BCS Report Week 5: Oregon Takes Charge of the Pac-10

Most of the big games in Week 4 did not live up to the hype. Stanford jumped out to a 21-3 lead behind Andrew Luck then Oregon ran them off of the field.

For the first time in 40 games Florida was an underdog and they were kicked all over the field by Alabama.

Texas made a late comeback in a game that Oklahoma dominated.

Even Michigan State pulled away late to win by 10 over Wisconsin.

So as conference play takes over the calendar, let's take a look at the conference power rankings.

Alabama is the No. 1 team in the country. Due to an odd quirk, their next four opponents all have byes before playing the Crimson Tide. That means that South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and LSU all will have two weeks to prepare for Alabama.

Having to go undefeated in the rugged SEC is tough enough and now Nick Saban, Mark Ingram, and Greg McElroy get to deal with a scheduling quirk so odd that rules have been put in place for it to never happen again.

The SEC has five teams in the AP Top 25. Nine of the 12 schools have winning records. The SEC is so tough that Georgia is 1-4 and has yet to win a game in the conference. Not even A.J. Green's return was enough to stop the Dawgs three-game losing streak as Colorado held on for the win.

The Big Ten also has five teams in the AP Top 25. The Big Ten also boasts the early Heisman favorite in the electric Denard Robinson. Michigan's defense has been thrashed all year long so their game next week against Michigan State will be a great test for both teams.

Terrelle Pryor was hurt in the lackluster Buckeye win over Illinois. Pryor is the most important player in the Big Ten this season. If he stays healthy then the Buckeyes will just keep getting better every week. As a Buckeye fan, I am not going to wonder what happens if he does not stay healthy.

Eight of the 11 Big Ten schools have winning records.

The Big 12 has four teams in the AP Top 25. This conference is deep, but all of the teams are about the same. Nebraska and Oklahoma are in the top 10 but neither of those schools look like national title hopefuls.

If they keep winning, then that perception will change, but as of right now, even with 10 out of 12 schools having winning records, it looks like this conference will get one BCS bid in its final year of existence.

The Pac-10 has only three teams in the AP Top 25. Like the SEC and Big Ten, one of those teams is a national title contender in the Oregon Ducks. They have a gauntlet of teams that can trip them up along the way in Arizona, USC, and the annual Civil War with Oregon State. 

Still, only five of the 10 Pac-10 teams have winning records. Either the league is very competitive or full of parity.

The Mountain West has three teams in the AP Top 25. They have a national title contender in TCU. Only four of the nine Mountain West teams have winning records. That might have to change if TCU wants to bust into the national title game if they stay perfect all year long.

The WAC has two teams in the AP Top 25. They do have five out of nine teams with winning records. Seeing that Oregon has jumped over Boise State, the Broncos have to hope that the other teams in their conference can stay respectable all year long. Nevada going undefeated would really help Boise State's title chances.

Also, if Virginia Tech can win the ACC that would be huge for the Broncos.

Speaking of the ACC, they have two teams in the AP Top 25 and that is two more than the Big East. These two conferences have ridden the coattails of the BCS for too many years. These two conferences have exactly 10 schools out of 20 that have winning records. Unlike the Pac-10, these are very average conferences rewarded with automatic BCS berths.

List Time

My Top Two:

1. Ohio State

2. Boise State

Conference Power Rankings

1. SEC

2. Big Ten

3. Pac-10

4. Mountain West

5. Big 12

6. WAC

Week 6 Preview

1. Nebraska at Kansas State (Thursday)

2. LSU at Florida

3. USC at Stanford

4. Michigan State at Michigan 

5. Florida State at Miami 

6. Arkansas at Texas A & M