Wow what a chaotic weekend in college football! The Pac 12 and independents had the worst weeks, check out things below and find out why.
We’ll give each conference a relative strength value 1-10.
1) SEC – 9
No change in the relative strength of the SEC. The SEC West is outstanding, and the SEC East is a mess of mediocre teams outside of Georgia. Ole Miss and Mississippi State had statement wins over Alabama and Texas A&M. LSU is in a freefall, and so is South Carolina. The SEC West continues its round robin of death when Auburn\Miss St. play and Ole Miss\Texas A&M hookup next week. Alabama lost to Ole Miss, but due to the forgiving nature of pollsters with SEC teams didn’t even fall out of the top 7.
Playoff Contenders
Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi St.
Darkhorses
Georgia, Texas A&M, Alabama
2) Big 12 – 8
TCU proved just how deep the Big 12 is with their win over Oklahoma, and is now very much in the playoff picture. Kansas St. and Baylor are very good teams. Oklahoma is still strong, and Oklahoma St. is solid and improving. West Virginia isn’t bad either. More than half the Big 12 is made of quality football teams. We thought Baylor wasn’t playing a decent team until November, but TCU next week now looks a whole lot tougher.
Playoff Contenders
TCU, Baylor
Darkhorses
Kansas State, Oklahoma St., Oklahoma
2) Pac 12 – 7
Things couldn’t have gone worse for the Pac 12 this past weekend. Stanford had Notre Dame beat, but couldn’t hold on to a lead late. The Pac 12′s teams in the best position for a playoff all went down… Oregon lost as a double digit favorite to Arizona. UCLA got beat at home by Utah. Arizona is undefeated, but do you get the feeling they can run the table? The Pac 12 better hope so, because the conference’s playoff chances got a lot slimmer this weekend. Still the Wildcats deserve a fair look. UCLA and Oregon play next week in a loser is probably out of the playoff chase. Arizona gets a chance to prove it’s truly for real when they host USC following that upset of Oregon.
Playoff Contenders
Arizona
Darkhorses
Oregon, UCLA
4) ACC – 6
I gave the ACC slight bump, because finally the top of this league outside of FSU is starting gain a little separation from the rest of the conference. Clemson looked strong against NC State, and Virginia is beating the teams they should beat. Virginia Tech rebounded with a win at North Carolina. Most importantly someone in the Coastal has established themselves. Georgia Tech moved to 5-0 after beating Miami, and is ranked in both polls. The Yellow Jackets aren’t a realistic playoff team, but any undefeated power 5 team after 6 weeks is on the playoff radar. They play dangerous Duke Saturday. The winner of Louisville\Clemson next week would move into darkhorse status. FSU remains in great position for the playoff.
Playoff Contenders
Florida State
Darkhorses
Georgia Tech
5) Big 10 – 5
When all the carnage ensued Saturday, I thought Michigan St. would benefit the most. They did some but not as much as I thought. They beat a ranked Nebraska team, but got leapfrogged by Ole Miss and Mississippi St. and couldn’t even pull ahead of an Alabama team that lost. That said they are in a manageable position to get in the playoff. Ohio State will be haunted by their loss to Virginia Tech all year. Wisconsin losing to Northwestern doesn’t enhance the conference’s status at all. Next week Northwestern vs Minnesota looks like the conferences best game…. Zzzzz…
Playoff Contenders
Michigan St.
Darkhorses
Nebraska, Ohio State
The Rest
Notre Dame suffered the same fate as Michigan St. They beat ranked Stanford, but got leapfrogged by Ole Miss and Mississippi St. The Irish get a scrimmage with UNC next week, and then the monster matchup with FSU. Notre Dame is very much alive in the playoff race. BYU lost to Utah St. and is finished.
Playoff Contenders
Notre Dame
Darkhorses
NONE
A new feature I’m adding…. Who are the 4 playoff teams I’d have right now? Remember it is who you who think are the 4 best teams in the country.
Current Playoff Teams
This week it’s
In – 1) Auburn 2) FSU 3) Baylor 4) Mississippi St.
Just Missed – 5) Notre Dame 6) Michigan St. 7) Ole Miss 8) TCU
