College Football Conference Power Rankings: Week 14
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.