Welcome to the year of the unlikely unbeaten: How Indiana, BYU and Pitt are shaking up college football

At first, it was a quaint footnote.

Then, it was all vibes, the bandwagon filling up with wide-eyed joy riders, and all the breaks going their way.

And now, nine weeks into the season, it’s getting increasingly difficult to shrug off all we’ve seen as dumb luck, soft schedules and total flukes.

As we close in on November, it’s time to take Indiana, BYU and Pittsburgh seriously.

The momentum has built slowly, cautiously — like when someone suggests going to Waffle House as a party winds down. Everyone has a good laugh, but the next thing you know, Indiana’s in the Big Ten title game, a waitress is poking you with a fork to make sure you’re alive and your face is glued to the table with maple syrup.

To see Pitt, BYU and Indiana among the small handful of teams still undefeated as we reach the final Saturday in October is incongruous and perplexing and yet undeniably exhilarating — like seeing Mr. T at the airport. It makes no sense, but here we are, shaking our heads, smiling ear to ear and pitying any fool who doesn’t appreciate just how cool this is.

Yes, the nation’s best team may still be Georgia, which had the week off so Kirby Smart could research the home addresses of each official from last week’s game against Texas, or perhaps Oregon, which utterly demolished Illinois 38-9 on Saturday, or any one of a half dozen other entirely predictable success stories. But with so much football still to be played in this new era of the 12-team playoff, there’s no need to focus too much on solving the mystery of who’ll ultimately hoist the trophy at year’s end when these likely red herrings are still so much fun.

Indiana is 8-0 after overwhelming Washington 31-17, even without starting QB Kurtis Rourke. In the past, losing the starting QB would only result in a brutal loss and higher insurance premiums for the Hoosiers, but not this team. We’re eight games into the season, and Indiana still hasn’t trailed at any point. According to ESPN Research, no other program in at least 20 years has done that. A program best known for providing depressing lyrics to John Mellencamp songs is suddenly doing things even Nick Saban couldn’t manage.

We knew when the season began that the Big 12 would be chaos, but of all the possible scenarios — Kansas State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State — how many people predicted BYU would be the lead dog? It’s a complete fever dream, this offense led by a Jewish quarterback at a Mormon school bouncing from rollicking come-from-behind wins to defiant dominance, such as Saturday’s 37-24 win over hapless UCF. Jake Retzlaff accounted for three touchdowns, LJ Martin ran for 101 yards and the defense picked off UCF twice.

And then there’s Pitt, which stumbled its way to a 3-9 season in 2023 but found new life this offseason with a new-look offense, a 5-foot-6 tailback and a head coach who has rebuilt his program by going against every defensive instinct he has ever had like some sort of Yinzer George Costanza. On Thursday, the Panthers’ defense stole the show, swarming Syracuse as Kyle McCord handed out interceptions like he was Oprah giving away cars. Pitt has the third-lowest time of possession in the country, trailed by double-digits in the fourth quarter twice in September and is relying on an offensive superstar who’s not tall enough to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl, and yet it all works.

Are any of them championship material? What does that even mean? There are just seven undefeated teams left in the power conferences, and Indiana, BYU and Pitt are among them. Meanwhile, a cast of last year’s champions — the teams that won the Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC, ACC, Sun Belt and MAC — are a combined 19-27 against FBS competition this year.

In an era when the transfer portal is supposed to sap the second-class programs of their best talent, a QB who left Alabama is leading the way at Pittsburgh.

In an era when the best coaches are supposed to be cashing eight-figure checks at the biggest schools, Curt Cignetti took a sizable portion of his roster from James Madison to one of the most moribund programs in the sport and is running circles around the Big Ten while just a win shy of matching Indiana’s all-time record for victories in a season.

In an era when the best teams have the biggest budgets to lure elite recruits, BYU has a roster full of guys who never wanted to be anywhere else, and they’ve proven to be the perfect combination of grit and performance and drive — like if Diet Mountain Dew were a football team. No one understands it, but it’s great.

