Smooth Sailing: 8 Teams That Could Run The Rest of The Season Undefeated

As most programs have passed the quarter mark of the season, there are some teams that have been rallying back from a disappointing couple of weeks in the first month of college football in 2010.

The poor start could be from unpreparedness for a high profile game with other national championship contenders at such an early date in the season.

In turn, it could be from an upstart and overachieving bottom feeder school that came into a hostile environment of a game that was believed to be over before the home team entered the stadium through the tunnel.

For a more coaching aspect, the team could have just broken in a young quarterback after the veteran senior quarterback gave the reigns to the new incumbent after graduation or early entry to playing on Sundays.

No matter the reason, the following slide show will illustrate the eight schools that will have the best chance of shaking off a poor September and run the table with their remaining schedule.

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Temple Owls

The Owls have been slowly rebuilding into a good program after subsequently being booted from the Big East in 2004 in favor of the Connecticut Huskies.

The running back tandem of Matt Brown and Bernard Pierce have carried the Temple offense in 2010 as they have both accounted for more than 340 yards on the ground along with five touchdowns so far this season.

Temple will have their chance at their first Eastern division title for a berth in the MAC Championship game when they travel to the RedHawks of Miami (OH) in the regular season finale

REMAINING SCHEDULE:

10/9 at Northern Illinois

10/16 Bowling Green

10/23 at Buffalo

10/30 Akron

11/6 at Kent State

11/16 Ohio

11/23 at Miami (OH)

Southern Methodist Mustangs

After the potential upset of in-state rival TCU, June Jones and Southern Methodist have their eyes focused on a Conference USA East Division title along with attempting to win the league championship.

Sophomore Kyle Pardon has been an effective leader for the Mustangs this season with nearly 1200 yards and 13 touchdowns for the 35^th best offense in the nation that produces 240 through the air along with 150 on the ground this season.

The late October game with Houston will be the East Division championship game as SMU tries to continue its path of building the blossoming football program up deep in the heart of Texas.

REMAINING SCHEDULE:

10/9 Tulsa

10/16 at Navy

10/23 Houston

10/30 at Tulane

11/6 at UTEP

11/20 Marshall

11/26 at East Carolina

Air Force Falcons

The Falcons have been clicking on offense in 2010 as they rank first in the nation at rushing with over nearly 380 yards per game along with a scant 100 yards through the air this season.

In addition to the powerful rushing attack, the Air Force defense has held their opponents in check including Oklahoma in their three-point loss to the Sooners in Norman. 

The Falcons will have a two week stretch in late October where they will face TCU and Utah back-to-back, that could make or break their Mountain West conference championship hopes.

REMAINING SCHEDULE: 

10/9 Colorado State

10/16 at San Diego State

10/23 at TCU

10/30 Utah

11/6 at Army

11/13 New Mexico

11/18 at UNLV

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The luck of the Irish hasn’t been with Notre Dame this season with three early season losses to rivals with two of those games being at home in South Bend.

The Irish had the air knocked out of them by the game winning fake field goal against Michigan State followed by Andrew Luck and Stanford bullying them around with their physical style of football.

The remaining schedule has the potential for Brian Kelly and the Irish to make a run at a nine win season after two seasons of seven and six victories respectively under former coach Charlie Weis during his tenure.

REMAINING SCHEDULE:

10/09/10 Pittsburgh

10/16/10 Western Michigan

10/23/10 Navy (Meadowlands Stadium)

10/30/10 Tulsa

11/13/10 Utah

11/20/10 Army (Yankee Stadium)

11/27/10 at USC

Stanford Cardinal

After being burned by the explosive Oregon offense last Saturday, Stanford will attempt to get back on track this week against USC after such a good start to the 2010 campaign.

The Cardinal will have only conference games the rest of the way as they try to keep pace with the Ducks in the race for the Pac-10 title and potential Rose Bowl berth in January.

The biggest test that Stanford will face in the remaining schedule will be the date in the desert with Arizona in early November as the other conference games seem to be in their favor until the end of the season.

REMAINING SCHEDULE:

10/09/10 USC

10/23/10 Washington State

10/30/10 at Washington

11/06/10 Arizona

11/13/10 at Arizona State

11/20/10 at California

11/27/10 Oregon State

West Virginia Mountaineers

In the Mountain State, the Mountaineers have shown flashes of brilliance as in the overtime thriller against Marshall along with low points as in the offensive letdown against the more notable offensively challenged LSU in late September.

After a out of conference game with UNLV this week, West Virginia will enter conference play where they are the pick to run the table and earn their sixth Big East title and first under Bill Stewart.

The biggest challenge for the Mountaineers’ run at their first 11 win season since the Rich Rodriguez era will be their Black Friday visit to the Steel City against Pittsburgh in late November.

REMAINING SCHEDULE:

10/9/10 UNLV

10/14/10 USF

10/23/10 Syracuse

10/29/10 at UConn

11/13/10 Cincinnati

11/20/10 at Louisville

11/26/10 at Pittsburgh

12/04/10 Rutgers

Virginia Tech Hokies

After a poor start with losses to Boise State and FCS squad James Madison, Virginia Tech has righted the ship in Blacksburg with three consecutive wins over East Carolina along with ACC rivals Boston College and North Carolina State.

Frank Beamer and company will have a smooth road through conference play in October and into November until a late season test as they travel to South Beach to square off with the Hurricanes.

If the Hokies make it past Miami along with in-state rival Virginia in the season finale, Virginia Tech will be looking at trip back to Florida for a date at the Orange Bowl after such a disasterous start to 2010.

REMAINING SCHEDULE:

10/09/10 Central Michigan

10/16/10 Wake Forest

10/23/10 Duke

11/04/10 Georgia Tech

11/13/10 at North Carolina

11/20/10 at Miami (FL)

11/27/10 Virginia

Florida Gators

After a rocky September under new quarterback John Brantley, the Gators have seemed to be on the right track to an SEC East crown and a rematch with Alabama in Atlanta this December after their poor showing in Tuscaloosa last Saturday.

The remaining schedule will not be exactly easy for Florida, but will come out of their divisional games in October and November with a spotless record nonetheless.

Urban Meyer will need to use the remaining games on the schedule to find a way to improve the offense so that they can challenge the Crimson Tide when they meet for the SEC Championship game at season’s end.

REMAINING SCHEDULE:

10/09/10 LSU

10/16/10 Mississippi State

10/30/10 Georgia

11/06/10 at Vanderbilt

11/13/10 South Carolina

11/20/10 Appalachian State

11/27/10 at Florida State