College football conference power rankings: SEC is still good, but the Big 12 isn’t

All five Power 5 conferences plan to play college football this season.

Now that all five Power 5 conferences will play, we’ll go back to our original rankings format.

While it was fun to see what Group of 5 conferences like the ACC and the Sun Belt could do to get our attention, the ACC, the Big 12 and the SEC have already played conference games and the Big Ten and Pac-12 aren’t all that far behind from joining them. Though there will be times where we might think the ACC is better than the Pac-12, we’re really grasping at straws to prove a point.

Here are the college football conference rankings heading into Week 5.

While we are truly thankful the Pac-12 decided to play ball this fall, they only had one team ranked in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. How is that even possible? Though conferences with teams who haven’t played games yet were clearly dinged by the AP Poll voters. Despite having other teams receiving votes, the only Pac-12 team to crack the top 25 are the Oregon Ducks at No. 14.

Though the USC Trojans, the Utah Utes and the Washington Huskies received votes this week, it’s abundantly clear the Pac-12’s only shot at realistically getting a team into the playoff this year is Oregon. Fortunately for them, Oregon has a chance to go undefeated in Pac-12 play. If the Ducks somehow pull it off, it might be good enough to get them the No. 4 seed in the playoff field?

One would have thought the Big 12 playing ball before three Power 5 conferences resumed play would be a good thing. Instead, we’ve seen the Big 12 yield disastrous results in non-conference play, as well as having its College Football Playoff dreams on life support before October. Through Week 4, only three Big 12 teams are ranked and only three Big 12 teams are still undefeated.

The Big 12’as best team is the No. 9 Texas Longhorns, but they almost lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Week 4. The perceived best team in the Oklahoma Sooners fell from No. 3 to No. 18 after losing to the one-loss Kansas State Wildcats. The only two undefeated teams in the Big 12 besides Texas are the No. 17 Oklahoma State Cowboys (2-0) and the unranked Baylor Bears (1-0).

Including the typically independent Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the ACC is in fantastic shape to get a team into the College Playoff for the seventh year in a row. Only the ACC and the SEC have gotten a team in every year. With the presumptive national title favorite in the No. 1 Clemson Tigers at the top of the conference, 2020 looks to be a much better year for the ACC than 2019.

Joining Clemson and Notre Dame (No. 5) in the AP Top 25 Poll this week are the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes, the No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels and the No. 24 Pittsburgh Panthers. Three other ACC teams received votes in the Virginia Tech Hokies, the Virginia Cavaliers and the Louisville Cardinals. As long as the ACC has four top-25 teams, including Notre Dame, they’re in good shape.

As we eagerly await the Big Ten’s triumphant return to action on Oct. 24, it’s only edging out the ACC for the No. 2 spot just barely. The Big Ten has four ranked teams this week with the Ohio State Buckeyes standing as the best team at No. 6. The Penn State Nittany Lions come in at No. 10, the Wisconsin Badgers are the No. 19 team and the Michigan Wolverines are ranked No. 23.

Though we expect Ohio State to climb up to No. 2 or No. 3 after they boat race the Nebraska Cornhuskers, things really drop off a cliff after the sixth-best team in the conference. The Minnesota Golden Gophers should be a top-25 team this year, but are the Iowa Hawkeyes really the sixth-best team in the conference? The top of the Big Ten is strong, but the bottom is rancid.

As a shock to no one, the SEC maintains its spot at the top of these college football conference rankings. The SEC has eight teams ranked in the latest AP Top Poll and a ninth receiving votes in the Kentucky Wildcats. It has four teams ranked in the top seven in the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide, the No. 3 Florida Gators, the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs and the No. 7 Auburn Tigers.

The four other ranked teams in the SEC this week are the No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies, the No. 16 Mississippi State Bulldogs, the No. 20 LSU Tigers and the No. 21 Tennessee Volunteers. As long as the SEC has at least six teams ranked inside of the AP Top 25, they will get a team into the College Football Playoff. If they routinely have four inside of the top 10, then maybe two teams get in?

Ultimately, the latest AP Top 25 Poll is a little skewed because only three Power 5 conferences have played games so far. This is helping the ACC and the SEC tremendously, while it’s hurting the Big 12. Though you can argue for the Big Ten and the Pac-12 being under represented, they’ll have an opportunity to prove some voters wrong once they start playing games in a month or so.

The SEC leads, but the ACC is making a very strong push for No. 2 on the Big Ten entering Week 5.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.