College football conference power rankings: ACC’s golden goose is cooked

3. Pac-12

The Big 12 and Pac-12 are neck and neck for the conferences behind the Big Ten and SEC. It’s basically the top two, a very long drop, the Pac-12 and Big 12, another long drop, then you have the ACC. Oregon looked good for about 2.5 quarters taking out a bad Arizona team. UCLA took a big win over Stanford back to Los Angeles. USC is still just swirling the drain after a loss to Oregon State at home. They would be lucky to stay bowl-eligible at this point.

2. Big Ten

Wisconsin is the only mark against the Big Ten this weekend as every other league member won with the top teams looking dominant against overwhelmed opponents. Ohio State showed it can still win on talent alone against Akron with Kyle McCord making his first start at quarterback. They still have a shot to get back in the College Football Playoff. Two teams that are better positioned entering Week 5 are Penn State and Iowa who are ranked inside the top five. This conference is just fun to watch, and over the next few weeks, there are some star-studded matchups coming up. Maryland is undefeated and they haven’t even had an ounce of publicity. They take on the Hawkeyes on Friday, so that should reveal a lot about both teams.

1. SEC

The Big Ten is at least in the conversation with the SEC now, but the king isn’t close to being taken out yet. Alabama destroyed its opponent because of course, they did. Georgia did the same. Arkansas can’t rest on its huge win over Texas A&M because they have to go on the road against the Bulldogs this week. Meanwhile, Ole Miss goes to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide. LSU and Auburn go toe to toe to show which team is going to be the sneaky hard opponent for the rest of the season. This is a gut-check weekend for the SEC.

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