Supremacy chatter: How did the SEC start 2017 compared to the rest of the Power 5 conferences?
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It feels good.
As the midnight hour burns on a Saturday night, the next week’s worth of arguing can officially begin. No longer are we debating things that happened nine months ago. Finally, we can have a conference supremacy discussion centered on games that happened just hours ago.
What a feeling, indeed.
After the full slate of Saturday games conclude every week, I’ll be taking an in-depth look at how the SEC performed compared to the rest of the Power 5 conferences. Lord knows the College Football Playoff selection committee is already doing that. Why not get out ahead of the curve?
In this new weekly installment, I’ll hit on three points that I think add value to the all-important, ever-changing question in college football.
Who really has the best conference in college football?
1. Power 5 vs. Power 5
Non-conference play in the College Football Playoff era has become the gift that keeps on giving. Not every matchup was Alabama-Florida State, but there were plenty of neutral site showdowns that added to the conference supremacy discussion. The SEC had five neutral-site games alone on opening weekend, four of which took place on Saturday.
Those games, of course, had the most big-picture significance. With the exception of the Texas A&M-UCLA game at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, five of the SEC’s six games against Power 5 teams were at neutral sites (including BYU-LSU).
The SEC wasn’t alone in setting up these quality opening weekend matchups. Through Saturday, no other conference racked up more wins vs. Power 5 teams than the SEC:
- SEC: 3-1
- B1G: 2-2
- ACC: 1-3
- Big 12: 0-1
- Pac-12: 2-0
Keep in mind that the Pac-12 racked up those two wins thanks to No. 8 Washington beating Rutgers (by only two touchdowns) and Cal winning on the road against a rebuilding UNC squad.
Yeah, don’t sound too impressed.
Meanwhile, the Big 12 loaded up on cupcakes like Tulsa, UTEP and Maryland. Just kidding. Maryland definitely isn’t a cupcake. Just ask Texas about that.
Down goes No. 23 Texas.
Terps spoil Tom Herman's debut in Maryland's first win over a ranked opponent since 2010. pic.twitter.com/KQF17TLiXd
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 2, 2017
The B1G might’ve actually had the most impressive Power 5 showing, despite that 2-2 mark.
Michigan did blanket Florida in the only B1G-SEC matchup, and the aforementioned Maryland upset was as an 18-point underdog. Purdue was a touchdown away from beating Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson and Louisville at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. On Friday, Rutgers only trailed by three at halftime against No. 8 Washington and stayed within two scores. That’s right. Rutgers!
But if Texas A&M and Tennessee pick up victories, the SEC will likely own the title of “best opening weekend vs. real competition.”
2. Who suffered embarrassing losses?
I don’t have a stat on this, but it felt like more big-time contenders struggled through slow first halves in their respective openers than any season I can remember. Between No. 16 Louisville, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 USC, No. 8 Washington and No. 9 Wisconsin, no team went into halftime with more than a three-point lead. Their opponents were Purdue, Indiana, Western Michigan, Rutgers and Utah State. Yikes.
But all of those teams avoided embarrassing losses. In fact, Texas was the only team that suffered what could truly be called an embarrassing loss.
Here was how each conference performed against Group of Five/FCS teams:
- SEC: 8-0
- B1G: 8-0
- ACC: 8-0
- Pac-12: 8-0
- Big 12: 7-1
Looking at you, Baylor.
Technically, Baylor was the only Power 5 team that suffered an “embarrassing loss.” There weren’t a bunch of Mississippi State-South Alabama or Southern Mississippi-Kentucky upsets like last year.
If we want to dig a little deeper, we could find a ton of Power 5 teams that underperformed and played way too close with a Group of Five/FCS squad. Arizona State, Northwestern and Pitt were a few that came to mind. Throw in Baylor and actually, the SEC was the only conference that lacked the embarrassing nail-biter win.
3. So what should we expect in the polls?
Depending on how you value the poll, you probably had a different outlook on the Associated Press preseason Top 25. SEC fans might’ve pointed to the fact that the conference had more teams in the preseason Top 25 than anyone else, despite the fact that it had just one team in the top 10 for the first time since 2003.
B1G fans might’ve pointed to the fact that conference had four teams ranked among the top 11 in the country while ACC fans thought their two teams in the top five was worth celebrating.
Anyway, there shouldn’t be some drastic shakeup in the polls. Texas will be out, and Florida might find itself on the outside looking in, as well. With a handful of teams left to play this weekend, though, I feel confident about two things:
- The SEC will have at least four teams in the Top 25, possibly 5 if Tennessee wins
- The conference still won’t have another top-10 team
Sorry, Auburn. Beating Georgia Southern isn’t worth leapfrogging any of the 11 teams ahead of it.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Florida State. Fair or not, the ACC likely won’t be able to boast about two top-five teams. The Seminoles will drop from No. 3 after losing to Alabama, but they should still be in the top 10.
That would likely mean the SEC is still the only Power 5 conference without multiple top-10 teams, though Washington and USC certainly didn’t look the part in their too-close-for-comfort openers.
Did we get any clarity as to who has the best conference in college football? Nobody went out and snatched that title, at least not yet. The SEC didn’t do anything on opening weekend to fall out of that race. Nobody really did. That’ll make the mid-week conference supremacy discussion that much more argumentative.
But it still beats the heck out of arguing about anything that happened nine months ago.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
