Heading into the 2016 college football season, even casual football fans know some of the top teams to watch: Alabama, LSU, Florida State, Clemson and Oklahoma. Coaches have already ranked the teams based on assumptions about how the teams will perform this season.

But what about the coaches who make the critical decisions when the game is on the line? If thinking ahead to how these teams will finish the season, why not rank each of the Power 5 conferences based on the coaches?

1. BIG 12

It may be painful for SEC fans to admit, but the Big 12 wins the ranking by a hair. A huge factor had to do with the SEC losing three graybeards in the ranks this offseason: Steve Spurrier, Mark Richt and Gary Pinkel. With the loss of the aforementioned coaches, the SEC lost 228 career wins, 145 wins and 191 wins, respectively. Of course, Pinkel coached for a team that joined the SEC from the Big 12, and Spurrier collected 20 wins at Duke, but the point is: The SEC lost three coaches who knew how to win games. Meanwhile, the Big 12 has 179 wins and a national championship from Bob Stoops, 143 wins from Gary Patterson, 193 wins from Bill Snyder, 110 wins from newcomer Jim Grobe and 94 wins from Mike Gundy. The Big 12 has a seasoned group of head coaches, many of them still with the same school where their careers began. Stoops is third among active Power 5 coaches with respect to winning percentage. Patterson ranks fifth. The only real question mark surrounds Matt Campbell in his first season at Iowa State and David Beaty, whose Kansas team went 0-12 last season.

2. SEC

The SEC is a close second, headlined by Nick Saban and Les Miles. It seems strange the conference’s second most successful coach faced major job security questions last season. Miles has led the program to two national championship trips, successfully winning it all in 2007. While Saban has more career victories, Miles actually leads the SEC in most wins at his current school with 112 wins. Saban does have four championship rings at Alabama and 105 wins as well. Plenty of other conference head coaches are well-regarded from Bret Bielema to Gus Malzahn to Hugh Freeze. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator of the 2010 title team, while returning Auburn to the national championship in 2013. Long-time Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart takes over at Georgia, and Barry Odom was promoted to head coach at Missouri.

3. BIG TEN

The Big Ten has the Power 5 active coach with the highest winning percentage in Urban Meyer. With 154 career wins and three national championships to his résumé, it would be hard to argue he isn’t one of the best coaches in college football. Jim Harbaugh has Michigan on the rise, while Mark Dantonio and Kirk Ferentz have been remarkably consistent through the years. The Big Ten comes in as a close third place because of question marks surrounding both high-profile coaches and brand new coaches. Maryland’s D.J. Durkin and Rutgers’ Chris Ash both have assistant experience under Urban Meyer but begin anew as head coaches for struggling programs. Lovie Smith, while successful as an NFL head coach, faces an uphill battle in rebuilding the program at Illinois. Mike Riley should have Nebraska competing for the conference title this season after several close losses last season. Still, questions remain after a 6-7 finish last season.

4. ACC

The ACC has three top coaches followed by question marks. Jimbo Fisher has a national championship to his name, and Dabo Swinney coached in the national championship game last season. Then, there’s David Cutcliffe, who has won an absurd number of coaching awards for his work as head coach at Duke, as well as a strong run as head coach at Ole Miss and the offensive coordinator at Tennessee. The ACC has big question marks with Justin Fuente taking over at Virginia Tech, which had a long string of success under Frank Beamer, and Dino Babers taking over at Syracuse.

5. PAC-12

Chris Petersen has the second-highest winning percentage among active Power 5 coaches, although he is 15-12 at Washington. Most of his career wins occurred at Boise State. Still, he’s a well-regarded coach, as is Stanford head coach David Shaw. Rich Rodriguez actually has the most career wins of any coach in the conference. Gary Andersen accepted the job at Oregon State after an 11-3 season at Wisconsin. His first season in Corvallis was brutal as the team went 0-9 in conference play and 2-10 overall. Meanwhile, Mike MacIntyre is 10-27 at Colorado, and there are legitimate questions about Clay Helton’s lack of head coaching experience (just 6-4 as interim coach in 2013 and 2015) at a storied program like USC.