Undefeated After Week 10

There's still a chance.  Sweet fucking Christ, there's still a chance.  After defeating Iowa this weekend, the Hoosiers kept their Leaders Division championship hopes alive.  IU currently stands at 2-3 in Big Ten play, while Wisconsin is 3-2.  (Ohio State and Penn State, who are on probation for allowing players to get improper benefits and covering up child rape, respectively, have better records but are both ineligible for post-season play.)  Wisconsin is playing at IU this weekend, which means that if the Hoosiers win, they would have the tiebreaker and the inside track on the Leaders Division title.  This is insane.  I only wish IU could have held its lead against Michigan State and eked out a win over Ohio State, and then a victory over Wisconsin would have clinched the division title.  "Pasadena, here I come" is what I'd like to be saying four weeks from now.  I have so little as an IU football fan, so just let me have this dream while it's still possible.

Anyway, as in years past, I'll be breaking down the remaining undefeated teams each week for the rest of the season.  Undoubtedly, you've been waiting for this day even more eagerly than for the election to be over, so that you don't have to watch political ads every damn commercial break.  I live in Chicago.  Why the fuck are Romney and his super PAC friends wasting their money here?

But I digress.  In this year's most-anticipated SEC game, Alabama went into Death Valley AT NIGHT and beat LSU 21-17 with a last-minute TD.  If I were an LSU fan, I'd be putting the blame squarely on head coach Les Miles.  In a game where points were at a premium, he left a lot on the board and made some bad decisions that led to Alabama points, going for a 54-yard field goal with a little over a minute left in the first half instead of punting (leading to a Bama touchdown), trying a fake field goal on a 4th and 12 that didn't result in a first down, unsuccessfully going for it on 4th and 1 in the 4th quarter instead of kicking a 41-yard field goal, and trying a mid-game onside kick that didn't work.  Worst of all, this means that, given the Tide's relatively easy schedule from here on out, we will likely have to look at Nick Saban's smug face in the BCS championship game, barring an upset in the SEC championship game.

Meanwhile, Oregon rolled USC in LA, Kansas State stomped Oklahoma State (although Heisman-contending QB Colin Klein was knocked out of the game with what appeared to be a head injury of some sort, given that his helmet was taken away from him after he failed to recall that he had just scored a touchdown), Notre Dame won another game they shouldn't have won, and Louisville quietly improved to 9-0.

Here is a breakdown of the undefeated teams and each team's remaining games (rankings are BCS rankings):

#1 Alabama (9-0)

11/10 – #15 Texas A&M (7-2)

11/17 – Western Carolina (1-9)

11/24 – Auburn (2-7)

12/1 - SEC championship game - TBD

Remaining opponents' combined record:  10-18 (.357)

#2 Kansas State (9-0)

11/10 - at TCU (6-3)

11/17 – at Baylor (4-4)

12/1 - #17 Texas (7-2)

Remaining opponents' combined record:  17-9 (.654)

#3 Oregon (9-0)

11/10 – at California (3-7)

11/17 – #14 Stanford (7-2)

11/24 – at #11 Oregon State (7-1)

11/30 – Pac-12 championship game - TBD

Remaining opponents' combined record:  17-10 (.630)

#4 Notre Dame (9-0)

11/10 – at Boston College (2-7)

11/17 – Wake Forest (5-4)

11/24 – at #19 USC (6-3)

Remaining opponents' combined record:  13-14 (.481)

#9 Louisville (9-0)

11/10 – at Syracuse (4-5)

11/24 – UConn (3-6)

11/29 – at Rutgers (7-1)

Remaining opponents' combined record:  14-12 (.538)