UCLA played in "Week 0" and Week One of the 2021 college football season, and by winning both games against FBS opponents, the Bruins are now in the lead for securing one of the four College Football Playoff spots.
More than just winning, UCLA also won each game by 9+ points. This makes them what I call "convincing" wins; a win of 1-8 points could be attributed to a fluke bounce of the football or a poor call by the officials, but when you win by two possessions, that's strong evidence that you were, indeed, the better team that day.
At this point, we really have little else to go on to rank teams. Aside from the 9+ point standard, I don't reward margin of victory because as games get out of hand, personnel decisions by coaching staffs on both sides may vary. And does it matter if you beat a bad team by 30 or 50?
There is another 2-0 team, UTEP (Texas-El Paso), although its second game was against an FCS opponent. It did handle its Week 0 FBS opponent with a 9+ point win. So, I'll put them at #2.
There are 30 teams that:
Are 1-0, having played an FBS opponent.
Won by 9+ points.
In lieu of my own Top 25, I'll just list them all. At this time, they have a leg up on other teams, even if Notre Dame's overtime win against Florida State, for example, might be more beneficial to the Irish down the road than, say, Pitt's 51-7 drubbing of UMass is beneficial to Pitt.
For now, however, Pitt's tied for #3 along with 30 other teams. As the season goes on and schedule strength reveals itself, things will narrow down and actual rankings will take shape.
But for now, here are the teams with the best start to the season. The 30 teams tied at #3 are listed alphabetically.
UCLA 2-0
UTEP 2-0 (1 FCS)
Air Force 1-0
Alabama 1-0
Appalachian State 1-0
Arkansas 1-0
Army 1-0
Auburn 1-0
Baylor 1-0
Cincinnati 1-0
Florida 1-0
Iowa 1-0
Kansas State 1-0
Kentucky 1-0
Marshall 1-0
Michigan 1-0 KO
Michigan State 1-0
Missouri 1-0
NC State 1-0
Ohio State 1-0
Ole Miss 1-0
Pitt 1-0
Purdue 1-0
Rutgers 1-0
San Diego State 1-0
South Alabama 1-0
Syracuse 1-0
Tennessee 1-0
Texas 1-0
Texas A&M 1-0
Texas Tech 1-0
USC 1-0
At the bottom of the barrel are Colorado State, Tulsa, UConn, UNLV, Vanderbilt, and (most surprising of all) Washington, who all lost to FCS teams. It's unlikely they'll get selected to the Playoff no matter how well they play from now on; how can you be the best in the FBS if you can't beat a team in the FCS?
James Leroy Wilson writes from Nebraska. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. If you find value in his articles, subscribe and exchange value for value. Your support through Paypal helps keep him going. You may contact him for your writing, editing, and research needs: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.
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