Lately there has been a lot of discussion concerning who the best one loss team in the country is. USC seems to be getting the majority of the support and other than the fact that “USC” is on their jerseys I can not figure out why. The only teams that can even be considered for that title at this point are USC and Virginia Tech, and in my mind, the best one loss team in the country at this point is Virginia Tech, in a land slide.
Virginia Tech is 5-1, beating Marshall, Nebraska, Miami, Duke and Boston College. None of those teams have a losing record, and they have combined for a record of 19-9. Two of the teams, Miami and Nebraska are 4-1, meaning they have not lost to anyone other than the Hokies. If you count the only game that Tech lost, their opponents this season have a combined record of 24-9. USC, on the other hand has beaten San Jose State, Ohio State, Washington State and California. Those teams have a combined record of 10-12, with Ohio State accounting for half of those wins.
Virginia Tech’s one loss came to a vastly superior opponent than did USC’s. Virginia Tech was leading in the fourth quarter against an Alabama team that is currently 6-0 and that many (myself included) think is the best team in the country. The Hokies scored 24 points against The Tide, more than any other team this season and almost double the 12.5 points per game Alabama’s defense is averaging this season.
USC’s lone loss came to Washington, who lost all twelve games they played last year. This year Washington is 3-3 and when playing teams not called the Trojans they are giving up over 31 points per game. USC managed only 13, ten points less than the Idaho Vandals scored against the Huskies the week before.
There is plenty of football left to be played. This week Virginia Tech plays at 19th ranked Georgia Tech, and if they navigate the rest of their schedule they will still have to play in the ACC championship game. USC plays 25th ranked Notre Dame on Saturday and still has to go to Oregon. It is not a given that either team will have only one loss at the end of the season. It is also not a given that Texas, Florida, Alabama, Cincinnati, USF, Iowa and Kansas will all lose one game. They are all undefeated at the moment, and neither the Hokies nor the Trojans could pass any of those teams, should any of them finish the season with a perfect record, so this discussion may prove to be unnecessary. For now, however, I think it’s clear that the Virginia Tech Hokies have done enough this season to be recognized as the better team.