Buckeyes perfection?
USA TODAY projects the records of all 130 FBS teams
Two factors prevent an individual team from finishing undefeated in the Football Bowl Subdivision. One is statistics: The odds of perfection decrease as more games get added to the road to the national championship — and, as illustrated by Alabama in 2016, the last game is always the hardest.
The second is history. In the last decade, just four Power Five teams have completed a perfect season: Alabama in 2009, Auburn in 2010, Ohio State in 2012 and Florida State in 2014.
But finishing the regular season unbeaten? Maybe that’s another story.
USA TODAY Sports’ preseason projections for the 2017 regular season finds one team exiting November without a loss: Ohio State, which will be led by a senior quarterback in J.T. Barrett, one of the elite coaches in the sport in Urban Meyer and a top offensive coordinator in Kevin Wilson, who comes over from Indiana with the goal of rebuilding the Buckeyes’ explosive offense.
Ohio State is the only unbeaten team in our projections, but others will flirt with regular-season perfection. Across the Power Five leagues, we’re pegging four others to finish with one loss: Florida State, Alabama, Wisconsin and Southern California.
The tightest division and conference races can be found in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Atlantic Division, between Florida State and Clemson; in the Big 12, where rivals Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are set for bedlam; in the Mountain West’s Mountain Division, between Boise State, Wyoming and Colorado State; and in the Pac-12 North Division, where Stanford stands to upend Washington’s repeat hopes.