Ranking the nation's best college football conferences

Originally Published: October 2, 2009

SEC loads up with three top-four teams

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By Mark Schlabach
ESPN.com
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Even after another unpredictable weekend in college football, in which four top-10 teams fell, the conference rankings remain pretty much unchanged.

The SEC and Big 12 are still the country's best leagues, but the Pac-10 is coming on strong (even without its preseason favorites doing that well).

SEC 1. SEC
The SEC still has three teams ranked in the top four of the Associated Press Top 25 poll: No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 LSU. Two other teams -- No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Ole Miss -- are ranked in the Top 25. Two other SEC teams are worthy of being ranked: Auburn and South Carolina. The Tigers are 4-0 going into Saturday's road opener at Tennessee, and the Gamecocks upset then-No. 4 Ole Miss 16-10 last week. South Carolina also came within one pass of upsetting Georgia on the road.

Big 12 2. Big 12
The Big 12 has as many ranked teams as the SEC, but No. 2 Texas looks like the only legitimate BCS championship contender. No. 8 Oklahoma could fight its way back into the BCS mix, and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford might be close to returning from a shoulder injury. The Sooners will have to win at No. 17 Miami on Saturday night to stay in the national title hunt. No. 14 Oklahoma State hasn't looked the same since its 45-35 loss to Houston at home, and the Pokes are fighting a boatload of injuries. No. 18 Kansas might be a sleeper, and Missouri would probably climb into the rankings with another victory. Texas A&M has a surprising 3-0 record and can help the Big 12's reputation by beating Arkansas in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday.

Pac-10 3. Pac-10
Unless No. 7 USC gets better in a hurry, the Pac-10 probably doesn't have a dominant team. But few leagues have a deeper stable of pretty good teams. No. 16 Oregon has already produced one of the season's best turnarounds after losing at Boise State 19-8 in its opener. The Ducks rebounded to win three straight games, including a 42-3 rout of then-No. 6 Cal last week. The Bears might have a tough time recovering from that embarrassing loss, especially with the Trojans coming to Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday night. Oregon State, Washington and Washington State are the only Pac-10 teams with more than one loss. UCLA and Stanford are two of the country's bigger surprises and play Saturday for first place in the Pac-10 standings.

ACC 4. ACC
No. 6 Virginia Tech proved it's once again the ACC team to beat after the Hokies blasted then-No. 9 Miami 31-7 in Blacksburg, Va., last week. The No. 17 Hurricanes might still be the league's second-best team, and they can help the ACC's stock by beating No. 8 Oklahoma at home Saturday night. No. 25 Georgia Tech got its offense back on track in a 24-7 win over North Carolina last week, but faces a dangerous road game at Mississippi State on Saturday. Florida State and Maryland looked bad in last week's nonconference losses to South Florida and Rutgers, respectively. Clemson is one of the better 2-2 teams in the country after its 14-10 loss to TCU.

Big Ten 5. Big Ten
After four weeks, Iowa and Ohio State are the Big Ten's best chances at playing for a BCS national championship. The Hawkeyes upset preseason favorite Penn State 21-10 last week. Michigan and Wisconsin are both 4-0, but each team would probably need some help to climb high into the rankings. Indiana and Minnesota have been surprises, but 1-3 Michigan State is a big disappointment so far.

6. Big East
It was a pretty good week for the Big East, which really needed a shot in the arm. South Florida upset Florida State 17-7 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. Rutgers blasted Maryland 34-13 on the road, and Cincinnati beat Fresno State 28-20 at home. Two other Big East teams lost big nonconference games: Pitt lost to NC State 38-31 and Louisville lost 30-14 at Utah. The No. 10 Bearcats are a legitimate dark horse for the BCS national championship.

7. Mountain West
No. 11 TCU really helped its BCS chances by beating Clemson 14-10 on the road last week. After hosting SMU on Saturday, the Horned Frogs still play three potentially difficult games: at Air Force on Oct. 10, at BYU on Oct. 24 and home against Utah on Nov. 14. No. 20 BYU rebounded from its bad loss to Florida State by beating Colorado State 42-23. MWC teams play a couple of big nonconference games Saturday: Air Force plays at Navy and UNLV plays at Nevada.

C-USA 8. Conference USA
C-USA got another big nonconference victory, with Houston beating Texas Tech 29-28. The Cougars have climbed to No. 12 in the AP Top 25 poll, but still face three potential stumbling blocks: at improving Mississippi State on Oct. 10, home against Southern Miss on Oct. 31 and at Tulsa on Nov. 7. The Golden Eagles were more than impressive in their 35-28 loss at Kansas last week. But three C-USA teams were blown out in nonleague games: UTEP lost at Texas 64-7; UAB lost at Texas A&M 56-19; and Rice fell at Vanderbilt 36-17.

WAC 9. WAC
Boise State is clearly carrying the rest of the WAC on its back. The Broncos are ranked No. 5 in the AP poll, their highest ranking during the regular season and the highest regular-season ranking by a WAC team since 1996. But the rest of the WAC simply isn't very good, which might hurt Boise State's chances at earning a BCS bid. Idaho is the only other WAC team with fewer than two losses. Nevada is a disappointing 0-3, and Fresno State is 1-3 after playing one of the country's tougher schedules.

MAC 10. MAC
Central Michigan is the team to beat in the MAC. In fact, the Chippewas are the only MAC team with fewer than two losses. Ball State and Buffalo, which played for the MAC title last season, are a combined 1-7 this season. Three MAC teams lost badly in big nonconference games last week: Northern Illinois lost to Idaho 34-31; Bowling Green lost to Boise State 49-14; and Auburn beat Ball State 54-30.

11. Sun Belt
Troy, which lost its opener at Bowling Green, is back in the Sun Belt's driver's seat after its 30-27 victory over Arkansas State last week. Middle Tennessee has also been impressive while compiling a 3-1 record. But Florida Atlantic is one of three winless Sun Belt teams after losing to Louisiana-Monroe 27-25 last week.