Four undefeated teams looking for playoff validation play away from home this weekend. Will they survive?

Four undefeated teams looking for playoff validation hit the road this weekend. Will they survive?
Four undefeated teams looking for playoff validation play away from home this weekend. Will they survive?
Four undefeated teams looking for playoff validation play away from home this weekend. Will they survive? /

Four teams looking to prove that they belong in the College Football Playoff conversation face daunting road tests on Saturday.

Undefeated Nebraska travels to Madison, Wisc., to face one of the nation's top defenses in a crucial game between Big Ten West contenders. In another pivotal Big Ten matchup, undefeated Michigan will visit East Lansing, Mich., to face in-state rival Michigan State a year after the Spartans stunned the Wolverines on a wild final sequence.

In the ACC, two teams projected in the preseason to compete for playoff spots, Clemson and Florida State, will meet at Doak Campbell Stadium—with the Seminoles looking to spoil the undefeated Tigers' CFP hopes. And in the Pac-12, undefeated Washington will look to validate its 7-0 start by beating Pac-12 South title threat Utah in Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The four road teams may survive their respective trips this weekend with their undefeated records intact, but there's a good chance at least one of them will suffer its first loss.

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Published
Andy Staples
ANDY STAPLES

Senior writer Andy Staples has covered college football for SI since 2008, developing an encyclopedic index of the best food in every college town along the way.