Here’s how the Power Five stacks up heading into conference championship week.
With Week 13 of the 2016 college football regular season in the books, the stage is set for a thrilling round of conference championship games.
As always, rivalry week was the most exciting time of the year for many fans across the nation. The titanic matchup between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan lived up to massive hype and then some, with the Buckeyes prevailing 30-27 in double overtime in a game that will forever live in college football history.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 8 Michigan State took care of business to advance to the conference title game. That could create a tough scenario for the committee, as it will have to decide if a two-loss champion from the best conference in the land is better than a one-loss Pac-12 champion in Washington or an 11-1 Ohio State team.
No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Clemson each won their rivalry games in comfortable fashion to keep playoff position. The news wasn’t positive elsewhere in the SEC, as a number of upsets caused the conference to slip in this week’s power rankings.
That worked to the benefit of the Pac-12, which is all the way up to second behind the strength of a great top tier. Here’s how the Power Five grades out heading into conference championship week.
5. Big 12
It was a quiet week in the Big 12, but the stage is set for one of the best games of the season next week in Norman.
No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 11 Oklahoma State both enjoyed a week off ahead of a huge Bedlam matchup on Saturday afternoon. The winner will claim the Big 12 title and could potentially have a shot at the playoff with some help elsewhere.
While Week 13 in the Big 12 had no important matchups from a national perspective, there was some major news out of the conference. Texas fired head coach Charlie Strong following a 31-9 loss to TCU and subsequently hired Houston’s Tom Herman, who could very well turn the Longhorns around in a hurry.
Baylor lost its fifth straight game after a 6-0 start in a 54-34 loss to Texas Tech, which may have saved Kliff Kingsbury’s job. No. 18 West Virginia bounced back from a crushing loss against the Sooners with an easy win over Iowa State, while Kansas State beat Kansas to quietly move to 7-4.
The Big 12 has narrowed the gap to the rest of the Power Five in recent weeks behind the Oklahoma schools, but still has a weak middle tier and is the conference most likely to be left out of the playoff.