College football conference power rankings, Week 3: Sun Belt has more fun than you

With three stunning wins, the Sun Belt stuck it to the Big 12 in Week 2 of the college football season.

Week 2 of the 2020 college football season was a Saturday to remember for the Sun Belt.

In the second weekend of the season, we saw a handful of Power 5 teams in action, as the ACC and the Big 12 made their triumphant return to the gridiron. While the ACC had three strong teams win and a fourth get a huge upset, the story of Week 2 was the Sun Belt upsetting three teams out of the Big 12. This will be reflected appropriately in the latest conference power rankings.

Here are the weekly college football conference power rankings for Week 3.

7. Conference USA (Group of 5, 5-6 overall)

It was not a great weekend for Conference USA at all on the college gridiron. After going 4-2 in Week 1, Conference USA combined to go 1-4 in Week 2. It started off poorly with a tough road loss to the Miami Hurricanes by the UAB Blazers down in Coral Gables. The only team to win this weekend out of Conference USA was the UTSA Roadrunners over the Texas State Bobcats.

While it did get a non-conference win over a Sun Belt team, something the Big 12 struggled with, the Roadrunners’ victory doesn’t move the needle. Even with Big Ten, Mountain West and Pac-12 teams not factoring into the latest AP Top 25 Poll, Conference USA is the only FBS conference without a team ranked in the top 25. That might change after this weekend, but what a bad look.

6. FBS Independents (Group of 5, 3-0 overall)

Admittedly, it’s going to be hard to figure out what to do with the FBS Independents this season. While they are the only “conference” that is undefeated, only two teams have played games, they’ve only played three games and the BYU Cougars had to postpone a game due to a coronavirus outbreak. At least, BYU and the Army Black Knights are both ranked at this time.

The Liberty Flames will join the party this weekend, as they they take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in Bowling Green, Kentucky. WKU is fresh off a loss to the in-state nemesis Louisville Cardinals over the weekend. While BYU and Army are ranked No. 21 and No. 22 respectively, it’s a shame they can’t even play each other this weekend to batter for non-conference supremacy.

5. Sun Belt (Group of 5, 6-5 overall)

What a time to be alive if you’re a fan of Sun Belt Football. Never before has this Group of 5 conference gotten so much love. Though not all of their teams won over the weekend, we have to tip our cap to the marvelous jobs put forth by the Arkansas State Red Wolves, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for sticking it to their Big 12 counterparts in Week 2.

Louisiana upset the No. 23 Iowa State Cyclones in Ames. Arkansas State shocked the Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan. Though the Kansas Jayhawks made a late charge, Coastal Carolina survived #KansasAfterDark with a road victory in Lawrence. With Louisiana coming in at No. 19 and the Appalachian State Mountaineers coming in at No. 23, things are looking pretty good.

4. AAC (Group of 5, 4-1 overall)

Though unlikely, there may come a time where the AAC is threatened by the Sun Belt for the best conference out of the Group of 5. It’s about as likely to happen as the AAC usurping the Big 12 for the No. 3 spot on these rankings. The chances are slim to none, but the AAC might be better than the Pac-12 at this time if both conferences were choosing to play ball this fall.

With the South Florida Bulls and the Tulane Green Wave notching victories over teams they should have beaten anyway in The Citadel Bulldogs and the South Alabama Jaguars anyway, we do need to recognize the AAC has as many ranked teams in the latest AP Top 25 Poll as does the Big 12: The No. 13 Cincinnati Bearcats, No. 14 UCF Knights and the No. 16 Memphis Tigers.

3. Big 12 (Power 5, 4-3 overall)

Week 2 was a bad first weekend for the Big 12. There is no other way to look at it. While the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns crushed the Missouri State Bears and the UTEP Miners respectively, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State all lost their season openers at home to Group of 5 teams. The Texas Tech Red Raiders nearly made it a fourth Big 12 embarrassment.

The West Virginia Mountaineers got a blowout win over essentially a JV team in the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, so that’s neat. What isn’t neat is the Big 12 only has three ranked teams in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, just as many as the AAC and one more than the Sun Belt: No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 9 Texas and the No. 11 Oklahoma State Cowboys. The middle of the Big 12 must get better.

2. ACC (Power 5, 7-4 overall)

The ACC was back in action this weekend, and it was even playing some conference games, four of them in fact. After being seen as a bit of a punching bag outside of the juggernaut Clemson Tigers a season ago, the ACC has firm control of the No. 2 spot in these conference power rankings. They’ll need the SEC to cannibalize itself to get that top spot or win the College Football Playoff.

Entering Week 3, the ACC is second to only the SEC with teams ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll. Those rankings are as follows: No. 1 Clemson, No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels, No. 17 Miami, No. 18 Louisville, the No. 20 Virginia Tech Hokies and the No. 25 Pittsburgh Panthers. The ACC has a good top and a strong middle, but not a great bottom.

1. SEC (Power 5, 0-0

It’ll still be two weeks before the SEC plays its 10-game, conference-only schedule. Once that happens, we’ll pivot to ranked teams as the line of demarcation in these weekly conference rankings. Though it doesn’t seem fair, it’s the best rudimentary metric we have at this time. Right now, the SEC leads the way with eight teams ranked inside of the latest AP Top 25 Poll.

Six of the top-10 teams in the country hail from the SEC in the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide, the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs, the No. 5 Florida Gators, the No. 6 LSU Tigers, the No. 8 Auburn Tigers and the No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies. The two other top-25 teams out of the SEC are the No. 15 Tennessee Volunteers and the No. 23 Kentucky Wildcats. We know what the top-half is capable of.

Even though it stinks to not have four conferences playing, we should still appreciate getting college football in any variation. The whole year has been weird, so let’s embrace the weirdness. Who doesn’t love seeing Notre Dame play in the ACC? If not for COVID-19, does the Sun Belt become the Fun Belt and completely ruin the Big 12’s non-conference credibility? It was beautiful.

Week 3 awaits us, but will we see any interesting movement in the bottom part of these rankings?

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