Welcome back, oh great and wonderful college football fans! It’s hard to believe but the first month of college football is over! I’ll give you a moment. Ok, but it’s time to look at a couple of different cuts of the data. There are 3 looks I’d like to chat about.
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First, of the 263 teams, there are just 25 left with zero losses. 13 in the Core 4 with Duke, Miami FL, and Pittsburgh in the ACC, BYU and Iowa St in the Big 12, Indiana, Ohio St, Oregon, Penn St, and Rutgers in the Big Ten, and Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas in the SEC. The Group of 5 contributes 5 more with Army (American), James Madison (Sun Belt), Liberty (Conference USA), Navy (American), and UNLV (Mountain West). The final 6 are in the FCS with Brown (Ivy), Butler (Pioneer), Delaware (Colonial), Brown (Ivy), Mercer (SoCon), and Montana St (Big Sky).
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Every Core 4 team has won at least one game, but the Group of 5 contribute 3 of the 14 winless teams left with Kennesaw St and UTEP of Conference USA and Kent St of the MAC. The Big Sky conference has 2 (N Colorado and Portland St) as well as Southland (Commerce and Northwestern St) and SWAC (Bethune and Mississippi Valley). 5 other teams are the lone winless teams in their conference: Fordham (Patriot), Marist (Pioneer), Long Island (Northeast), Utah Tech (United Athletic), and VMI (SoCon).
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Any Sunday morning, oh wonderful reader, you can check out the top 25 which will always be 100% comprised of FBS teams. So, thought the end of September would be a great time to compare the overall top 25 to the FCS top 25. Here is the table:
| Rank | FBS | Conf | FCS | Conf |
| 1 | Texas (5-0) | SEC | Mercer (5-0/110) | SoCon |
| 2 | Tennessee (4-0) | SEC | Montana St (5-0/114) | Big Sky |
| 3 | Ohio St (4-0) | Big Ten | Butler (4-0/120) | Pioneer |
| 4 | Indiana (5-0) | Big Ten | Delaware (4-0/121) | CAA |
| 5 | Iowa St (4-0) | Big 12 | Dartmouth (2-0/135) | Ivy |
| 6 | BYU (5-0) | Big 12 | North Dakota (4-1/136) | MVC |
| 7 | Alabama (4-0) | SEC | C Arkansas (4-1/137) | UAC |
| 8 | Miami FL (5-0) | ACC | North Dakota St (4-1/138) | MVC |
| 9 | Penn St (4-0) | Big Ten | William & Mary (4-1/139) | CAA |
| 10 | Missouri (4-0) | SEC | Brown (2-0/140) | Ivy |
| 11 | Duke (5-0) | ACC | Montana (4-1/141) | Big Sky |
| 12 | Oregon (4-0) | Big Ten | SEMO (4-1/142) | BSOV |
| 13 | Rutgers (4-0) | Big Ten | South Dakota (3-1/145) | MVC |
| 14 | Pittsburgh (4-0) | ACC | Stony Brook (4-1/146) | CAA |
| 15 | Kansas St (4-1) | Big 12 | Tarleton (4-1/147) | UAC |
| 16 | Army (4-0) | American | South Dakota St (3-1/148) | MVC |
| 17 | Notre Dame (4-1) | IND | UC Davis (4-1/149) | Big Sky |
| 18 | James Madison (4-0) | Sun Belt | Villanova (4-1/151) | CAA |
| 19 | UNLV (4-0) | MWC | New Hampshire (3-1/152) | CAA |
| 20 | Illinois (4-1) | Big Ten | Dayton (3-1/153) | Pioneer |
| 21 | Georgia (3-1) | SEC | McNeese (4-2/154) | Southland |
| 22 | Nebraska (4-1) | Big Ten | Davidson (3-1/155) | Pioneer |
| 23 | Colorado (4-1) | Big 12 | Idaho (3-2/157) | Big Sky |
| 24 | Mississippi (4-1) | SEC | Rhode Island (3-1/158) | CAA |
| 25 | Navy (4-0) | American | Abilene Christian (3-2/159) | UAC |
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The number after the record of the FCS teams is the overall ranking. Keep in mind there are 134 FBS teams. The worst FBS team is Air Force (ranked 156) who would just barely make the FCS top 25. So, according to the GCR Mercer is the FCS equivalent to Texas so far this season. I kind of like this look, so I’ll do it after each month.
