College football conference power rankings: Big Ten coming for SEC’s crown

The Big Ten made a positive impact in this week’s college football conference power rankings.

With the Big Ten’s triumphant return, the college football world was so much better for it.

Four of the five Power 5 conferences are back in action and the Pac-12 will be joining the party in a few weeks. With the Big Ten coming back into the fold, we saw several teams play phenomenal, including the Indiana Hoosiers, the Michigan Wolverines, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Wisconsin Badgers. Let’s see how the Big Ten’s return impacts the weekly conference rankings.

College football conference power rankings through Week 8

Let’s be real. There’s not a lot the Pac-12 can do to salvage its awful reputation in the Power 5 until a West Coast power emerges. The good news is the two teams most likely to do that are ranked at this point of the season, even without playing a game. Will the Oregon Ducks or the USC Trojans be able to go undefeated, beat the other and get the Pac-12 back into the playoff?

Oregon is the favorite to win the Pac-12 this year. The Ducks have a great coaching staff and a phenomenal recruiter in head coach Mario Cristobal. While quarterbacking concerns might be an issue in Eugene, it’s not the case for Clay Helton’s Trojans in Los Angeles with Kedon Slovis entering his second year in offensive coordinator Graham Harrell’s pass-heavy system.

Week 8 was one of the best weeks the Big 12 has had in a while. The Oklahoma State Cowboys finally earned its top-six ranking by defeating a strong Iowa State Cyclones team in Stillwater. The Kansas State Wildcats dominated the Kansas Jayhawks in the Sunflower Showdown. With a convincing win over the TCU Horned Frogs, the Oklahoma Sooners are ranked once again.

Though the Texas Longhorns remain unranked and the West Virginia Mountaineers blew it vs. the Texas Tech Red Raiders, the top half of the Big 12 is competitive. However, how great is its best team? Oklahoma State has the offensive star power and the tactically sound defense to win the Big 12 while going undefeated, but they will only be the No. 4 seed in the playoff if they get in.

Even though the ACC has two of the four best teams in the country, we have our concerns about the middle of the pack. Everybody knows the Clemson Tigers are reaching the College Football Playoff for the sixth year in a row, so go ahead and book your tickets, Clemson Family. While the Notre Dame Fighting Irish remain intriguing, what happens when they play someone good?

Though the Miami Hurricanes look to be legit, we can’t say for certain the North Carolina Tar Heels are, even after beating the brakes of the North Carolina State Wolfpack. Seeing the Virginia Tech Hokies fall to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons is a major hit to the ACC’s middle class. While the top of the ACC is great, the bottom is terrible and the middle is middling at best.

With the Big Ten being back in action, we finally got to see how all 14 of its member institutions stack up. While it was great for several teams like Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin, teams like the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Nebraska Cornhuskers and definitely the Penn State Nittany Lions would like a re-do from the opening weekend of conference play.

The good news for the Big Ten is Ohio State is outstanding, Michigan looks to be legit and Wisconsin is as good as ever. The bad news is Penn State could have some problems, Minnesota may have been overhyped and the Michigan State Spartans could be in for a rough year. I mean, Mel Tucker lost his first game in East Lansing to Greg Schiano’s Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Even though the same four teams are ranked from the week prior, no other Power 5 conference has four teams ranked inside of the top-10 than the SEC. The Alabama Crimson Tide remain undefeated, while the Florida Gators, the Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas A&M Aggies all look to be high-end quality teams with a loss apiece. As for the rest of the SEC, it’s not all that great.

The league’s fifth-best team is the Auburn Tigers, who are lucky to be 3-2. After that, we’re getting down into the territory of convincing ourselves the Missouri Tigers are good and the Arkansas Razorbacks are legit. Do we really want to go there this year? For now, the SEC remains on top because it has four teams capable of getting to New Year’s Six Bowls this holiday season.

So how close are the gaps this week? The Pac-12 is in the basement by its lonesome. The Big 12 made up ground on the ACC, who lost ground after Week 8. The Big Ten slightly better than the ACC through one week of action. As for the SEC, the Big Ten is a little too close for comfort, although most people will take Georgia as the second best team in a conference right now.

The Big Ten makes college football more fun and we’re so glad to have it back in our lives.

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