MY NEW CONFERENCE POWER RANKINGS: HOW DID THE PAC-12 REGRESS SO BAD

The punchless Pac-12 drops to the bottom of this week’s college football conference power rankings while the SEC remains the top dog.

The SEC remains the top conference with three teams in the top seven (1. Alabama, 5. Georgia, 7. LSU) of the latest College Football Playoff rankings. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 drops to the bottom of this week’s conference power rankings.

1. SEC – Once again, the SEC checks in at the top where they are grown comfortable for the better part of the last decade and change. Home to the nation’s top team in Alabama and No. 5 Georgia, the SEC division winners could find a way to both get in the Playoff for the second year in a row. Boosting the SEC’s cause as the top conference is the depth, which includes No. 7 LSU, No. 13 Florida who is still in the running for a New Year’s Six bowl, No. 17 Kentucky and No. 24 Mississippi State. Auburn, Texas A&M, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ole Miss should all find themselves in a bowl game as the league could get 12/14 teams bowl-eligible. Simply remarkable.

2. Big Ten – The conference is getting some grief for a four-loss Northwestern being the Big Ten West champion, but I think that’s weak sauce. They’ve dominated their division for two years now and have looked so much better since early losses to Akron and Duke. They once led Michigan 17-0 before losing that so it’s not like they can’t hang with the nation’s elite when they have to. The East is clearly tougher with Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State and Penn State all good-really great. There’s a chance the conference has 11 bowl-eligible teams this year.

3. Big 12 – It’s pretty top-heavy with Oklahoma and West Virginia playing really well. I wouldn’t say either is an elite team, although Oklahoma’s offense certainly is. Although, the Big 12 might be on the outside of the Playoff unless the Sooners win out and Notre Dame and/or Michigan lose down the stretch. Texas and Iowa State play this weekend in a game to determine the third-best team in the conference but it’s pretty barren after that. The Big 12 could send as many as seven teams to a bowl game.

4. ACC – It’s Clemson and everybody else in the ACC. The Tigers are coming off a convincing win on the road against a pretty solid Boston College squad. Pitt remains in control of the Coastal division, which is pretty startling considering their 1-3 non-conference record. The conference said goodbye to Bobby Petrino after Louisville hit a new low to drop to 0-7 in conference and 2-8 overall. The ACC can help boost their cause if Syracuse is able to pull off the upset against Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon. A win for the Orange would give the ACC a pair of teams in the Top 10 and likely give Syracuse a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl.

5. Pac-12 – The conference of champions likely won’t compete for one this year. Washington State is the top team in the conference and they have a 1 percent change to make the College Football Playoff, according to ESPN’s playoff predictor. Washington and Utah are the only other two teams ranked in the conference, tying them with the ACC for the fewest ranked teams among the power 5 conference.