Last week, I ranked the ACC third. I felt the hometown league deserved the nod after the work it did over the season’s first two weeks.
The honeymoon didn’t last long.
The ACC fell flat in Week 3, leading to a bit of a shakeup at the bottom of the power rankings. Take a look at where each conference stands as conference play continues to gradually take over schedules everywhere…
- SEC
As much as people hate to admit it, there really is no contest for the top spot here. Whenever one team at the top of the food chain loses, another team credibly takes its place. For me, it was Auburn, then Alabama, then Ole Miss, and LSU could conceivably be next.
Each of those teams has been considered a playoff contender at various points in time. The Rebels certainly looked the part in dismantling Alabama in Tuscaloosa last week. LSU did the same while blasting a dysfunctional Auburn squad. Georgia dominated from start to finish against South Carolina and appears poised to contend at the top of the SEC East.
There is even quality depth in this conference with teams like Tennessee and Texas A&M that might not be ready for the big time but can still test those teams that have separated themselves. More than half of this league boasts a roster no one in America really wants to face, and that’s a big deal in rankings like this.
- Big 12
There’s no question it’s a product of the nine-game conference schedule, but having seven of ten teams still unbeaten three weeks into the season is a tremendous achievement for the Big 12. Now conference play starts, so those days are numbered.
We will be able to see how good this league actually is once some of these teams begin to test themselves, but several have already passed tough tests. Texas Tech knocked off Arkansas as a double-digit underdog last week. Oklahoma held off Tulsa, and even Texas almost defeated a resurgent Cal team on a neutral field.
Even though conference play begins, things don’t really get interesting in this conference until November, so some inflation can be expected during the next five or six weeks. Other than Oklahoma State-Texas, no serious challenges affect the teams that matter in the Big 12.
- Big Ten
Long a national laughingstock for its perceived lack of depth, the Big Ten has actually put together a decent non-conference resume for once. It may eventually come crashing down, but there’s no denying what has already taken place.
Northwestern has beaten Stanford and won at Duke by a combined 19 points. Iowa beat mid-level ACC foe Pittsburgh. Ohio State and Michigan State look like long-term mainstays at the top of the polls. Even Indiana is 3-0 for the first time in several years. In a loss at Miami, at least Nebraska fought back to force overtime after an ugly first three quarters.
Make no mistake: It should be expected that many of these teams will see the rug pulled out from underneath themselves fairly soon, but these rankings are about now. The Big Ten has been better than I thought it would be as a body thus far.
- Pac-12
I probably underrated the Pac-12 last week, but it hadn’t done a single thing to deserve a higher ranking to that point. Now, the evidence has begun to appear in favor of this highly touted league making a move upward.
It actually says more about this conference that Stanford was able to go on the road and win at USC—at least, unless the Trojans end up as this season’s biggest flop. Cal went to the state of Texas and beat the Longhorns, which is still an accomplishment based on prestige. Arizona, UCLA, and Utah are all ranked inside the top 20 after perfect out-of-conference records, with UCLA’s win over BYU being the most impressive victory so far.
Now, things get tricky for this league as they could begin to cannibalize each other. This seems to be the most likely league to see that happen, particularly in the South. Next week, our view of this conference should be dramatically different—one way or another.
- ACC
Let’s see: Did the ACC have a single thing go well last week at all? I’m hard pressed to think of a single one.
Georgia Tech looked inferior to Notre Dame. Duke blew a chance for a home win over a ranked team against Northwestern. Miami coughed up a 23-point lead before squeaking out an overtime win. Florida State got by a Boston College team that lost its starting quarterback in hardly impressive fashion.
Essentially, with the possible exception of North Carolina, everyone played at or beneath expectations, or lost their respective games. That’s not a way to separate yourself as a league in the eyes of an ever-skeptical nation of football fans.