BCS Rankings: Power Ranking the 6 BCS Conferences

Conference strength tends to vary from year-to-year, with the only consistencies being the SEC at the top and the Big East at the bottom.

In 2010, the Big Ten was strong at the top. This year, everyone is beating each other, leaving it very competitive but without an elite team. The ACC was fairly deep in 2010, but this year appears to be top heavy.

The cyclical nature of the sport always allows for debate on which conferences are stronger than the other.  Here are the how the six BCS conferences stack up in 2011, from worst to first.

No. 6: Big East

As the league continues to be pilfered by other conferences, the Big East is suffering through another season of mediocrity. West Virginia's disastrous loss to Syracuse likely ruined any possibility of a team finishing in the Top 10, as only Cincinnati has less than two losses.

The conference will likely come down to the the meeting between the Mountaineers and Bearcats in two weeks at Paul Brown Stadium. The league has lost its last three BCS bowls, all by double digits, and it seems likely that trend will continue this season.

No. 5: ACC

The ACC likely lost its only national title contender on Saturday night when Clemson went down to Georgia Tech. The league's biggest issue this year is the number of very bad teams it has. Boston College and Maryland might be the two worst teams in BCS conferences.

The league has four viable teams, with Florida State and Virginia Tech showing signs of life in addition to the Tigers and Yellow Jackets.  After that, it's a long list of flawed teams fighting just to get to the postseason.

No. 4: Pac 12

Much like the ACC, there are some very bad football teams in the Pac-12. What gives the Pac-12 the nod for the No. 4 slot is the strength at the top, with Oregon, Stanford and USC.

Washington has lost only to Nebraska and Stanford on the road, and Arizona State is a legitimate Top 25 team.  The top five in the Pac-12 are much stronger than the top five in the ACC. 

No. 3: Big Ten

Much like the Big East, anyone outside of Bloomington can beat anyone else on a given Saturday.  The difference here is the Big Ten has a lot of good teams, while the Big East is mired in mediocrity.

There is no elite team like Ohio State and Wisconsin last year, but each division has four quality teams. While not as strong at the top, the teams in the middle of the pack are far superior to those in the Pac-12.

No. 2: Big 12

The Big 12 was almost on par with the SEC heading into the weekend, but some very bad losses by Baylor, Kansas State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech left the league looking like a bunch of average teams outside of the state of Oklahoma.

In truth, it's deeper and better at the top than any league besides the SEC, but it doesn't have the week-to-week consistency to challenge for the top spot.

No. 1: SEC

This isn't the best product offered up by the SEC in recent years, but with the two best teams in the country, it's good enough to maintain its status as the best conference in college football.

While neither Florida or Tennessee, the two superpowers of the 90s, have winning records, the league has four teams in the Top 10, and Auburn, Georgia and even Vanderbilt are making noise this season.  Although most of the league's CBS telecasts have been blowouts, that is more a credit to the dominance of LSU and Alabama than the conference being down.