College Football Power Rankings: SEC, WAC Make Jump; Big Ten Slips
While some teams this weekend were busy fighting their way into the top 25, others were narrowly avoiding upsets.
Seven ranked teams won their games against unranked teams by less than a touchdown.
Talk about parity.
Last week I told you there would be some games that would send some conferences on the way up or down the power rankings, and several of those games were won by the underdog.
Arizona v. Iowa anyone?
Let's find out where your conference ended up after this weekend.
8. ACC
1 of 8
Record: 19-13 (.594)
Teams in the AP Top 25: 1; No. 19 Miami
On the rise: N.C. State
Maintaining: Boston College, Miami, Virginia
Fading fast: Clemson, FSU, Wake Forest, Maryland, Duke, Virginia Tech, North Carolina
Biggest non-conference wins: Maryland v. Navy
Worst losses: Wake Forest v. Stanford, Georgia Tech v. Kansas, Virginia Tech v. James Madison, Duke v. Alabama
Analysis: How do you know when you’re bad?
When your conference’s best win is against Navy, and at the same time its difficult to choose what your worst losses are.
The ACC went 5-3 this weekend, so why do they fall behind the Big East in the rankings?
Well because not one of the five teams they beat was ranked, and the best teams they beat were an unproven Maryland team and a two-loss BYU team.
OK, North Carolina is a good team, but they were down 12 players so it doesn’t count for much.
Duke and Wake Forest lost to their ranked opponents by a combined 93 points. No, that isn’t a typo.
Clemson gave ranked Auburn a run for their money, but a loss is a loss.
The ACC is on the decline, and after three weeks their only undefeated teams are Boston College and N.C. State.
Not exactly the kind of teams you want to rest the hopes of your conference on.
7. Big East
2 of 8
Record: 12-9 (.571)
Teams in the AP Top 25: 1; No. 22 West Virginia
On the rise: West Virginia
Maintaining: Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, USF
Fading fast: Cincinnati, UCONN, Louisville
Biggest non-conference wins: West Virginia v. Maryland
Worst losses: Cincinnati v. Fresno State, Syracuse v. Washington, UCONN v. Temple
Analysis: Pittsburgh, USF, and Rutgers all had the week off so it was hard for the Big East to move up the power rankings much.
However, the teams that did play went 2-3.
UCONN suffered an embarrassing loss, as did Cincinnati.
Louisville gave Oregon State a run for their money, and West Virginia had a nice win against Maryland.
However, if anything the overall futility of the conference was further proved by its losses this weekend.
The only good team that could come out of the Big East is West Virginia, but the rest of the conference is so bad that a one loss season would keep them out of the top 15 teams.
Luckily for the Big East, the ACC out-stunk them this weekend.
6. Mountain West
3 of 8
Record: 12-15 (.444)
Teams in the AP Top 25: 2; No. 4 TCU, No. 13 Utah
On the rise: TCU
Maintaining: Air Force, San Diego State
Fading fast: BYU, Wyoming, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV
Biggest non-conference wins: TCU v. Oregon State, TCU v. Baylor, Utah v. Pittsburgh
Worst losses: BYU v. Florida State, Wyoming v. Boise State, Wyoming v. Texas
Analysis: TCU, Utah, and Air Force are all good teams.
TCU further proved their power by stomping Baylor, a decent Big XII opponent.
Air Force and San Diego State both came within a field goal of beating Big XII opponents, but unfortunately as previously mentioned “a loss is a loss.”
However, these close games showed that the Mountain West has four competitive teams at the top of their division, which will be good for whoever comes out being the victor of the bunch.
Besides those four teams, well the rest of the division is awful. BYU is on the decline after suffering a 24 point loss to a FSU team that was soundly defeated by Oklahoma the previous week. The same Oklahoma team that Air Force came within a field goal of beating.
The Mountain West probably has better overall teams than the WAC, but their 4-6 record this week drops them a spot.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
5. WAC
4 of 8
Record: 13-11 (.542)
Teams in the AP Top 25: 1; No. 3 Boise State
On the rise: Nevada (No. 27 in AP poll), Fresno State (No. 30 in AP poll)
Maintaining: Boise State, Idaho
Fading fast: Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State, Utah State, New Mexico State
Biggest non-conference wins: Boise State v. Virginia Tech, Nevada v. Cal, Fresno State v. Cincinnati
Worst losses: Hawaii v. Colorado, New Mexico State v. Texas-El Paso, San Jose State v. Alabama
Analysis: For the sake of everyone, lets skip the part about how bad those ‘other’ teams in the WAC are. Like last week, the strength of this conference is based one team, and that team thrashed Wyoming for a 45 point victory.
Wait, you say there is another team in the WAC besides Boise? Nevada ran their way onto the national scene Friday night when they beat Cal by three touchdowns.
Yes, Cal is a decent Pac-10 team. Yes, Nevada crushed them. Can Nevada beat Boise State when they travel to Nevada late in the season? It appears so, but whether they will remains to be seen.
Keep Fresno State on your radar as they improved to 2-0 with an easy win after their opening victory against Cincinnati.
The victories of these three teams was enough to move the WAC past the Mountain West this week.
