skill players. But boy, do they have a defense? In four games, Matt Campbell’s team has conceded a total of 29 points. Their one-point win at Iowa looms as one of the best wins of the season so far. Speaking of Campbell, he became the school’s all-time wins leader with win No. 57. Fifty-seven!
8. Oregon ducks
This week: Beat UCLA 34-13
Next week: vs. Michigan State
The Ducks haven’t necessarily played top-10 giants, but they have beaten one of the G5’s best (Boise State), dominated Saturday at UCLA and defeated Oregon State two weeks ago. That’s enough to (barely) move them into the Top 10. The Ohio State game looms in two weeks.
9. Georgia Bulldogs
This week: Lost to Alabama 41-34
Next week: vs. Auburn
This year the Bulldogs become the first team to remain in our rankings despite a loss. Don’t forget, they have a few quality wins away from home (at Kentucky, which beat Ole Miss on Saturday; and against Clemson in Atlanta). Losing at Alabama – our No. 1 team – is understandable. And the Dawgs almost came back to win!
10. Missouri Tigers
This week: Goodbye
Next week: at Texas A&M
The Tigers are new to our rankings. While we understand they haven’t played the toughest schedule – or had the most convincing wins – they have defeated a pair of power conference programs in Vanderbilt and Boston College, each of which has shown flashes of greatness this season.
Dropped out: Utah (4), Illinois (6), Washington State (9)
