The Teams That Will Go Into Bowl Season Undefeated

Sometimes, it all works out nicely for the voters and come bowl season, there are two undefeateds, like in 2005/2006 with USC and Texas.  Sometimes, it ends up like last year, with five unbeatens between Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, Boise St., and TCU.

This year, the coaches and computers will have to decide between three perfect seasons.  Here are the teams most likely to finish their respective schedules without a loss:

1. Alabama

Yes, they're in the SEC, but that didn't stop them last year, did it? The defending national champions have already had possibly their toughest game with their comeback victory at Arkansas, and with two Heisman candidates at running back (Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson) and a quarterback that hasn't lost a game since 8th grade, the Crimson Tide shouldn't face any challenges that aren't beatable.  Plus, they just creamed Florida.

Games to watch out for: 11/6 at LSU, 11/26 vs. Auburn.

2. Boise State

What a surprise.  The most consistent team in the NCAA and their blue turf will keep their record perfect once again.  The Broncos have shown off on national television twice with wins at Virginia Tech and at home against Oregon State, so everybody knows what they're capable of.  Any questions of a let-down game should be answered by precedent (three 12-0 regular seasons in the last four years) and by the coaching ability of Chris Peterson, who has turned this group of two- and three-star recruits into a national title contender. 

Game to watch out for: 11/26 at Nevada.

3. Oregon

Behind this offense, the only team capable of beating the Ducks may be the Steelers.  The lowest-scoring game for Oregon? 42 points at Arizona State in triple-digit heat.  Their win against Stanford was telling as well, as they looked at a 7-point halftime deficit and responded by scoring 28 unanswered points (FYI, the Ducks were down by as much as 17 at the end of the first quarter).  Speaking of unanswered points, take a look at this statistic: 214 of their 283 points (75.6 percent) have been unanswered.  Granted, 171 of those come from shutouts against New Mexico and Portland State, but none are from the Arizona State game, where the Sun Devils were able to squeak in a touchdown after four consecutive Oregon touchdowns.  Games to watch out for: 10/30 at USC, 11/26 vs. Arizona, 12/4 at Oregon State.

Now, there are some obvious snubs from this list - what about #2 Ohio State? TCU? Nobody from the Big 12?

Ohio State caps off their season with games vs. Penn State, at Iowa, and vs. Michigan.  That should be enough to give them a loss if Wisconsin doesn't on 10/16.

Texas Christian has a good chance of running the table as well, but they still have games left against BYU and Utah.  Should they end up undefeated, their lack of exposure this season relative to Boise State will keep them out of the title race.

As for the Big 12, it's tough to say that there won't be an undefeated between Nebraska and Oklahoma. One will end up losing the Big 12 championship game, but what about the other?  Oklahoma looks to be without much of a challenge until the last week at Oklahoma State, but they should be the ones taking the loss in the championship game.  Nebraska has Texas and Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks and that could be enough to put a "1" in the loss column.

Quite clearly, we could still end up with five or even six undefeated teams at the end of this year.  But chances are, a couple of those teams will stumble.  It happens every year.