There are other good stories in college football this season — from Cam Ward‘s magic to Ashton Jeanty‘s heroics to Sonny Dykes’ short-lived career waiting tables at Coyote Ugly finally paying dividends. But in a sport that has spent the bulk of the past five years playing the role of wicked stepmother for every would-be Cinderella, it’s fitting that so much of the 2024 season, the first in this new era of college football, has been about the little guys who’ve figured out a way to build a team with castoffs and duct tape and remind the country that it’s still OK to root for the underdog.

Jump to:
Colorado’s going bowling | Aggies win with backup QB
Penn State survives | Ward rattled vs. FSU | Sunflowers for K-State
Horns up in Nashville | Irish eye playoff | Alabama rolls
Ohio State escapes | Vibe shifts | Heisman five | Under the radar

Buffs going bowling

Coach Prime will coach a bowl game.

Colorado knocked off Cincinnati 34-23 on Saturday, reaching six wins on the season and securing postseason eligibility, something that many of Deion Sanders’ critics believed wasn’t possible.

Shedeur Sanders was excellent. Travis Hunter was dynamic. Warren Sapp consumed three Subway footlongs on the sideline. Every star shone bright in the win.

Colorado hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2020, but Saturday’s win marked another turning point that Deion Sanders promised upon arrival. There were reasonable doubts given Coach Prime’s unconventional approach to building a team, but the unique alchemy of Hunter, myriad transfers, two of Sanders’ own kids, a ton of media attention and an unquenchable desire to spite idiots in the media turned out to be just what the Buffaloes needed.

There are still hills for the Buffs to climb. They’ve yet to beat a ranked foe. They’ve got a shot at the Big 12 title game. They’d like to see more engagement on Shilo Sanders‘ cat’s new YouTube channel. But this is invariably a major step for a program that, before Coach Prime’s arrival, was a laughingstock and is now one of the better teams in the Big 12 and a genuinely solid program.

Aggies roll with Reed

Down 10 in the third quarter, Mike Elko made a bold decision, benching QB Conner Weigman and handing the keys to the offense over to freshman Marcel Reed.

By game’s end, the move looked like a stroke of genius, Texas A&M was celebrating a 38-23 win over LSU.

Reed sparked the Aggies’ offense, completing just two passes for 70 yards, but also rushing for 63 and three touchdowns in the win.

Meanwhile, the Aggies’ D was exceptional late, picking off Garrett Nussmeier three times in the second half, and turning a 10-point deficit into an easy win.

Still, Elko wasn’t done when the clock hit zero. In his postgame news conference, he delivered an impassioned lecture on the state of the program in his first season as head coach.

It seemed a rather pointed commentary about what Elko had inherited at A&M, and former coach Jimbo Fisher was quick to respond with a torrent of gibberish that amounted to suggesting he would’ve won 10 games if A&M had just adopted tariffs on all Texas players being recruited out of state to fund its NIL collective. He then kissed a baby, shook hands with the cook at a local diner and promised to cut Reveille’s taxes.

Drew Allar sat the second half of Penn State’s 28-13 win over Wisconsin, but the Nittany Lions still managed to survive another week, setting up a key Week 10 showdown with Ohio State.

Wisconsin, which had been little more than a mild cheddar for much of Luke Fickell’s tenure in Madison, had been upgraded to a spicy pepper jack during a three-game winning streak, and it was poised to earn rich burrata status after leading 10-7 at half. But without Allar, the Nittany Lions relied on Beau Pribula, a solid run game and a stout defense to deliver the win.

Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton combined for 194 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns, and James Franklin celebrated yet another win that will be immediately forgotten when he loses to a top-10 team next week.

Ward rattled, Miami wins

They say, in rivalry games such as Miami vs. Florida State, you can throw the records out the window, to which Mike Norvell asks why they can’t also do that against Duke.

