There were close calls in Baton Rouge and in South Bend, but all six undefeated teams escaped week 10 without a blemish. Ohio State is now the first team to win 10 games in 2012, although the Buckeyes are not eligible to participate in postseason play. Louisville ran its record to 9-0 yesterday, with winnable games against Syracuse and Connecticut before a season-defining finale in Piscataway on November 29th.
However, the eyes of the country are now focused on Notre Dame, Kansas State, Oregon, and Alabama. Last weekend, I said there was only a 10% chance that Oregon, Kansas State, and Notre Dame would finish the season undefeated. That was with 13 games left for those teams to win; now those odds are close to 17%. Kansas State has the easiest remaining path, although all three of its remaining opponents have realistic chances of pulling an upset. Oregon has a relatively easy game against Cal this week while Notre Dame shouldn’t have any problem with Boston College.
Alabama has another tough challenge this week in Texas A&M, although it is hard to imagine college football’s most inconsistent team of the last two years winning a close match-up against the country’s most consistent and brutal opponent. If Alabama can defeat the Aggies this weekend, a perfect regular season is all but assured, with the Crimson Tide’s final two games coming against Western Carolina (SRS of 11.6) and Auburn (37.6). The Iron Bowl this year should be more coronation than battle, which leaves just Texas A&M and Georgia — the likely opponent in the SEC Championship Game — as the two remaining hurdles for Alabama to clear.
Here are the week 10 SRS ratings:
Reminder: you can view every game by an FBS school this season over at the Football Perspective NCAA Games page. If you want to look at just week 10 results, check out the table below:
Most of the nation turned their televisions off after the Crimson Tide came from behind to defeat LSU, but the late games provided some interesting results. Last week, Arizona was the 18th best team in the SRS, but UCLA defeated them 66-10 in what is now the highest single SRS game score of the season. San Diego State also knocked off Boise State after midnight on the East Coast, while Oregon kept their impressive season alive with a tight win over Arizona State.
It was not a good weekend to be a football fan in Mississippi. Texas A&M and Georgia came in with the second and third best performances of the weekend, with blowout wins over the state’s two landmark teams. Southern Miss won 12 games last year, but is still looking for its first win this season. Along with Massachusetts — in year two of its two-year status as a transitional member of the FBS — Southern Miss is one of just two teams still looking for its first win this season.
