College football conference power rankings: SEC flexes, ACC tanks

Another week of college football is in the books and it’s time for another edition of the conference power rankings, which has been owned by the SEC.

It was another exciting week of college football and as we got more into real action in the second full week of the season, there was plenty to learn about conference hierarchy.

While Army nearly pulled off the upset of the year and possibly even the season by taking Michigan to overtime, another Big Ten team, Maryland, did shock the college football world by routing Syracuse, a ranked team from the ACC.

It was one of those scores that made you do a double-take. It wasn’t stunning that the Terps won, but it was shocking to see a Syracuse team that most believed was the second-best in the ACC get embarrassed.

It wasn’t a great look for the league but with Clemson, it might not matter. LSU also notched a big win over Texas and Colorado got a nice victory for the Pac-12 by engineering a 17-point comeback over Nebraska.

But to kick off this week’s ranking, we get back to the ACC, which is still No. 5.

The ACC didn’t have a bad week by any means, it even notched a marquee win as Clemson beat Texas A&M pretty handily. However, the loss by Syracuse was rough for the conference that really doesn’t have a clear second team.

There are a few conferences that are still trying to sort out their pecking order and the ACC is among them, however, in the conference power rankings, the only team that has really been holding its weight is Clemson.

North Carolina got another solid win this past week but knocked Miami to 0-2 in the process. Florida State narrowly avoided another bad loss and no other team really did anything of note.

Clemson should represent the league in the playoff but one thing that could be an issue for the Tigers is a lack of marquee wins. The victory over Texas A&M may be the last chance and that means a loss, even just one, could be quite costly.

The Pac-12 had an interesting week. California pulled an upset over Washington and pushed the Huskies back to 1-1, which probably ends their hopes of making the playoff.

Washington or any team from the Pac-12 was probably going to have to run the table and hope there were only four undefeated conference champions to make the playoff. But even then, there is no guarantee, not with the strength in the SEC.

But now that the Huskies have a loss, they are a longshot. I’d still bet on them being in the mix in the conference title race with Utah, Washington State and others like Stanford and maybe USC.

The Trojans had the best win of any team outside Cal, but then they turn around and have their athletic director, Lynn Swann resign. It’s just a bizarre situation. Clay Helton can’t feel secure in his job and it’s hard to see this team winning, even though it clearly has talent.

Utah is up to No. 11 now in the AP poll but it won’t get a chance to prove itself until a back-to-back with USC and Washington State starting Sept. 20.

The conference has depth as Cal and USC showed this weekend, it’s just not top-heavy. The Syracuse loss helped keep Pac-12 in fourth in the conference power rankings but that hold is tenuous at best.

In all honesty, there isn’t a huge difference between the first three leagues in the conference power rankings. There just isn’t. The ACC has Clemson and not a lot else, while the Pac-12 has a group of teams that could be something but are still unknown.

The Big 12 is sort of in-between those two conferences as it has two very good teams at the top and then a jumble of unknowns in the middle.

Oklahoma has looked dominant during the first two weeks of the season and Jalen Hurts absolutely looks like a Heisman contender.

Yet, even though Texas lost to LSU, the Horns hung in there against a challenging SEC team, which now joins Georgia and Alabama by being ranked in the top five. West Virginia getting blown out by Missouri didn’t look good, but there is hope for Oklahoma State, Iowa State and maybe even Kansas State.

Top to bottom, the Big 12 may not have the depth of say the Pac-12, but the top two teams look much better than in that league and that’s why it keeps its spot in the conference power rankings.

For the most part, the Big Ten held serve this week. Ohio State dominated and looked like it will be a powerhouse again in 2019. The conference also got a tremendous non-conference win out of Maryland is what was one of the top wins of the day in all of college football.

The one black eye so to speak was probably Michigan. The Wolverines needed two overtimes and a missed field goal to beat Army. That didn’t look great for Jim Harbaugh and company, but let’s not forget the Black Knights did come in with the second-longest winning streak in the nation.

Michigan gets a bye this week and then travels to Wisconsin, so we will find out about them soon enough. Some key games are on the schedule this week for the conference as Michigan State hosts Arizona State, Iowa plays Iowa State and TCU takes on Purdue.

Nebraska battles Northern Illinois as it hopes to bounce back from a tough loss to Colorado. The Huskies have beaten Big Ten teams before and they aren’t a team Nebraska can take lightly.

The Big Ten now has seven of the top-21 teams in the country and that’s why its holding firm in the conference power rankings.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to see the SEC top the conference power rankings again this week after LSU went on the road and defeated Texas.

Yes, Texas A&M could have acquitted itself better against Clemson, however, there were some other bright spots such as Missouri rolling West Virginia. BYU also won at Tennessee but we shouldn’t hold the entire conference accountable for that program’s massive drop-off.

The main cause for the SEC to keep its spot is that it now has three of the top four teams in the AP poll and five of the top nine with Florida and Auburn also in the top 10 now.

There are no major contests on the docket for the SEC this week and the only challenges for the top-ranked teams could be Alabama at South Carolina or Florida at Kentucky.

It’d be a surprise if Alabama was given a battle by the Gamecocks but you never know what will happen on the road. Florida and Kentucky have been pretty interesting in recent years and that could be a trap game for the Gators.

But in terms of the conference power rankings, the SEC has a firm hold on the top spot and that doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.