Three unbeaten teams are still standing in the FBS as Halloween weekend arrives, and the race to stay perfect has narrowed to Miami, Utah and UCLA.
All three enter Week 9 with 7-0 records, but their paths to 12-0 look very different. Miami has the most recognizable pedigree after reaching the College Football Playoff championship game last season.
Utah was already viewed as a Big 12 threat before the year started. UCLA is the wild card, the surprise team of the bunch after going 8-16 across its first two Big Ten seasons and now tracking toward its first College Football Playoff appearance.
Indiana finished last season with a perfect 16-0 run to the national title. Whether any of these three can even get close to that kind of finish starts with the next five weeks.
Miami’s final stretch is the one that jumps off the page first. The No.
1 Hurricanes close with a trip to North Carolina, a visit to No. 5 Notre Dame, then three straight at home against Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
Their opponents have a combined 25-11 record, and the toughest test is clear: Notre Dame on Nov. 7.
That game carries extra weight because of what happened last year, when the teams played a 27-24 thriller that shaped the College Football Playoff picture. Miami also hasn’t won at Notre Dame Stadium since 1984, and it is expected to go in as the underdog.
Still, this Miami team has put together a serious case for being better than last year’s group. Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney have been almost unstoppable together, with Toney catching 66 of 74 targets for an FBS-best 89.2% catch rate, according to Pro Football Focus.
Mensah has been even sharper in the intermediate game, going 41 of 49 for 703 yards, 10 touchdowns and no interceptions on passes between 10 and 19 yards. Miami’s offense is averaging 49 points per game, tops in the FBS, and the defense has added 20 sacks.
Mario Cristobal has the Hurricanes playing with the kind of consistency that keeps them in the hunt every week.
The real danger for Miami may be less about the marquee game in South Bend and more about the kind of ACC slip-up that can wreck a perfect season. That starts in Week 9 at North Carolina, now led by Bill Belichick. Miami does, however, get its last three games at home.
Utah’s climb to 7-0 has been quieter, but the numbers say this is a team built to last. The Utes’ remaining schedule includes trips to Cincinnati, Arizona and TCU, plus home games against No.
8 BYU and West Virginia. Their opponents have combined for a 25-11 record.
The stat sheet is impressive on both sides. Utah is one of only four FBS teams ranking in the top 15 in both scoring offense and scoring defense, putting up 37.4 points per game while allowing just 14.6.
The other three are Miami, No. 2 Ohio State and No.
5 Notre Dame.
Morgan Scalley’s team has been carried by a balanced profile, with Devon Dampier sitting 24th nationally in total offense at 280.6 yards per game. He just delivered a season-high 150 rushing yards in the 21-13 win over Houston on Oct.
- On defense, Utah ranks sixth in the nation in passing efficiency defense, and safeties Jackson Bennee and Rabbit Evans have two interceptions apiece.
The looming question is how this team handles November. Utah went 4-0 in November last season, but the year before that it finished 1-3 in the final month. That stretch could decide whether Scalley can guide the Utes to the Big 12 championship game for the first time.
The first loss, though, might come at home against BYU on Nov. 7.
Utah has dropped the last three in the “Holy War,” including the controversial 22-21 loss at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2024. The Utes also have three road games remaining, beginning with Cincinnati, and they average 29 points per game on the road.
They can absolutely survive with one loss - but that kind of result could get messy in a Big 12 tiebreaker race.
Then there is UCLA, the team nobody would have expected to be here in the first place. The Bruins have turned into the Big Ten’s surprise heavyweight behind first-year coach Bob Chesney, and their formula is brutally simple: run the ball, hit hard, take it away.
UCLA’s final five games feature Nevada, a road trip to Minnesota, Illinois at home, Michigan on the road and USC to close. Their opponents are 22-14 combined.
The Bruins lead the Big Ten with 231 rushing yards per game, a number that matters because the conference champion has led the league in rushing in four of the last six seasons, including national title teams Michigan in 2023 and Indiana in 2025.
Wayne Knight and Anthony Woods have been the engine. Knight has 627 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, while Woods has added 459 yards and six scores. On defense, SN Midseason All-Americans Sammy Omosigho and Tai'Shawn James have anchored a unit allowing 14.6 points per game in Big Ten play, and UCLA leads the FBS with 10 fumble recoveries.
The biggest question is whether quarterback Ty Dieffenbach can keep the offense moving. He ranks 16th in the Big Ten at 7.2 yards per pass attempt, and that passing game may be what determines whether UCLA can reach the Big Ten championship game.
As for the first crack in the Bruins’ unbeaten run, the safest pick is Nov. 21 at Michigan. Minnesota and USC could also cause problems, but the trip to Ann Arbor looks like the toughest matchup left, especially with weather potentially in play against the best remaining defense on the schedule. The Wolverines could take advantage in what might become part of their own chaos-filled Big Ten season.
In Other News...
UCLAs Bob Chesney Has The Bruins Chasing More Than A Turnaround
Bob Chesney has UCLA rolling in a way few saw coming after last season's disappointment, and the first-year Bruins coach has quickly turned the program into one of the more surprising stories in the conference. Coming over after success at James Madison, Chesney has guided a team that has had to navigate injuries and other setbacks while still finding ways to keep winning, giving UCLA a very different kind of momentum than it had a year ago.
The larger question now is how far this can go. With the Bruins suddenly in the conversation for a conference championship appearance and even a College Football Playoff berth, the season has shifted from simple rebound project to something much bigger, and Chesney's ability to keep the group steady through adversity will be central to whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]
UCLAs Playoff Push Now Rides On Ty Dieffenbach
The quarterback change has turned UCLAs stretch run into something closer to a referendum on the offenses ceiling. With Nico Iamaleava sidelined by a left knee injury, Ty Dieffenbach has stepped into the starting role, and the Bruins attack has looked different since the switch. For a team still trying to keep its late-season ambitions alive, that matters as much as any single result.
What comes next is a brutal proving ground, with several defenses on the schedule that will test whether UCLA can keep pace in the Big Ten race. The Bruins are still aiming to stay in the hunt for the conference title game and, with it, the larger conversation around the College Football Playoff, but the path now runs through a far less forgiving kind of weekly pressure. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA Faces A Sneaky Test That Could Expose Any Slowdown
Nevada heads to the Rose Bowl with a 3-4 record, but the matchup still carries a little more bite than a casual glance suggests. UCLA is back in a spot where the details matter, and this one will ask the Bruins to keep their offense balanced against a defense that can make life uncomfortable through the air.
Wayne Knight adds another layer to the storyline after getting banged up against Michigan State, leaving his availability in question for Saturday. If he cannot go, UCLA will need other backs to absorb the workload and keep the ground game on schedule, because a slow start or a one-dimensional approach could make this feel tighter than expected. [Read more 🡒]