There are 21 unbeaten teams. Take, for example, unbeaten college football teams. There are 21 unbeaten teams in college football after 11 weeks. In the NCAA, there have been only three seasons (1947, 1948, and 2014) when there were more than two unbeaten teams at any point in time.
In 1947, there were two unbeaten teams in the country: Columbia and Chicago. In 1948, there were three: Columbia, Chicago, and Ohio State. And in 2014, there were four: Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame, and South Carolina.
In other words, there have been only three seasons out of over 100 years of college football where there was more than one undefeated team at any given moment.
The most seasons with an unbeaten team is three. It happened in 1947, 1948, and 2014.
The least number of seasons with an undefeated team is one. It happened in 1922 and 1938.
So, overall, there have been three seasons with more than one undefeated team and five seasons with an undefeated team. That's about 7% of all seasons being played without a tie since the NCAA began keeping statistics in 1947.
Because the Associated Press did not begin proclaiming the NCAA national champion until 1936, we'll begin with that year in this list of every unbeaten national champion. With six undefeated seasons, Notre Dame leads the way, followed by Nebraska with five, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Ohio State with four apiece. California and Michigan were 3-0-1 in 1892, but because of scheduling conflicts we can't count those games toward their records.
The AP began naming its national champions in 1936, so we'll start there and go back through all the previous years. It's worth mentioning that some teams were declared national champions by various organizations or committees before the AP started voting on its own. These teams are labeled as such when they come up in discussion.
In addition to being the first officially recognized national champion, Notre Dame was also the first team to go undefeated. The Fighting Irish beat out Stanford for the title by virtue of having more wins, but it's interesting to note that both teams went into the final game of the season undefeated. It's possible that could happen again this year with Florida State and Clemson both going into their final games against Maryland and South Carolina undefeated. If these games end in a tie, then the winner would be determined by either a playoff or a second consecutive annual championship game. Either way, it's safe to say that Notre Dame has been credited with creating the perfect season even before it happened.
How many teams have won the national championship without losing a game? There have been seven teams who have gone unbeaten and won the national title. Another unbeaten team, the 1972-73 North Carolina State Wolfpack, did not compete for the national championship. They were eliminated from contention when they were defeated by Maryland 3-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
An undefeated season is declared complete when a team wins its final game of the year. The 2007 Michigan Wolverines are the only team to go undefeated during the regular season then lose their first game of the NCAA Tournament. They defeated Florida Gulf Coast University 5-4 in overtime of the second round before being eliminated by Virginia Tech.
No team has gone into the NCAA Tournament as an overall undefeated record. The closest any team has come was when Duke began the 1995-96 season with a perfect 10-0 record before losing to UNC-Wilmington 95-84 in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (now known as the NIT).
Duke went on to win the national championship that year.
10 unbeaten seasons The Buckeyes won eight national championships, 38 conference titles, and 10 undefeated seasons (six perfect seasons). Ohio State has been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll for more than any other team in history -- 77 weeks (890 days) - no one else even comes close.
This is probably why Urban Meyer is considered by many to be the best football coach in the history of the sport. He's already got two such undefeated seasons under his belt at Ohio State, and he hasn't finished either of those campaigns yet! In fact, Ohio State still has games left this year and next year before they head into a bowl game. Maybe we should all just wait and see what happens after that?
In case you were wondering, here are the other teams that have gone unbeaten during their respective seasons: Florida State (1995), Miami (1996), Nebraska (1998), Oklahoma (2000), Alabama (2001), LSU (2002), Texas (2003), Virginia Tech (2004), Miami (2005), Michigan State (2006), Illinois (2007), TCU (2008), Oregon (2009), West Virginia (2010), and Alabama (2011).
And here's how many men have walked on the moon: 50.
Several unbeaten and untied teams competed in the 1929 collegiate football season. Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh all ended the regular season undefeated. The Big Ten's Purdue Boilermakers were selected by some as the pre-season favorite to win the national championship.
Purdue opened the season with a 42-0 victory over Ohio State and then defeated Michigan, 34-7, at home before a crowd of 75,000. The game was played on New Year's Day and marked the first time in history that two former winners of the Chicago Tribune Trophy (Purdue in 1927 and Michigan in '28) met on the field simultaneously. Both teams also went into the game ranked number one, but lost for the first time during the season.
In its second year under head coach Joe Taylor, Tulane began the season ranked number two behind Iowa. The Green Wave lost their first game of the season, 21-6, to Kentucky but then won their next five games by an average score of 49-6. They finished the season with six straight victories by an average margin of 35 points per game. This is the only time in NCAA history that any team scored 600 points during a season.
Notre Dame began the season ranked number three behind Purdue and Tulane.
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