Regardless, FSU was frisky Saturday, proving that if you’re simply bad enough, it’s almost good.

True story: That was Florida State’s longest run of the year. The previous high came on a fake punt. Much of FSU’s offense is based on a dare.

Still, the Noles’ D played well, and largely kept Cam Ward in check, holding the Heisman hopeful to fewer than 300 yards and without a touchdown pass — a first for Ward in both categories this season.

The Canes’ ground game carried the day, however, rushing for 230 yards and three touchdowns, while Ward actually caught a touchdown pass because Miami felt it was important to find new ways to embarrass Florida State this year.

Sunflowers for K-State

Kansas State won the Sunflower Showdown for the 16th straight season, thwarting Kansas with a go-ahead 51-yard field goal with 1:42 to play to survive 29-27.

It was the latest indignity in a season filled with them for the Jayhawks, who fall to 2-6 on the year with five of their losses coming by six points or fewer.

K-State’s Avery Johnson threw for two touchdowns, ran for a third and won a halftime Ted Nugent lookalike contest.

Horns up in Nashville

In any other year, playing Vanderbilt is the perfect chance to get right after a particularly brutal loss such as the one Texas endured last week against Georgia. This year though, Vandy is the rough equivalent of the DIY plumbing project that looked so easy on YouTube only to result in a broken toilet, a near drowning and a story your wife will tell at cocktail parties while everyone laughs at you.

So it was Saturday, as Texas struggled to put the Commodores away, even after QB Quinn Ewers played nearly flawless football before the half. After throwing a pick on Texas’ first drive of the game, Ewers completed 17 straight passes as the Horns jumped to a 21-7 lead.

Still, Vandy refused to roll over, scoring with 46 seconds left to pull to within three, but the subsequent onside kick attempt found a Texas player, and Diego Pavia didn’t get a last chance at some magic, with the Horns holding on 27-24.

Irish eye playoff

So much for the feel-good story of Navy‘s 6-0 start to the season. Notre Dame marched into MetLife Stadium and utterly dominated the Midshipmen’s defense, cruising to a 51-14 win behind 265 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

Riley Leonard threw for two touchdowns in the win, and the Irish defense picked off Blake Horvath once and recovered five fumbles in the game. The win is the second of the season for the Irish over a ranked opponent, which helps to cover for what is the most embarrassing loss of the year (against Northern Illinois) of any playoff contender, but it also upends all the fun of the undefeated starts to the season for Army and Navy.

All of this begs the question: Why couldn’t Notre Dame just let America have this one unifying storyline? Why couldn’t we just come together as a country to enjoy supporting something still untarnished by divisiveness and outrage?

And the answer is because Notre Dame doesn’t believe in an America that doesn’t consider Notre Dame to be America’s team. It’s selfish. It’s frustrating. It’s the American way.

Tide turns in T-town

A win over Missouri isn’t likely to take the pressure off Kalen DeBoer for long, but Alabama did put together an emphatic all-around performance Saturday that should at least convince a few Finebaum callers to skip this week’s tirade and focus their outrage on Ulysses S. Grant again for a while.

Jalen Milroe accounted for 265 yards and a score, the defense picked off Drew Pyne three times, and Alabama delivered a resounding 34-0 win Saturday, helping erase the memories of last week’s exploding cigar against Tennessee.

The Tide still end October with multiple losses for the first time since 2007, but thanks to the 12-team playoff, there’s no reason to assume a championship is out of reach — particularly since LSU is the only offense with a pulse still on the docket.

Brady Cook attempted to do his impression of Monty Python’s Black Knight, explaining that his ailing hand was but a flesh wound, but Alabama likely delivered a mortal injury to Missouri’s time in the top 25. After Missouri narrowly escaped Boston College, Vanderbilt and Auburn this year, the Tide officially pulled the “contender” mask off the Tigers, revealing them to be basically just Kentucky with a better receiving corps.