4. Pac-10
5 of 8
Record: 20-9 (.690)
Teams in the AP Top 25: 5; No. 5 Oregon, No. 14 Arizona, No. 16 Stanford, No. 20 USC, No. 24 Oregon State
On the rise: Oregon, Arizona, Stanford, USC,
Maintaining: ASU, UCLA, Oregon State
Fading fast: Washington State, Washington, California
Biggest non-conference wins: Arizona v. Iowa, UCLA v. Houston
Worst losses: Washington v. Nebraska, Washington State v. SMU, Cal v. Nevada
Analysis: Last week I told you that the Pac-10 was overrated, and that they had a chance to prove themselves against some decent teams.
Well, they gave us an answer, kind of.
Washington got crushed by Nebraska, and Cal got crushed by Nevada.
Arizona State barely lost to ranked Wisconsin.
Arizona and UCLA both upset ranked opponents.
By the way, it was hard to decide what category an 0-2 team that upsets a ranked about falls into, but maintaining seemed closest for UCLA. Especially when you consider Houston’s quarterback Case Keenum was knocked out for the season with an ACL injury.
USC, Oregon State, and Stanford all recorded what were perceived to be games they should win.
So what does that all tell us? The Pac-10 is a good conference, but not a great one.
Had California not been crushed, and the Arizona State game had gone the other way, the Pac-10 would have moved up.
But that didn’t happen, and the Pac-10 belongs at No. 4.
3. Big Ten
6 of 8
Record: 26-6 (.813)
Teams in the AP Top 25: 6; No. 2 Ohio State, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 18 Iowa, No. 21 Michigan, No. 23 Penn State, No. 25 Michigan State
On the rise: Michigan State, Wisconsin, Northwestern
Maintaining: Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue
Fading fast: Iowa, Minnesota
Biggest non-conference wins: Wisconsin v. Arizona State, Ohio State v. Miami, Michigan v. Notre Dame
Worst losses: Minnesota v. South Dakota, Iowa v. Arizona, Penn State v. Alabama
Analysis: Why is the Big Ten behind the Big XII and SEC?
Put simply, they can’t win big games. Had Iowa beat Arizona, or if Penn State had beaten Alabama then the Big Ten would find themselves ahead of both conferences.
But they didn’t.
The more they play, the less impressive the Big Ten is starting to look.
Michigan’s and Michigan State’s big win have both come against Notre Dame, a team that is now 1-2.
Wisconsin struggled this week with an unranked Arizona State team, only edging them by a point.
Why Penn State and Iowa are still in the rankings is a mystery to me, but they surely have not played to the level of other top 25 teams so far.
Ohio State is still the obvious No. 2 team in the nation, and the conference is strong enough to keep them ahead of the Pac-10 despite their struggles with them this weekend.
Keep an eye on Northwestern, they just may be one of the most underrated teams in the nation.
2. Big XII
7 of 8
Record: 29-7 (.806)
Teams in the AP Top 25: 3; No. 6 Nebraska, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 7 Texas
On the rise: Nebraska, Kansas State, Oklahoma State
Maintaining: Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Colorado, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
Fading fast: Kansas, Baylor, Iowa State
Biggest non-conference wins: Nebraska v. Washington, Oklahoma v. Florida State, Kansas State v. UCLA
Worst losses: Baylor v. TCU, Kansas v. North Dakota State, Colorado v. California
Analysis: The Big XII had the opportunity to make a statement this weekend.
The only team that took advantage of that was Nebraska.
Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Missouri all looked lackluster in their victories, and for the Big XII to be the strongest conference they need more out of these teams.
Meanwhile, Kansas State and Oklahoma State both improved to 3-0 with victories.
Right now they’re just appears to be a lot of parity within the Big XII, and it is hard to tell who is good, and who is great.
However, it must be noted that the conference continues to win games they are supposed to, and only Kansas and Baylor lost non-conference games this past weekend.
1. SEC
8 of 8
Record: 26-10 (.722)
Teams in the AP Top 25: 6; No.1 Alabama, No. 9 Florida, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 12 South Carolina, No. 15 LSU, No. 17 Auburn
On the rise: Arkansas, South Carolina, LSU, Auburn, Kentucky
Maintaining: Alabama, Florida,
Fading fast: Vanderbilt, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State
Biggest non-conference wins: Auburn v. Clemson, Alabama v. Penn State, LSU v. North Carolina
Worst losses: Tennessee v. Oregon, Vanderbilt v. Northwestern, Mississippi v. Jacksonville State
Analysis: All six of the SEC’s ranked teams won this weekend.
Their reward? A jump up the rankings.
It didn’t hurt the SEC that the Big XII and Big Ten looked less than incredible in their games this weekend. Oh, and that Alabama absolutely destroyed another BCS conference opponent.
The SEC passes the Big XII because they played better opponents (compare Clemson to Air Force or San Diego State), and beat them easier than their Big XII counterparts.
Another key to having a strong division is having your top teams beat your bottom teams, and the SEC saw some of that start to occur this weekend.
Arkansas defeated Georgia, Florida defeated Tennessee, and LSU defeated Mississippi State. All three teams improve to 3-0.
The SEC is No. 1 for now, but that is reliant upon their better teams continuing to defeat their lesser teams.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