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The final cut is an old standard for the GCR. A few times a year, I compare all of the conferences to each other and rank them by average (mean) GCR rank. So far, this season, the Big Ten has just edged out the SEC (despite the SEC holding the top 2 spots individually). Coincidentally, there are 25 conferences by that definition so here’s the Division I Top 25. Check out every conference (including the 2 independent groups) below.
| Conf (Teams) | Record | Non-Conf Record | Avg Rank | Best Team | Worst Team |
| Big Ten (18) | 56-24 (.700) | 42-10 (.808) | 39.22 | Ohio St (4-0/3) | Purdue (1-3/92) |
| SEC (16) | 52-21 (.712) | 39-8 (.830) | 39.88 | Texas (5-0/1) | Auburn (2-3/97) |
| Big 12 (16) | 49-26 (.653) | 33-10 (.767) | 43.94 | Iowa St (4-0/5) | Kansas (1-4/96) |
| ACC (17) | 52-25 (.675) | 40-13 (.755) | 48.76 | Miami FL (5-0/8) | Wake Forest (1-3/113) |
| Pac 12 (2) | 7-2 (.778) | 7-2 (.778) | 63.00 | Washington St (4-1/53) | Oregon St (3-1/73) |
| FBS Independents (3) | 8-7 (.533) | 8-7 (.533) | 71.67 | Notre Dame (4-1/17) | UMASS (1-4/131) |
| American (14) | 35-32 (.522) | 25-22 (.532) | 87.07 | Army (4-0/16) | Rice (1-4/133) |
| MAC (12) | 23-31 (.476) | 19-27 (.413) | 96.25 | E Michigan (4-1/61) | W Michigan (1-3/132) |
| Sun Belt (14) | 31-28 (.525) | 28-25 (.528) | 97.29 | James Madison (4-0/18) | Southern Miss (1-3/150) |
| Conference USA (10) | 17-28 (.378) | 12-23 (.343) | 99.40 | Liberty (4-0/35) | LA Tech (1-3/144) |
| Mountain West (12) | 24-28 (.462) | 20-24 (.455) | 102.17 | UNLV (4-0/19) | Air Force (1-3/156) |
| Missouri Valley (11) | 27-23 (.540) | 23-19 (.548) | 176.00 | North Dakota (4-1/136) | Indiana St (1-3/253) |
| Colonial (16) | 41-33 (.554) | 31-23 (.574) | 184.31 | Delaware (4-0/121) | Bryant (1-3/254) |
| Big Sky (12) | 28-30 (.483) | 22-24 (.478) | 187.75 | Montana St (5-0/114) | E Washington (1-4/255) |
| Ivy (8) | 10-6 (.625) | 8-4 (.667) | 192.38 | Dartmouth (2-0/135) | Yale (1-1/239) |
| United Athletic (9) | 19-26 (.422) | 12-19 (.387) | 193.67 | C Arkansas (4-1/137) | West Georgia (1-3/262) |
| Southern (9) | 16-22 (.424) | 12-18 (.400) | 197.22 | Mercer (5-0/110) | Samford (1-2/236) |
| Big South/ Ohio Valley (9) | 17-25 (.405) | 12-20 (.375) | 199.67 | SEMO (4-1/142) | Charleston (1-3/252) |
| Pioneer (11) | 24-22 (.522) | 20-18 (.526) | 200.82 | Butler (4-0/120) | St Thomas (1-3/263) |
| Southland (9) | 15-27 (.357) | 14-26 (.350) | 203.78 | McNeese (4-2/154) | Commerce (0-4/248) |
| Patriot (7) | 13-21 (.382) | 12-20 (.375) | 206.14 | Lehigh (3-2/162) | Colgate (1-4/257) |
| SWAC (12) | 20-34 (.370) | 12-26 (.316) | 210.42 | Jackson St (3-2/160) | Texas Southern (1-3/250) |
| MEAC (6) | 12-18 (.400) | 11-17 (.393) | 213.00 | NC Central (3-2/172) | Delaware St (1-4/261) |
| Northeast (8) | 11-24 (.314) | 8-21 (.276) | 223.63 | Duquesne (2-2/167) | Mercyhurst (1-4/259) |
| FCS Independents (2) | 3-7 (.300) | 3-7 (.300) | 236.50 | Merrimack (1-4/235) | Sacred Heart (2-3/238) |
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That’s it for this exploration. Tune in tomorrow for this week’s G’s Expectations where there is a new addition to the predictions. As always, thank you for reading and especially sharing with others, G