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Nebraska lost a close game to a ranked opponent, letting all the air out of what had once felt like an encouraging season.

Ohio State was the latest to topple the Cornhuskers, escaping with a 21-17 win Saturday after Dylan Raiola threw a pick on Nebraska’s final drive, ending hopes of a late comeback.

For the Buckeyes, it was a less-than-flattering performance, but a gritty win nevertheless. For Nebraska, it was the latest bit of futility in a string of misery that would’ve been deemed “too dark” for the “Saw” franchise.

It was Nebraska’s 27th straight loss to a ranked opponent, a streak dating back to 2016. In that same span, the Huskers have lost 35 games by a touchdown or less, eight more than any other FBS program. And Matt Rhule is now 2-22 as a head coach against ranked teams, which doesn’t even count his tenure with the Carolina Panthers, which has been described as “like getting a root canal at a Creed concert.”

The win for the Buckeyes keeps their hopes for a Big Ten title game appearance alive, but it was a big blow for the line of teams waiting outside Ryan Day’s house hoping he’ll get fired so they can be his rebound relationship.

Week 9 vibe check

Each week, big swings upend playoff projections, but lots of smaller shifts also alter the college football landscape. We keep tabs on those here.

Trending up: Hostilities in Michigan

Most of Saturday’s game between Michigan and Michigan State was a rock fight, and when it was over, the two teams went the more traditional fight route.

It was a battle to see who was the most middling team in Michigan (apologies to Central Michigan, who remains, geographically, the most middling), and while the early results amounted to little more than two toddlers fighting over a popsicle, Michigan actually emerged with its first vestiges of an offensive identity this year.

Davis Warren got the start at QB, and he looked solid, completing 13 of 19 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Alex Orji proved a valuable weapon in the run game, carrying six times for 64 yards and a score. And Colston Loveland was the best player on the field for much of the game, hauling in two touchdown grabs — the first game in which Michigan had multiple receiving TDs as a team since the opener against Fresno State.

When the dust settled on the postgame skirmish, both teams agreed there were no hard feelings, made a few jokes about Ohio State coach Ryan Day and all was forgiven.

Trending down: Kickers in Durham

Mustangs coach Rhett Lashlee eagerly admitted SMU had no business winning on Saturday. The Mustangs turned the ball over six times against Duke, including twice in the fourth quarter, but the Blue Devils missed a 42-yard field goal and had a 30-yarder at the end of regulation blocked when Jahfari Harvey reenacted a scene from “The Matrix.”

This was technically a game between two 6-1 teams, which is a little like saying Dr Pepper and Dr. Dre technically finished medical school. Instead it was mostly a comedy of errors, with SMU’s fourth quarter amounting to a fumble and two picks, while Duke had six different drives into SMU territory that didn’t end with points.

Trending up: Special teams chicanery

If there was one overriding trend from Week 9, it was teams embracing fake kicks.

Texas Tech scored off a fake field goal, though it still lost to TCU.

Wisconsin‘s punter scrambled for an impromptu fake that went for a first down, though the Badgers, too, lost to Penn State.

And West Virginia executed the fake field goal to perfection in a win over Arizona.

By day’s end, Brent Venables had decided next week Oklahoma was just going to run fake punts on every play.

Trending up: Do-it-all ACC QBs

Virginia Tech‘s Kyron Drones threw a 20-yard touchdown, caught a 6-yard TD on a pass from Jaylin Lane and ran in a score from a yard out in the Hokies’ 21-6 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Drones is the first ACC QB with a passing, rushing and receiving TD in the same game since Jordan Travis did it in 2022 and just the fourth of the playoff era.

Not to be outdone, Cal QB Fernando Mendoza threw and caught a touchdown — on the same play.

Mendoza tossed to Jaivian Thomas, who was quickly wrapped up but lateraled the ball back to the QB, who scampered for an easy touchdown in a 44-7 win over Oregon State.

