BCS Rankings Week 15: Ranking the Conferences

Now that Week 15 of the BCS Rankings have come out, we can once again debate which teams are overrated and which teams are underrated.

Are Auburn and Oregon really the best two teams in the country? What about TCU?

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, Great West, FBS Independents, FCS Independents, Ivy League, MAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot League, Pioneer, Southern, Southland, Sun Belt, SWAC.

No. 9: Conference USA

Conference USA 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.

Central Florida is the conference's sole representative, jumping into the rankings at No. 25 this week after beating SMU in the conference championship last week. 

No. 8: Big East

The Big East doesn't get to move up any in this week's set of conference rankings because they still only have one team. 

That team however, West Virginia, did get to move up after destroying Rutgers.

The Mountaineers went from No. 24 to No. 22. 

No. 7: Atlantic Coast Conference

For a power conference, the ACC sure doesn't have too many teams in the BCS Standings. They only have two in fact.

The lower ranked of the two is Florida State. The Seminoles dropped down two spots to No. 23 this week.

On the other hand, the Hokies of Virginia Tech moved up another two spots from No. 15 to No. 13.

And people say the Mountain West and WAC aren't very good conferences?

No. 6: Mountain West Conference

It's not really the Mountain West Conference's fault, but they slip down to No. 6 in the conference rankings this week due to Hawaii jumping into the BCS Standings. 

The MWC continues to boast two teams in the top 25.

First comes Utah at No. 19, up one spot from No. 20.

TCU continues to stay put at No. 3.

No. 5: Western Athletic Conference

Could this be a sign that the WAC is finally starting to get a little bit more respect?

The BCS finally has three teams in their standings from the much-maligned conference.

Hawaii is the new addition as the Warriors make their entrance at No. 24. 

Much higher up in the rankings, Nevada continued their rise, jumping up to No. 15 after last week's No. 17 ranking.

Then there's Boise State. Although not as high as they'd like, the Broncos stay put at No. 11. 

No. 4: Big 12

The Big 12 still has five teams in the rankings.

The lowest ranked of the bunch is Nebraska, who slips to No. 18 after losing to Texas A&M over the weekend. Accordingly, the Aggies moved up to No. 17, one spot ahead of the team they just beat. 

Next is Oklahoma State, remaining at No. 14. Missouri also stayed at No. 12 for this edition of the standings. 

The highest ranked Big 12 team this year is Oklahoma, up two spots from No. 9 to No. 7. 

No. 3 Pacific-10

After Arizona dropped out of the rankings, the Pac-10 can only lay claim to two teams in the BCS Standings. 

Fortunately for the conference, they're quite good. 

The lower of the two, even though they're playing as well as any team in the country, is Stanford at No. 4.

Then there's Oregon, ranked No. 2 and playing the BCS National Championship Game. 

No. 2: Big Ten

The Big Ten still only has three teams in the rankings, but all three of the teams are quite good. 

Michigan State brings up the rear at No. 9. 

Then there's the Buckeyes of Ohio State. One of the more underrated teams in the country, Ohio State stayed put at No. 6. 

The highest ranked team, also remaining in the same place, is still Wisconsin at No. 5. 

No. 1: SEC

The SEC reamins at No. 1 in the conference rankings this week, thanks to both the quantity and quality of the teams. 

The lowest ranked SEC team of the five in the standings is Mississippi State, up one spot from No. 22 to No. 21.

South Carolina moved down one spot after losing decisively to Auburn. They are now ranked No. 20.

Alabama stayed at No. 16. LSU also remained still at No. 10. Arkansas is the second highest ranked team at No. 8.

Auburn remains at No. 1, earning them the right to play for the BCS National Championship.