Now things get interesting.
The Big 12 has officially shifted its focus from building its stature up to everyone tearing each other down. The Big Ten only has two unbeaten teams that could be destined for a battle royale in the conference title game. The rest of the conferences appear to have fairly simple paths to the end of the season, but the future is still very murky at the top of the food chain.
With that in mind, here is a look at how college football’s conferences stack up against one another…
- SEC
All things considered, it was a pretty crappy week for the SEC. The College Football Playoff Committee put six of its teams inside the top 20, and half of them lost. Two of those losses came at home to unranked teams, as Texas A&M got drubbed by Auburn and Ole Miss lost close to Arkansas. Another top team—Florida—squeaked by at home against a bad Vanderbilt squad.
The main event in the league actually wasn’t that entertaining, either, as Alabama took LSU behind the woodshed in Tuscaloosa. Mississippi State is next up for the Crimson Tide, who will no doubt make the playoff this year no matter how many games they lose.
- Big 12
The time is now for this league to assert itself over the course of several weeks. It’s clear just one or two solid performances won’t change the committee’s mind, as Oklahoma State still sits behind several one-loss teams after throttling TCU last week. The Cowboys will have other chances to prove they belong moving forward, but it was a discouraging first attempt at the ultimate credibility.
Other than that result, it was a nondescript week in the conference. Baylor kept its perfect season alive with a new freshman quarterback at Kansas State, setting up a huge matchup with Oklahoma this week that will show all interested parties if the Bears can stand tall amongst the nation’s elite.
- Big Ten
Michigan State won’t have to worry about any mid-January plans any more, as the Spartans are all but done after dropping a controversial decision at Nebraska. That takes the number of unbeaten teams in the Big Ten down to two, with Ohio State’s win over Minnesota and Iowa’s tight win at Indiana keeping both of those teams’ hopes alive.
Honestly, the Big Ten is deeper than expected anyway, so having great teams isn’t absolutely necessary for league strength. Northwestern continued to play well edging Penn State, while Michigan demolished Rutgers. Wisconsin has been lurking, as well, quietly compiling a fairly impressive resume ahead of a big matchup with the Hawkeyes coming up soon.
- Pac-12
It is looking more and more like Stanford or bust for the Pac-12. Utah is still getting slighted, as its October swoon—at least in terms of level of play—continued with an unimpressive win at Washington. The Cardinal, meanwhile, impressively disposed of Colorado as part of an unexpected ascent toward the playoff committee’s final four.
In other news, UCLA’s bounce-back is in full force after a quiet shutout win at Oregon State. The rest of the league is no better than average, which is killing pretty much every presumed quality win on the ledgers of the conference’s top teams since the beginning of the Pac-12 schedule.
- ACC
Clemson’s victory over Florida State ensures the ACC will have a presence in the playoff conversation. If the game would have gone the other way, that wouldn’t necessarily be the case. North Carolina destroyed Duke, meaning the Tar Heels are starting to turn heads around the country with an eight-game winning streak.
Other than N.C. State and Miami both clinching bowl eligibility, the rest of the schedule was largely of the “nothing to see here” variety. The Coastal Division race still bears watching, but the entertainment value of the games within this league is about as poor as it has ever been.