Meanwhile, Florida State QBs also joined in the fun by losing the helmet with the speaker in it, accidentally setting the team bench on fire and giving out Mike Norvell’s social security number to a man claiming to be a Nigerian prince all in the same game.

Trending down: Sooners’ new OC

After last week’s 35-9 unraveling against South Carolina, Oklahoma decided it had gone as far as it could with offensive coordinator Seth Littrell. In retrospect, having the entire offensive playbook printed in Comic Sans should’ve been an early warning. Regardless, Week 9 was a chance to turn the page, and for the first half, it looked as if the Sooners might have some real mojo. Unfortunately, mojo is not an offensive lineman.

Instead, the most exciting offensive weapon on the field in Oklahoma’s 26-14 loss to Ole Miss was a squirrel, who ran 20 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.

Brent Venables attempted to sign the squirrel to play tailback for the remainder of the season, but the sides could not agree on NIL compensation, after the squirrel demanded a deal which Oklahoma’s collective referred to as “completely nuts.”

Trending up: Sam Pittman’s job security

Taylen Green threw for five touchdowns and ran for a sixth in Arkansas‘ 58-25 win over Mississippi State on Saturday, moving the Hogs to within one game of bowl eligibility and pushing them over last season’s win total of four.

Green was exceptional, nearly matching his season total for passing TDs (6) in the game, throwing for 314 yards and rushing for 79 more, clearly flourishing under offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.

This marks the first time in history Petrino had a hand in saving a coach’s job, and frankly, he must be as confused as the rest of us. That said, if Billy Napier doesn’t win another couple games, he’d like to remind the folks at Florida they can view an updated CV for him on LinkedIn.

Trending up: Winless teams

Kent State is the last team standing. Or, sitting. Or, perhaps, curled up in the fetal position at the 50-yard line.

Regardless, the not-so-Golden Flashes were annihilated by Western Michigan 52-21 on Saturday, falling 0-8, the last FBS team still in search of a victory in 2024.

Meanwhile, the other formerly winless FBS team, Kennesaw State, picked up victory No. 1 with style, knocking off undefeated Liberty 27-24 on Wednesday.

It marked the first time a winless team beat an undefeated team 5-0 or better since North Texas toppled Middle Tennessee in 2001. It was also Kennesaw’s first win as an FBS program, marking the second-greatest accomplishment in school history after that one time someone remembered there were two Ns and only one S in “Kennesaw” without having to look it up.

Trending up: Iowa being Iowa

Iowa trounced Northwestern on Saturday, 40-14. In the game, the Hawkeyes recorded a safety, a special teams touchdown, three takeaways and an easy win in spite of no QB in the game throwing for more than 100 yards.

So, please cash in your Iowa B-I-N-G-O card at the front desk to claim your prize, and yes, the prize is a mosaic portrait of Hayden Fry made of corn kernels.

Trending up: Punting

After flirting with the Big 12, UConn continues to look for a conference home, and after Saturday’s game, the Huskies are looking quite tempting to the Big Ten.

UConn and Rice played the undercard match in the Paint Drying World Championship, with the two teams combining for 20 punts in a 17-10 UConn win. Rice managed just 10 first downs and 178 yards of offense, including just 88 yards through the air.

Before either team found the end zone, the game featured 14 punts, two turnovers, a missed field goal and an intentional grounding penalty that ended the first half.

Trending up: Heels’ D-line

North Carolina demolished Virginia 41-14, thanks in large part — literally — to its defensive front.

Kaimon Rucker led the way with three sacks, and UNC got to Virginia QB Anthony Colandrea 10 times in the game. But it was big man Jahvaree Ritzie who stole the show with an 84-yard pick-six.

Trending up: Foodborne illness

Hugh Freeze skipped the team flight to Kentucky this week because of an upset stomach brought on either by watching game film of his QBs or eating a McRib he found behind his couch. Whatever the cause though, it was a stroke of genius by the Auburn coach.

