Perfection Is Profitable: The Unlikely Teams Turning Saturdays Into Gold
College football’s final six perfect résumés belong to Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, BYU, and Navy; and every single one of them got there in a different way. Ohio State is a familiar powerhouse, 7-0 behind quarterback Julian Sayin’s 1,872 passing yards, freshman WR Jeremiah Smith’s 602 receiving yards, and ranked number two in the nation’s scoring defense. Indiana is the shocker: the Hoosiers are 8-0 because Cal transfer Fernando Mendoza has thrown 24 touchdowns to just three picks and sits top-five nationally in QBR. Texas A&M, now 8-0, just went into Baton Rouge and dropped 49 on LSU with Marcel Reed accounting for four TDs and 310 total yards, their best start since 1992. Rounding it out are the climbers; Georgia Tech at 8-0 after blasting Syracuse 41-16, BYU is at 8-0 due to true-freshman Bear Bachmeier, and Navy at 7-0, steamrolling people for 318 rushing yards a game.
Only Ohio State and BYU are used to breathing this air; the Buckeyes have stacked playoff trips and NFL pipelines for decades, while BYU still flashes LaVell Edwards’ 1984 national title and a modern QB factory to recruits. Georgia Tech hasn’t seen a launch like this in 30-plus years, so Brent Key suddenly has a recruiting story that stretches from Atlanta to South Florida. Indiana, long a basketball school with a football revenue gap, now gets to tell donors it deserves top-five-program facilities because the TV numbers and Heisman buzz say so. Texas A&M, unbeaten in the SEC, can finally argue its huge investment in staff and facilities is being matched on the field, which quiets boosters and supercharges the 12th Man NIL arm. As for Navy — 7-0 for just the fifth time ever — can leverage national exposure to attract more service-minded athletes and upgrades to sports-science operations. That ripple, program to program, is real.
What does 0 in the loss column actually buy these six? Optics — and optics turn into cooperatives with deeper pockets and brands that want to ride momentum. Ohio State and A&M can walk into living rooms and say, “Our NIL is already delivering, and winning keeps the checks big,” a powerful pitch when portal stars start shopping. Indiana, Tech, and BYU can show recruits that undefeated Octobers mean prime-time windows, Heisman chatter, and social spikes that make local dealership money or creator collabs far easier. Even service-academy prospects will notice that the Navy’s 37 points per game and national ranking have made it a TV staple, which helps them build military-adjacent NIL in the new rules era. In 2025, perfection isn’t just a trophy chase — it’s the most valuable marketing campaign a college football program can run, boosting ticket sales, merch, and donor heat. Sustained winning keeps everyone’s phones ringing.
