Keeping up with another Jones, Plus: who owns college football's championship belt?

 

Image: Torsten Bolten

In this Issue:

• NFL MVP Chase Update

• College Football's Championship Belt

• FBS Playoff eliminations and rankings

NFL MVP Chase

Three weeks ago, I noted the success of Daniel "Indiana" Jones. We should also note the success of another Jones that most quarterbacks would like to keep up with: Mac of the 49ers. In the 2021 draft, it was rumored that the 49ers coveted Mac Jones and traded up for the third spot to get him. However, they changed their mind, fearing backlash because Jones wasn't perceived to have the athleticism popularly desired for the position.

The 49ers drafted Trey Lance instead, who didn't work out. Eventually, they landed on Brock Purdy with the last pick overall of the 2022 draft and nearly won the 2023 Super Bowl with him. Mac Jones, meanwhile, was drafted by the Patriots and had a successful rookie season, leading them to the playoffs. His career was derailed after head coach Bill Belichick's decision to hand offensive coaching duties to Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, who had been defensive and special teams coaches.

That decision is one of the reasons why Belichick is no longer in the NFL. 2022 and 2023 didn't go well for Mac Jones, and he played for the Jaguars in 2024, filling in for an injured Trevor Lawrence. The 49ers acquired him for this season to back up Purdy. Purdy, however, has been out with a toe injury, and Jones is 3-0 as a starter, playing at an MVP level in each game.  

It's a vindication for the 49ers and coach Kyle Shanahan, whose offensive system doesn't need a Josh Allen-type physical talent to win a lot of games and make Super Bowls. They almost won a Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo, almost won one with Purdy, who got the job after filling in for an injured Garoppolo, and now are winning with Jones. If a team can still win when its starting quarterback goes down, perhaps other teams should emulate that roster construction and playbook. 

College Football's Championship Belt

Although it had crossed my mind in previous weeks of this season, it wasn't until this week that I got around to checking who college football's lineal champion is,the current "championship belt" holder. In 1869, Rutgers beat Princeton in the first intercollegiate football game ever played. Therefore, Rutgers was the first "champion." They had a rematch a couple of weeks later, which Princeton won. As other colleges formed teams in the following years, one of them eventually beat Princeton and became the lineal champion. The first team that beat them then became the champion, and so on and so on until the present day.

I first looked into it in January 2013 at The Partial Observer (partialobserver.com on the Wayback Machine). One reason I was curious is the likelihood that the championship ended up in what are now the small-college ranks (West Virginia Wesleyan once held the belt) or even a school that no longer plays football. Around that time, someone else produced a spreadsheet with the history for Reddit, and there were discrepancies with my timeline. I also recently encountered another listing with still other discrepancies. We all made errors, as some old college football scores were hard to find. 

A fourth timeline, the Hatch Rankings, is the most accurate; it is correct where the others, including myself, made errors (mainly in the 1920s-30s). Based on it, the current belt holder is Miami (FL), having beaten the previous champion, South Florida, on September 13. The Hurricanes are undefeated; if they remain so and enter the College Football Playoff, then this year's National Champion will also be the Lineal Champion. That has happened several times before, but it is not a common occurrence. 

I wish there were a "belt" or some sort of trophy that accompanies the current lineal champion to its next game. It would honor college football's history, add some intrigue, and create new bragging rights for schools: How many times has my alma mater been the champion? How many successful title defenses do we have?

FBS Playoffs Update

Here are another nine teams that I've eliminated from consideration for the College Football Playoff. As more teams drop to four losses, they'll be added. However, I will continue to eliminate teams that got stomped, even if their win-loss record might otherwise indicate they are still in contention.

Air Force (1-4)

Boise State (3-2); lost by 21 to Notre Dame; humiliated by South Florida earlier in the year

Boston College: (1-4)

Charlotte (1-4)

Colorado (2-4)

Kansas State: (2-4)

Minnesota (3-2); lost by 39 to Ohio State

Nevada: (1-4)

Tulsa (2-4)

Teams previously eliminated:

Akron, Arkansas, Arkansas St, Army, Appalachian St, Ball St, California, Central Michigan, Coastal Carolina, Eastern Mich, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Georgia Southern, Georgia St, Illinois, Kennesaw St, Kent St, Liberty, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Marshall, Massachusetts, Middle Tenn, Missouri St, Nevada, New Mexico St, North Carolina, Oklahoma St, Oregon St, Purdue, Sam Houston, South Alabama, Stanford, Syracuse, Temple, Tulane, UAB, UCLA, UTEP, Virginia Tech, Washington State, West Virginia, Western Michigan, Wisconsin

Ranking the Undefeateds

This ranking is based, first, on the strength of schedule, which is determined by the number of FBS wins that a team's opponents have. Where teams are tied on that count, I rank the team that has been more dominant (although I don't reward rolling up the score):

1. Texas A&M

2. Indiana

3. Ohio St.

4. Ole Miss

5. Miami (FL)

6. Oklahoma

7. Georgia Tech

8. Missouri

9. BYU

10. North Texas

11. Texas Tech

12. Memphis

13. Navy

14. Oregon

15. UNLV

There are eleven more teams that are one score away from being undefeated. I'll rank them this way:

16. LSU: lost to undefeated Ole Miss

17. Maryland: lost to one-loss Washington

18. Nebraska: lost to one-loss Michigan

19. Cincinnati: lost to one-loss Nebraska

20. Georgia: lost to one-loss Alabama

21. Tennessee: lost to one-loss Georgia

22. Arizona State: lost to two-loss Mississippi State

23. TCU: lost to one-loss Arizona State

24. Virginia: lost to two-loss NC State

25. Louisville: lost to one-loss Virginia

26. USC: lost to one-loss Illinois (which had lost by 59 points to Indiana)

And then five teams have one loss and are two scores away from being undefeated.

27. Michigan: lost by 11 to undefeated Oklahoma

28. Old Dominion: lost by 13 to undefeated Indiana

29. Iowa State: lost by 8 to one-loss Cincinnati

30. James Madison: lost by 14 to one-loss Louisville

31. Alabama: lost by 14 to two-loss Florida State

Consider it a horse race with 136 participants, not quite at the halfway mark. Other teams are still in contention, but don't deserve to be ranked right now.

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Contact James Leroy Wilson for writing, editing, research, and other work at jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com. Visit JL Cells for my non-sports writing.