College Football’s Conference Power Rankings (Week #5)
By Corey Hunter
#5 – Big Ten (5, ↑):
This past weekend, the league finally started to resemble the conference that many of us who follow the league have come to know. Wisconsin, while absorbing a tough loss at Nebraska, started to look like its old self, while up-and-coming teams such as Northwestern, Penn State, and Purdue have been playing well, too.
Right now, Ohio State seems to be the class of the Leaders Division as they and Northwestern of the Legends Division are the only teams that remain unbeaten overall. Northwestern travels to Penn State while Nebraska goes to Ohio State this weekend in what should both be good ball games.
Michigan State and Michigan have both struggled to live up to the preseason hype, but they are still strong. It will be interesting to see how they each respond coming off of losses.
A surprise team to keep your eye on is the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue has not played a league game yet. They will open their slate at home this weekend when they host Michigan.
As it stands now, I would expect 6-7 teams to be bowl eligible: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan State, Minnesota (possibly) [NOTE: Penn State and Ohio State are ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions]
Way Too Early Conference Title Game Projections:
Legends Division – Nebraska
Leaders Division – Wisconsin
Conference Champion – Nebraska
#4 – Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) [4, ↓]:
The conference took a bit of a hit this past weekend as some of its projected leaders in the Coastal Division, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech were upended. Miami (FL) and head coach Al Golden continue to surprise as they remain undefeated in league play. They are now 3-0 in the league and 4-1 overall with their only loss coming at Kansas State.
in the Atlantic Division, Florida State and Clemson continue to pace the way. Both the Seminoles and the Tigers got tough tests this past weekend, but they were able to come through those games without a loss. The Atlantic Division looks like its Florida State’s to lose while the Coastal Division could come down to Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech when they meet up on Thursday November 1st in Miami.
The down part about this conference is when one gets past the top 1 or 2 teams in each division, the rest of the league just isn’t that good. In the Atlantic Division, Florida State and Clemson pace the way. In the Coastal Division, Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech lead. After that its a who’s who of second tier teams.
As it stands now, I would expect 6-8 teams to be bowl eligible: Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina State, Miami (FL), Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest (possibly), Duke (possibly)
Way Too Early Conference Title Game Projections:
Atlantic Division – Florida State
Coastal Division – Miami
Conference Champion – Florida State
#3 – PAC-12 (3, –):
This league presents a “Catch-22”, they are a very good and solid league, but they don’t have the overall depth of the SEC or Big 12, but they are significantly better then the Big Ten or ACC. So, right now the league is in a holding pattern in the #3 spot.
Oregon State continues to surprise in the PAC-12 North. This division also featured an upset last Thursday night at the Washington Huskies took out the previously unbeaten Stanford Cardinal. The loss by Stanford now puts the Beavers of Oregon State in a prime position to take out their in-state rivals, the Oregon Ducks in the annual Civil War game on Saturday November 24th. Also, the Beavers and the Ducks remain the PAC-12 North’s only unbeaten teams overall.
On the opposite end of things, the Cal Bears have been surprisingly bad this season. They have 1 win on the year and that was against an FCS school. The Bears have been in every game that they have played, they just can’t find a way to get the win. The have lost close games to Nevada, Ohio State, USC, and Arizona State. Head Coach Jeff Tedford ought to be feeling a rather warm seat these days!
In the PAC-12 South, Arizona State leads the division with a 2-0 mark while UCLA, USC, and Colorado follow behind with a 1-1 mark. The surprise of that division might be the 0-2 mark for Arizona. It was a mere two short weeks ago that Arizona was ranked in the top-25 and playing Oregon for a chance to flex their muscles in the conference. Boy, what a difference two weeks makes. Oregon shutout the Wildcats, and then last week, Arizona lost to Oregon State by a field goal.
This is a league where, because there are so many games left to play, its likely to see changes within the standings of each league. Don’t be surprised to see Oregon and Oregon State battle it out for the PAC-12 North while USC still looks solid to win the PAC-12 South. Teams vying for the division besides USC are UCLA, Arizona, and Arizona State. The titanic clash of division powers, USC and Oregon, occurs on Saturday November 3rd. It ought to be a great game!
As it stands now, I would expect 8 teams to be bowl eligible: Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State
Way Too Early Conference Title Game Projections:
North Division – Oregon
South Division – USC
Conference Champion – USC
#2 – Big 12 (2, –):
The Big 12 gave us some of the most entertaining and high-scoring games of the year. In the afternoon, Baylor and West Virginia engaged in a battle that featured, absolutely no defense. I don’t even think I could amass as many yards passing and TDs on Madden ’13 that Geno Smith or Nick Florence had in the game. Tavon Austin also had a record-setting day catching passes to the tune of 303 yards. Absolutely amazing!
In the other high-scoring, yet entertaining tilt, was Texas narrowly defeating Oklahoma State. This game went back-and-forth until the very end when Texas was able to get a late TD to pull out the dramatic win.
Texas Tech remains the surprise team in the league. They are 1-0 in the league and 4-0 overall. Not many peope predicted that the Red Raiders would be contenders for the Big 12. Its still early, but it is good to see Tommy Tuberville getting his squad around faster than people predicted. We will see how good Texas Tech really is because they host the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend. A win there, and they could become a real dark horse in the league.
The other big game of the weekend involves Texas and West Virginia. The Mountaineers travel to Austin to take on the Longhorns. As I said last week, the winner of this league will be the one that is left standing at the end. I would not be surprised to see everyone in the conference with 1 loss; the league is that deep and filled with that many good teams!
As it stands now, I would expect 9 teams to be bowl eligible: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia, TCU, Iowa State, Kansas State, Baylor
Way Too Early Conference Title Game Projections:
No Conference Championship Game!
Conference Champion – West Virginia
#1 – Southeastern Conference (SEC) [1, –]:
The SEC is #1 for the 5th straight week. The match-up of the week was the Tennessee at Georgia. The Bulldogs stormed out to an early lead only to see Tennessee fight its way back before Georgia held on for the win.
It definitely looks like the SEC East is up for grabs. This week’s big showdown in the SEC East will be Georgia at South Carolina. Both teams are rated in the top-6 in the nation, and it should be a hotly contested affair.
Another big game is LSU at Florida. It is a division crossover game, but still a barn-burner none-the-less. A few intriguing games to set the pecking order for each division are Arkansas at Auburn and Vanderbilt at Missouri. All of these teams had ideas of challenging for conference supremacy before early season losses have taken them out of the picture.
It looks like the winner of the SEC West, most likely either LSU or Alabama, will be playing for the national title. This major showdown will take place on Saturday Nov. 3rd.
So far, six teams remain unbeaten overall. They are Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. It appears like these six teams will be the ones challenging for their respective division titles.
As it stands now, I would expect 9 teams to be bowl eligible: Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M
Way Too Early Conference Title Game Projections:
East Division – Georgia
West Division – Alabama
Conference Champion – Alabama
So there you have it folks, my conference standings, plus a little projecting too. Let me know what you think, what you would do differently, but please be civil in your remarks. Debate is healthy for the soul! Take care until next time!