BCS Rankings Week 14: Ranking the Conferences

Now that Week 14 of the BCS Rankings have come out, we can once again debate which teams are overrated and which teams are underrated. Is Boise State in the right place? How about Auburn jumping Oregon, was it deserved?

Similarly, we can use them to answer the age-old question of which conferences are the best. Are all the BCS conferences better than the non-automatic qualifying conferences?

Is the SEC the best in the land? Or does that title belong to the Big 10 or Big 12? How far has the ACC fallen?

Read on to find out how the conferences stack up. 

No. 10-28: Those Without a Team in the Rankings

Of the 28 conferences in college football, including the FBS Independents and FCS Independents, only nine have schools included in the BCS rankings this week. 

For the sake of convenience and space, I'm just going to list the remaining 18 here in no particular order so you know why they aren't included later on:

Big Sky, Big South, CAA, Conference USA, Great West, FBS Independents, FCS Independents, Ivy League, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot League, Pioneer, Southern, Southland, Sun Belt, SWAC.

No. 9: Mid-American Conference

The MAC has a lowly one team in the rankings this week, although that's significantly better than the zero they had in the previous set of rankings. 

Northern Illinois is the conference's sole representative, jumping into the rankings at No. 25 this week after beating Eastern Michigan 71-3. 

No. 8: Big East

The Big East is another new entry into the conference rankings now that they have a team in the BCS Standings. 

After beating Pittsburgh 35-10, the Mountaineers of West Virginia entered the rankings at No. 24.

No. 7: Atlantic Coast Conference

After Maryland beat NC State 38-31, the Wolfpack dropped out of the rankings, leaving the ACC with a meager two teams. This is particularly bad for a supposed power conference.

Florida State moved up one spot to No. 21 after beating Florida, 31-7. 

A little higher up in the rankings, the Hokies of Virginia Tech won their 10th straight game and moved up to No. 15.

It is most definitely a down year for the ACC. 

No. 6: Western Athletic Conference

The WAC remains at No. 6 in the conference rankings even though their top team fell way down in the BCS standings. 

The WAC's only two ranked teams played each other last week and the lower ranked of the two, Nevada, took down Boise State. 

Accordingly, the Wolfpack moved up from No. 19 to No. 17.

The Broncos moved way down in the rankings, falling all the way from No. 4 to No. 11.

No. 5: Mountain West Conference

The MWC only increased their lead over fellow non-Automatic Qualifying conference, the WAC.

Utah remained put at No. 20 in the rankings after a narrow win over BYU in which it scored all 17 of its points in the fourth quarter. 

The Horned Frogs dominated yet another opponent and stayed put at No. 3. This time, they destroyed New Mexico, 66-17. 

No. 4: Pacific-10

Now that they can no longer lay claim to the No. 1 ranked team in the country, the Pac-10 slipped a spot to No. 4 in the conference rankings. 

The Arizona Wildcats are the lowest of the three ranked teams at No. 23. They moved down two spots from No. 21 after losing to Oregon.

Stanford continued its ascent up the standings, moving from No. 6 to No. 4. 

The highest ranked of the bunch continues to be Oregon. The Ducks though slipped to No. 2 after Auburn beat a much tougher opponent than the Arizona team that Oregon played. 

No. 3: Big 12

Thanks to the quality over quantity principle, the Big 12 slips to No. 3 in the conference rankings this week. They do have five teams in the rankings, but none higher than No. 9.

The lowest of the five are the Aggies of Texas A&M. Coming off a victory against the unranked and disappointing Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M still fell one spot from No. 17 to No. 18. 

Next come three Big 12 teams in a row.

Oklahoma State sits at No. 14, down five spots from No. 9. Next comes Nebraska at No. 13, who rose two spots. Missouri also rose two spots this week to No. 12. 

Finally, the highest ranked team in the Big 12 is Oklahoma. After winning a shootout with Oklahoma State, the Sooners moved up four spots to No. 9.

No. 2: Big Ten

Due to the excellent quality of the Big Ten's three schools in the BCS Standings, the conference jumps up two spots in the conference rankings to No. 2 despite the fact that Iowa dropped out of the rankings entirely.

The lowest ranked team in the Big Ten, astoundingly, is Michigan State at No. 8. The Spartans rose two spots this week after bringing up the rear of the top 10 last week. 

Next are the Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 6. After trouncing their rivals, the Michigan Wolverines, they also moved up two spots from No. 8.

The highest ranked of the teams, and thus the winner of the Big Ten, Wisconsin also moved up two spots from No. 7 to No. 5. 

No. 1: SEC

The SEC remains No. 1 in the conference rankings again, thanks to the fact that they have both the No. 1 team and the most teams of any conference.

Mississippi State is the lowest of the bunch at No. 22. The Bulldogs rose three spots after holding off a comeback attempt by Mississippi. 

Next are the Gamecocks of South Carolina, who will play Auburn in the SEC Championship Game. South Carolina is now ranked No. 18, falling one spot after beating Clemson. 

Despite playing a close game against Auburn, the Alabama Crimson Tide blew a big lead and slipped from No. 11 to No. 16 in the BCS Standings. 

LSU and Arkansas played each other and after Arkansas prevailed, the Razorbacks moved up to No. 7 while the Tigers fell to No. 10.

Finally, we have the Auburn Tigers, who rose up to No. 1 in the country after a comeback win against Alabama.