College Football Week 4: Dominating Conferences and Flopping Ones

Now that we are in the fourth weekend of what has turned out to be an exciting season to date, we can now begin to tell which conferences are once again the strongest and which conferences were overrated coming into the season.

Looking at the six BCS Conferences, I look at who's the strongest overall and who's just pretending right now.

On a side note, the MWC could have easily replaced the Big East in this discussion, but I just decided to keep it to the six automatic qualifiers for now.

With that being said, let's look at who's dominated and who's flopped throughout the season's first four weeks.

Big East Conference: Flopping

Some may try and make the case that the Big East is, overall, better than a season ago, but if that's the case, then it still has a long way to go.

Only two of the eight teams are currently ranked: West Virginia and South Florida. However, after LSU handles the Mountaineers tonight, it will show even further how ineffective the Big East schools are at the moment.

While West Virginia is the class of the conference and a very good football team, they aren't legitimate contenders nationally unless a whole lot of dominoes fall their way.

When your best team is just a middle-of-the-pack team on the national stage, the overall state of the conference isn't very good.

Pac-12 Conference: Dominating

Dominating may be a bit too strong of a word to associate with the Pac-12, but at the moment this is a pretty good conference.

They are represented at the top by Stanford ranked No. 5, with Oregon poised to jump back into the top 10 before long.

Arizona State and USC have also been ranked, while California and Utah should crack the polls before long.

The Pac-12 may not be strong top-to-bottom, but they currently have two legitimate title contenders and four good teams. Over 50 percent works for me.

ACC: Flopping

I did just write an article outlining how the ACC has improved, but in this case they have to be considered a flop.

For a moment I considered flip-flopping the ACC and Pac-12, but couldn't do it in the end.

The difference is that while the ACC currently has five teams ranked in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, the current lack of a top-10 team hurts them.

Had Florida State defeated No. 1 Oklahoma a week ago, then we might have a different story.

I do like the ACC's depth and think they will surprise some people the rest of the way, but for now and on paper, they have a bunch of above-average but not great teams.

If Virginia Tech can rise through the polls, though, that could change the overall perception of the ACC.

SEC: Dominating

There's no real explanation needed here to defend the SEC.

Having five of the top 15 teams in the nation, including two of the top three really says it all about the SEC.

In typical SEC fashion they are as dominant as ever, but are they the best conference in the nation right now?

Big Ten Conference: Flopping

There is no doubting that Nebraska and Wisconsin are great football teams. I can even make the case that whoever comes out on top in next week's showdown could potentially find a way into the BCS Championship game.

Having said that, though, the conference as a whole isn't very good.

Most of that has to do with the likes of Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State being very overrated coming into the season.

While there still may be some good football teams, most of them should be viewed as above-average at best.

Another main reason why the Big Ten is flopping is the lack of a big out-of-conference win, despite many opportunities to date.

Having said that, though, Nebraska and Wisconsin could turn the Big Ten from pretenders to contenders before long.

Big 12 Conference: Dominating

When it's all said and done, the SEC will likely end up as the top-ranked conference in the nation once again, but right now the Big 12 gets the slight nod.

Their resume is quite impressive.

They have five ranked teams heading into the week, with three of them in the top eight. This includesNo. 1 Oklahoma, who is fresh off a win against a top five-team at the time in Florida State.

Overall, the Big 12 is as dominating as it gets.