Every Wednesday, we rank the SEC and Big 12 teams in one power poll. The order of the SEC teams is based on the Week 8 SDS SEC Power Poll.
Predicting the other conferences at this point is simple. Florida State will win the ACC. Oregon has a great chance to take down the Pac-12 if it can overcome a diminished Stanford. Michigan State is the Big Ten favorite, though Ohio State is a formidable challenger.
In the SEC and the Big 12, a handful of teams in each conference still have a realistic chance to win. Will that lead to cannibalism, or will a dominant force emerge from the rubble? We may have to wait until the last weeks of the regular season to find out.
For now, the combined power rankings are pretty even — the SEC owns six of the top 10 compared to four for the Big 12 — but a closer look shows that the five best teams through Week 8 are all from the SEC. Considering the Big 12 has emerged as the second-best conference in college football, that’s quite the statement.
FLORIDA STATE, WE SEE YOU
As of now, the SEC has a lone challenger for college football supremacy: the team that beat Auburn in last year’s national championship and still hasn’t lost with Jameis Winston at quarterback. It seems like a long shot right now, but the Tigers conceivably could get a rematch in the playoff if Auburn knocks off Ole Miss, Alabama and Georgia (twice?). But as long as FSU keeps winning against an increasingly tame schedule, it’s likely that the SEC will meet the Seminoles in the postseason.
1. Mississippi State
2. Ole Miss
3. Alabama
4. Auburn
THE CHASE PACK
In many ways, the Bulldogs, Horned Frogs and Wildcats have the best chance to win their respective conferences even though they rank relatively low in our combined power rankings. If UGA beats Auburn on Nov. 15, it is virtually guaranteed to make the SEC championship game, and likely as a one-loss team. TCU and Kansas State are in control of the Big 12, though the picture is more muddled in that conference.
5. Georgia
6. Baylor
7. TCU
8. Kansas State
COACHING GIANTS IN OFF YEARS
Before the season, it looked like the Sooners could be one of the strongest national championship contenders, but OU already has lost two games before Halloween. LSU, too, looked like a clear Top 15 program after knocking off Wisconsin at a neutral site in the season opener. That win no longer sparkles, and the Tigers are underdogs Saturday in what would represent the team’s third loss, a rarity for a Les Miles team in an entire season, let alone one with so many tough games remaining.
9. LSU
10. Oklahoma
OFFENSIVELY INCLINED
Sorry if this offends the sensibilities of anyone in Missouri — the Tigers look hard-pressed right now to produce more than 200 yards of offense in a game — but the philosophy of these teams is predicated on scoring lots of points. West Virginia leveraged it to knock off Baylor on Saturday, finally scoring that big-time win after playing Alabama and Oklahoma tough. Meanwhile, the other three teams look downright bad at times, but no opposing defensive coordinator is going to feel relaxed and comfortable against them regardless of the results of the last few weekends.
11. West Virginia
12. Texas A&M
13. Missouri
14 Oklahoma State
THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY
The Razorbacks and Wildcats entered last weekend with very different results — Arkansas had lost all three of its SEC games, while Kentucky was 5-1 overall — but both teams were generating buzz around the perception they were close to breakthrough wins. Instead, both teams looked more like SEC doormats. Will they bounce back, or will the season tilt away from them?
15. Arkansas
16. Kentucky
PRIDEFUL FANS, BRUISED EGOS
The Gamecocks don’t have the history and tradition of the other programs in this subcategory, but coach Steve Spurrier does. Whether it’s the fans or the Head Ball Coach, there are plenty of sore egos and hurt pride at these four colleges right now. Texas and Tennessee are on the way up, at least theoretically, while South Carolina and Florida appear to be headed the other direction.
17. South Carolina
18. Texas
19. Florida
20. Tennessee
FOOL’S GOLD
We explained the moniker last week. People have taken to calling Kliff Kingsbury the Anna Kournikova of college football. And Iowa State would be the dregs of the Big 12 if not for the fired Charlie Weis acting as an anchor pulling Kansas to the bottom of the sea.
21. Texas Tech
22. Iowa State
WINNING A CONFERENCE GAME WOULD BE SHOCKING
These two teams mercifully had the weekend off, so the two fan bases both avoided a loss on the same weekend for what could be the first time all season.
23. Vanderbilt
24. Kansas
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
