Each week, we’ll rank the conferences based on … well … how rank they did the week prior. Good deeds roll over to the next week, and at the end, we’ll see what an unfiltered ranking of the conferences looks like. Beware, turning on ESPN and listening to their garble isn’t going to help you, here. Note: this is all just for fun. None of it is meant to be deep or serious.
1. Big Ten
The Big Ten succeeded in their most high profile game (Wisconsin over LSU) and even though polls are screwy and useless, people still thought LSU was really, really good. The good teams looked powerhouse, and there were no bad losses by the bottom feeders. Also, games like Minnesota over Oregon State always help perception.
Best win: Wisconsin over LSU
Worst Loss: Western Michigan over Northwestern
Perception Game of the Week (PGOW): Illinois vs North Carolina
2. ACC
The big two will carry this conference’s perception all year long, and both Clemson and Florida State defeated SEC opponents in Auburn and Ole Miss, respectively. Since there isn’t much data this far in as most teams just try to get off to good starts against lesser opponents paid to come in for a flogging, those two wins carry the conference this week up yonder.
Best Win: Florida State over Ole Miss
Worst Loss: Richmond over Virginia
PGOW: Pittsburgh vs Penn State
3. SEC
There’s a lot of grave dancing on the SEC, but give it credit for, you know, actually playing tough games to open the season. LSU was always going to be a fool’s gold top five pick, but people get roped in anyway. Don’t forget … Texas A&M won over higher-ranked UCLA, which was a sneaky nice win. The SEC East looks a little rough, though. And oh, Alabama … they’re gonna be okay. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Best Win: Alabama over Southern Cal
Worst Loss: South Alabama over Mississippi State
PGOW: Tennessee vs Virginia Tech
4. Big 12
Texas looks like some sort of super hero that went into a dark ally to change into something that will make them unstoppable and then rolled THAT offense out. Good on them. Oklahoma got paddled a bit by Houston, which should be part of their Big 12 presentation just to watch Texas’ staff snicker. The rest of the conference mostly did as expected, though TCU didn’t look convincing for the better part of their game against SDSU.
Best Win: Texas over Notre Dame
Worst Loss: Northern Iowa over Iowa State
PGOW: TCU vs Arkansas
5. Pac-12
Not a banner week for the Left Coast. They got various levels of bull whipped in several high-profile games and looked like a 50 degree and rainy Saturday in a few less high profile ones. USC got smoked by Alabama. UCLA lost to lower/unranked TAMU. Oregon State lost to Minnesota. Arizona was ROUGH in a loss to BYU. And Wazzu needs to stop scheduling FCS teams.
Best Win: Colorado over Colorado State
Worst Loss: Alabama over USC (due to competitiveness, not opponent)
PGOW: Utah vs BYU
