Comparing the unbeatens
Who's up for a subjective, somewhat flawed look at the remaining six unbeaten teams in the country?
Good.
It's subjective because two sets of opinions are interjected into this. First, it ranks the nine opponents of each team. That's easier than sizing up the quality of the wins head-to-head against the rest of the schools (i.e. rating TCU's No. 7 victory against Boise State's No. 7 victory).
It is flawed because there is no weighting system to amplify the importance of the highest quality wins or degrade the garbage victories secured. It also doesn't take into account margin of victory, quality of play, etc. A win, at least here, is a win.
Either way, the most any team can have on any line at this stage is six points. With nine games for each team, that means the maximum is 54 points.
Make sense? OK, not quite. Let the chart sort it out.
| Opp. | Alabama | Boise St. | Cincy | Florida | Texas | TCU |
| 1 | LSU-5 | Oregon-4 | @South Florida-3 | @LSU-6 | @Okla. State-1 | @Clemson-2 |
| 2 | vs. Va. Tech-6 | @Fresno-1 | @Oregon State-5 | vs. Georgia-2 | Texas Tech-3 | @BYU-4 |
| 3 | @Ole Miss-6 | @Tulsa-1 | @Rutgers-3 | Tennessee-5 | vs. Oklahoma-4 | @Air Force-2 |
| 4 | Tennessee-6 | @La. Tech-1 | UConn-3 | Arkansas-5 | @Missouri-4 | SMU-2 |
| 5 | South Carolina-6 | @BGSU-1 | Fresno St.-4 | @Miss. St.-5 | Colorado-3 | @Virginia-2 |
| 6 | Arkansas-6 | @Hawaii-1 | @Syracuse-4 | @Kentucky-5 | @Wyoming-3 | @SDSU-2 |
| 7 | @Kentucky-6 | SJSU-1 | Louisville-3 | Troy-5 | UCF-4 | UNLV-2 |
| 8 | FIU-1 | Miami (Ohio)-2 | @ Miami (Ohio)-3 | Vanderbilt-6 | UL Monroe-5 | Colorado St.-4 |
| 9 | North Texas-5 | UC Davis-3 | SE Missouri-1 | Chuck South-2 | UTEP-6 | Texas St.-4 |
| Totals | 47 | 15 | 29 | 41 | 33 | 24 |
OK, here's the standings out of that monstrosity:
47: Alabama
41: Florida
33: Texas
29: Cincinnati
24: Texas Christian
15: Boise State
This is merely a convoluted and unadjusted strength of schedule chart. Fortunately for me, it matched the order of my Harris poll ballot for this week.
The interesting thing is the relatively slim gap between Texas and Cincinnati.
The Longhorns still have to play Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M (combined record: 14-13), plus whatever nummy treat the Big 12 North produces for slaughter in the league title game.
The Bearcats still have to play West Virginia, Illinois and Pittsburgh (combined record: 18-9). That's going to close that narrow gap some.
Basically, a 13-0 Texas team will have a very similar profile to a 12-0 Cincinnati team. That'll be worth remembering in another four weeks if that scenario comes to fruition.
--- Patrick Stevens
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