Best of the rest

Pundits are debating which undefeated team is the best and who deserves to go to the Rose Bowl if more than two teams are perfect. Let the others argue about the unbeatens. I’ll dive into who I think the best one loss, two loss, three loss, four loss, five loss, six loss and winless teams are.

Best One Loss Team: Miami. The 'Canes lost a close one early. If that snap is good, I think they beat Florida State. Since that game, their offense has gotten much better and their defense has held up. They are about to enter another tough stretch. If they win out they’ll be in a BCS game.

Best Two Loss Team: Notre Dame. There are a lot of candidates for this title. The Irish may be getting too much credit for almost beating USC, but I really think they can hang with anyone. Their defense is not championship caliber, but they score in bunches.

Best Three Loss Team: Michigan. Every three-loss team has a stinker in their past. So when I was picking the best three loss team I went with the one that has the most quality wins. Michigan beat a good Penn State team and a pretty good Iowa team. They also handed Michigan State their first loss. Michigan is too good for moral victories, but they can take some solace that all three losses were close.

Best Four Loss Team: Vanderbilt. They’ve lost four in a row. They may not win again this year. But they could be 6-2 right now. They can’t be taken for granted anymore and that is a big step for the Commodores.

Best Five Loss Team: Wake Forest. Now I might be showing my ACC bias here, but Wake is a tough team. Nebraska was the only game they weren’t in. They gave FSU a fight. They should’ve beaten us. I think they’ll pull off another upset before the year is out.

Best Six Loss Team: Army. If you’ve lost six games, you’re pretty bad. There is no getting around it. So I tried to figure out who could scare the most people. My vote -- Army. Ross doesn’t have the talent of some of the other bad teams, but his guys play hard and will improve down the strech.

Best winless Team: Temple. The pickings are slim here. I give Temple the honor because they have a killer schedule. Many teams would be winless if they had to play Miami, Wisconsin, Maryland and Clemson. Once they are officially in the MAC, they’ll start their long turnaround.