CFU Conference Power Rankings

By Erick Blasco

01. SEC
02. Pac 10
03. Big East
04. Big 12
05. Big 10
06. ACC

SEC
The SEC is still the best conference but by the slimmest of margins. In fact, as of now, and this will change when the best teams in the Pac 10 start squaring off against each other, the Pac 10 is stronger at the top than the SEC is. The saving grace for the SEC is that of their non-conference losses, two were to current Top 5 teams, one was to Florida State, and one was by Ole Miss.

There is a great depth of quality in the conference from LSU to Georgia, to Kentucky, to Florida, to Auburn, to South Carolina. Those top six are better than most conference's top three, and are on par with the Pac 10's top four. Even Tennessee which isn't on my list, when toe to toe at Cal and played the Golden Bears very tightly.

Kansas State, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, and Louisville have already fallen to the SEC, but most of the other high profile non-conference games take place right at the end of the year when Florida State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Wake Forest square off against SEC teams.

The factor that hurts the SEC the most, though, is the conference's inability to schedule key non-conference games. Since Tennessee and Alabama lost their two high profile non-conference games, and Auburn split its two, the conference doesn't have a great total resume to build on. And with the ACC caught in a down cycle, it will be up to the bowl games to make or break the SEC's reputation.

PAC-10
They're close, very close. To jump ahead, they'll need a few things. First of all, Arizona State and Oregon can't fall apart as they've been prone to do in the past. If the Pac 10 wants to challenge the top of the SEC, then so-called elite teams like Arizona State and Oregon must continue to play like elite teams.

Two, the middle of the conference needs to be stronger. While Washington has done its part, the Huskies still don't really have a signature win aside from a nice win over a retooling Boise State team. UCLA's embarrassment to Utah was unacceptable and Oregon State's season has been a disaster so far. Those three teams must rise up and push the rest of the conference.

Three, Washington State, Arizona, and Stanford must improve from the horrid programs they are right now. At least one of those teams must become at least mediocre in the near future.. At least Vanderbilt should go to a bowl this year, Miss State won at Auburn, and Kentucky leads the SEC East. Every conference will have its patsies, but since the SEC has two teams out of 12 this year that are expected to miss out on bowl eligibility, the Pac 10 must end up with 8 bowl teams.

Four, none of the top seven teams can lose to Arizona or Washington State. Arizona has already lost to New Mexico and BYU, while Washington State has already lost to Arizona. Those two teams are the designated scourge of the conference. Stanford is allowed to sneak up on people because they've only played one non-conference game and they romped over San Jose State.

Five, win their bowl games. If the Pac 10 wins a very high percentage of their bowl games, wins two BCS games, and wins a National Championship, it will be clear what conference is the best in America.

Big East
Sure the Big 3 of the conference have underachieved but USF, Cincinnati, and UConn have risen up to take their place. Aside from Rutgers' loss to Maryland, the conference has very few bad losses and none of those bad losses have come from the top teams in the conference. Since the ACC, Big 10, and Big 12 are all topsy-turvy right now, the Big East is a steady choice for the third best conference.

Big 12
The conference has taken its hits and really would have liked to see Oklahoma remain undefeated. While the conference has very few big wins, it also has very few bad losses. However, most of the wins have been over terrible teams, or in unimpressive fashions, or both.

Big 10
Teams like Wisconsin are expected to win the division but have trouble beating opponents like UNLV and The Citadel. Michigan gets blown out at home by Oregon and gets beaten by 1AA Appalachian State. Iowa, Northwestern, and Minnesota are decrepit, while the only big wins teams like Purdue and Michigan State can list are victories over winless Notre Dame. Ohio State looks for real, and the middle of the conference like Illinois have risen up nicely keeping the conference out of the cellar.

ACC
It's better now than it was two weeks ago. Maryland, Florida State and Miami each notched impressive victories recently, but the conference has very few non-conference wins other than those three, but it does have losses to Wofford, Wyoming, Navy, UConn, and ECU. Most damning of all is the way the conference’s best teams have been non-competitive in losses to LSU and Oklahoma.