Ranking College Football Power Five Conferences
Scott Morris | September 2, 2015
With the opening kickoff of college football on Thursday, it is time to become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the different conferences.
The top spot amongst the so-called Power Five conferences goes to none other than the Southeastern Conference.
Critics will say the conference was just 7-5 in last year’s bowl games, and that the conference has not won the National Championship for two years running.
It is true the past couple of seasons have not been that good, but it is hard to repeat the runs it had winning BCS championship game year after year.
However, two big numbers are the deciding factor of the strength of this year’s SEC.
Twelve teams of the 14 reached the college bowl season last season, and six of the best 11 recruiting classes were from the SEC and 12 of the top 25.
Granted, the West division was only 2-5 during bowl season last year, but where can you find a better seven teams in a full conference anywhere like the West’s – Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. The conference is deeper than any other is and Florida, Georgia and Missouri were not even in the West.
Second in the power rankings is a tie. The Big 12 and Pac-12 are so close in talent depth that it is difficult to make a distinction between the two.
With Baylor and TCU ranked in the top 5 nationally the Big 12 has tough schools. Thrown in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Oklahoma State and the conference is even deeper.
Out West, the Pac-12 looks very deep. Oregon and Stanford will be pushed by USC and UCLA this season and Washington is returning to greatness as well. Utah is favored to beat Michigan on Thursday, but only finish fifth in the Pac-12, which shows just how deep the conference is.
The ACC is ranked fourth of the five with the likes of FSU and Clemson, with the Tigers expected to be the class of the conference.
The Big 10 has Ohio State, but there is a big drop after that as Michigan is starting anew with Jim Harbaugh and Wisconsin lost a great deal of talent.
