College football always had a rhythm to its season. The pretenders of September give way to the contenders of October, then November is a race to the finish line, which now includes conference championship games in December.
And that rhythm always has included the timeless attribute of being unbeaten. Think of the phrases that have resulted from that rhythm.
Battle of unbeatens. Unbeaten and untied, in those glorious old days when seven-overtime games were not possible. Knocked from the ranks of the unbeatens.
Unbeaten was a status, an exclusive club. College football pollsters rewarded unbeatens. Brigham Young, then from the Western Athletic Conference, won the 1984 national title by going unbeaten.