The ACC was this week’s big loser part 2. The Pac 12 is starting to gain ground on the SEC, and the Big 10 is back in the playoff mix.
We’ll give each conference a relative strength value 1-10.
1) SEC – 9
The SEC West is awesome. I mean it’s as good as any division in recent history. The SEC East is um well mediocre pretty much. Missouri is leading the SEC East. Missouri lost at home to one of the Big 10′s worst teams in Indiana. South Carolina can’t win at home. Vanderbilt is terrible. Tennessee got ran out of Oklahoma, but nearly won Athens against Georgia. I wonder if SEC is considering swapping teams because there is that big a difference in the quality of teams between the two divisions.
The SEC West has some fun games next week. Texas A&M/Miss State, LSU/Auburn, and Ole Miss/Alabama which should start creating some separation there.
Playoff Contenders
Alabama, Texas A&M, Auburn
Darkhorses
Ole Miss, Georgia, Mississippi St., LSU
2) Pac 12 – 8
The Pac 12 kept things in conference this week, but a couple of interesting things happened. UCLA finally woke up and became the team many of us thought it could it be going to Arizona St. and destroying the Sun Devils. Stanford and USC also picked up solid wins over Washington and Oregon St. That gives the Pac 12, several quality teams at the top of the conference. This is a good football conference with solid depth.
If Stanford can beat Notre Dame, the Pac 12 will move a little bit closer to the SEC. There’s better balance in this conference between the divisions than in the SEC.
Playoff Contenders
Oregon, UCLA
Darkhorses
Stanford
3) Big 12 – 7.5
Not much change for the Big 12 this week, but I think we are seeing just how deep the Big 12 is. Kansas St. destroyed a decent UTEP team, and TCU clobbered SMU. Oklahoma St. is looking like a legit Top 25 team after beating Texas Tech.
Next week Oklahoma heads to TCU in a game that suddenly looks very interesting.
Playoff Contenders
Oklahoma, Baylor
Darkhorses
Kansas State, Oklahoma St., TCU
4) ACC – 5.5
The ACC continues to slip down these rankings, after struggling for the 2nd week in a row. Pittsburgh suffered an ugly loss to Akron at home, and Boston College was beat, also at home, but Colorado St. Duke lost to Miami, which gives the ACC only two remaining undefeated teams, (FSU and Georgia Tech). Florida State is the only remaining ranked team. That’s not good for the conference.
Georgia Tech gets a chance to prove they are for real when they host Miami next week. Clemson is on the verge of re-rentering the rankings if they can beat a rapidly improving NC State team.
Playoff Contenders
Florida State
Darkhorses
NONE
5) Big 10 – 5
Penn State losing at home to a mediocre Northwestern team was not good for the Big 10. What is good for the Big 10, is Michigan St. is squarely in the thick of the playoff chase again. Ohio State seems to have put the debacle against Virginia Tech behind them. I think this conference has 1 very good team (Michigan St.) and three solid ones (Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska).
Nebraska goes to Michigan St. next week. If you want a Big 10 team in the playoff chase, root for the Spartans. If the ACC can’t start separating itself, and the Big 10 does, eventually the Big 10 will overtake the ACC in these rankings.
Playoff Contenders
Michigan St.
Darkhorses
Wisconsin, Nebraska
The Rest
Is Notre Dame ready to move from darkhorse status to contender? They get their chance when they host Stanford this week. BYU plays tricky Utah St. and needs to continue to win to have any shot.
Playoff Contenders
NONE
Darkhorses
BYU, Notre Dame
