The last team that went unbeaten and untied, including a bowl game, and didn’t win at least a share of the national championship was Arizona State in 1975.
The Sun Devils, then a member of the Western Athletic Conference, won all 11 regular-season games, then beat a 10-1 Nebraska team in the Fiesta Bowl, 17-14. But the consensus title went to defending champ Oklahoma (11-1). The Sooners defeated Michigan (8-2-2) in the Orange Bowl, 14-6, after beating Nebraska in the regular-season finale, 35-10.
The same thing that happened to Arizona State could happen to Nebraska.
The Cornhuskers are 10-0, with a Nov. 26 home game left with Oklahoma (8-2). They’re No. 2 in the coaches’ poll, just ahead of Florida State (9-1), which was No. 1 before losing Saturday at then-No. 2 Notre Dame, 31-24. They’re third in the Associated Press writers’ rankings, just behind FSU, and also No. 3 in the one that counts, the combined bowl coalition poll.
Should FSU win against North Carolina State and at Florida to remain No. 2 and should the Fighting Irish beat visiting Boston College this weekend and stay at No. 1, they would be committed to a rematch in the Fiesta Bowl under the coalition agreement. Nebraska wouldn’t get a shot at top-rated Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl unless the Huskers leapfrog over Florida State into the No. 2 spot.
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A lot of stuff could happen between now and Jan. 1. But if Notre Dame and FSU do meet again, there is no way Nebraska can finish No. 1.
“I’m not comfortable (with the situation),” Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said. “The ideal way to settle it is on the field with a playoff, but we can’t seem to come up with a format everyone can agree with.”