Freeze joined his team Saturday after chugging a mixture of 7-Up and Pepto, and Auburn clearly looked inspired by its coach’s resilience. The Tigers shut out Kentucky in the second half and cruised to a 24-10 win — their first SEC victory since Nov. 11 of last year — behind 278 yards and two touchdowns from tailback Jarquez Hunter.

Freeze remains undefeated in his career when coaching after medical issues, and he has promised to keep the streak going by downing a tub of Gus Malzahn’s chili that has been sitting in the coaches office fridge before next week’s game against Vandy.

Heisman five

This was the week the Heisman excitement came crashing down to reality for a number of contenders. Some — Ashton Jeanty, Cam Ward — survived. Others, such as Blake Horvath didn’t. And others, such as Cade Klubnik, took the week off to catch up on the new season of “Lincoln Lawyer.” It’s not good but he needs something to talk to Dabo about.

1. Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

Jeanty faced a stacked box consistently and was thwarted regularly in Boise State’s 29-24 win over UNLV on Thursday. It was, clearly, his low point in 2024. He also had 139 yards and the game-winning touchdown. We should all be so lucky to have our hard days in Vegas look so good.

2. Miami QB Cam Ward

Saturday was theoretically Ward’s worst game of the season, but here’s a fun stat: On third down, he was 8-of-8 passing for 89 yards. For the season on third and fourth down, Ward is completing 79% of his throws, averaging 9.6 yards per touch and has converted 56% of his plays.

3. Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel

The Ducks dominated listless Illinois, and Gabriel accounted for just shy of 300 yards and four total touchdowns — averaging better than 11 yards per pass. He also inspired the coaching staff at Illinois, with Bret Bielema promising that, one day, he’d like his team to throw a forward pass, too.

4. Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter

After missing much of the past two games, Hunter returned to action Saturday and made up for lost time. He played more than 120 snaps, caught nine passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, and had two tackles and three passes defended on defense. And his end zone celebration was so Mick Jagger-like that Keith Richards sat up in his hammock, yelled some gibberish, announced a new tour and fell back to sleep.

5. Army QB Bryson Daily

Army was off this week, leaving Daily to work full time in his other job as one of the Avengers.

Under-the-radar game of the week

There are blown leads, and then there’s what happened to UTSA on Saturday, which was something more akin to getting kicked while an anvil falls on your head.

The Roadrunners led 35-7 at halftime, 42-17 with 5:30 to go in the third and 45-32 with 3 minutes left in the game.

They led by 6 with Tulsa facing a second-and-13 at its own 5-yard line with 1:55 to play.

And they lost.

Tulsa went 95 yards on the next seven plays, scoring in less than a minute to take a 46-45 win. Cooper Legas threw five touchdowns, including three to Kamdyn Benjamin, in the win. UTSA won the turnover battle, outgained Tulsa by 113 yards, allowed just 63 yards on the ground and still lost. It was a stunning finish, even for a school named for a city known for memorable losses.

Under-the-radar play of the week

Typically this space is reserved for particularly noteworthy college football games, but since Texas high school football is actually better than Conference USA, we’re making an exception.

On Thursday, Lone Star was poised for a rollicking win over Frisco Wakeland, driving for a game-winning score in overtime, handing the ball off from the 9-yard line with a chance to win. Karece Hoyt pushed the pile forward to the 1 before being enveloped by a scrum of defenders short of the goal line, only to see Wakeland’s Austin Wilson emerge with the football, returning the fumble 99 yards for a score and a 65-59 win.

On one hand, it was a tribute to Wakeland’s never-say-die approach to the game’s final moments. On the other hand, it was a reminder that pushing for extra yards with the game in hand is never worthwhile, and simply giving up, kicking a field goal and hitting the Dairy Queen is a far better option.