Now that college football has a four-team playoff, it is less important to win every game during the season. But it sure helps if a team does go undefeated, and – according to ESPN’s Football Power Index – after four weeks of action, there are only five teams from power conferences with a legit shot to run the table during the regular season.
FPI simulates the regular season 10,000 times, and Alabama has the best shot to win all of their scheduled games. The model gives the Crimson Tide a 34.9% chance to go undefeated. Clemson and Oklahoma are both hovering around 20%.
In all, eight schools are being given a legit shot – at least 5% and if we include non-Power-5 schools – to have zero losses when conference-championship games begin with another five schools between 1% and 5%.