The SEC West is the best division in college football.

Oops. Spoiler alert!

Wasn’t that question supposed to be up for debate not long ago? Seems pretty funny now, huh?

We are a week away from the College Football Playoff committee giving us its rankings, the only rankings that matter. That gives us one more week to contemplate rankings that don’t matter at all but are still fun to digest.

Such as ordering the Power 5 divisions, worst to best. But before we get to that, a quick reminder that all divisions are not created equal. In the 4-year Playoff era, three divisions — ACC Coastal, Big Ten West and Pac-12 South — have yet to be represented.

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Back to this year. We are at the point where very few nonconference contests remain, so we have ample evidence to rate each of the eight Power 5 divisions along with the division-free Big 12. We looked at each division from top to bottom and thought, if the No. 1 team in Division A played the No. 1 in Division B, then No. 2 faced No. 2 and so forth, what would happen?

Here we go with the countdown:

9. Pac-12 South

The Pac-12 South has yet to send its division champion to the Playoff. That won’t change this year. Utah is quietly having a nice season, with wins over USC and Stanford; the two Utes losses were fairly close. Everyone else here is a name brand, which can be had at 40 percent discount (USC, UCLA), or mediocre as usual. Arizona State’s win over Michigan State is the only nonconference result that was even borderline credible.

Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

8. ACC Coastal

I’m sorry, I can’t get past Virginia Tech losing to Old Dominion. The Hokies are leading this division and they lost — to Old Dominion. Meanwhile, Miami is underachieving big-time, Georgia Tech is heading in the wrong direction and Pitt is treading water. Virginia is having a nice season by its standards, except the Cavaliers lost to Indiana. Even less nonconference cred here than in the Pac-12 South.

7. Big Ten West

Purdue deserves massive credit for thumping Ohio State and rallying after an 0-3 start. On Saturday, SEC fans crowed about OSU losing to a Boilermakers team that lost to Mizzou. Here’s a more damning indictment: Purdue also lost to Eastern Michigan. At home. As for the rest, supposedly dominant Wisconsin lost to BYU and got trounced by Michigan, Northwestern is maddeningly inconsistent, and Nebraska … oh, dear. The only team carrying its weight is Iowa and the Hawkeyes’ strength of schedule is laughable. The West has yet to send a team to the Playoff. That streak will continue in 2018.

6. Pac-12 North

There are so many fun teams to watch, and so little ever comes of it. The only 1-loss team left in the entire league is Washington State, which played its usual Powder Puff nonconference slate. Everyone wrote an obituary for the Pac-12 in Week 1 when Washington lost to Auburn. They were right. The Huskies will still win this division. Unless it’s Stanford, unless it’s Oregon, unless it’s Wazzu … ah, whatever. Just forget the complete mediocrity and enjoy the exploding scoreboards.

5. Big Ten East

How the mighty have fallen. The Michigan Wolverines are who we thought they were, at least on defense. And let’s tip our caps to the kids at Maryland, who overcame the tragic preseason death of Jordan McNair and opened by beating what turned out to be a good Texas team (if we’re going to crush the B1G for its nonconference losses, let’s give it credit for its one strong win). Otherwise, there is a whole lot of talk and not enough results. Oh, and Rutgers is the worst team in the Power 5. Even worse than Oregon State.

4. ACC Atlantic

Clemson’s presence alone elevates this division by at least one spot, maybe two. The Tigers have had the second-best program in America in the CFP era and nothing about the 2018 season indicates that anything has changed. Plus there’s that win at Texas A&M, one of the toughest places to win anywhere. N.C. State, Syracuse and even Boston College have taken strides forward, though their nonconference schedules were weak (‘Cuse still has Notre Dame coming up). The only duds are Florida State and Louisville.

Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

3. Big 12

I went back and forth between this and the ACC Atlantic for the No. 3 slot. Oklahoma is still one of the most talented teams in the nation and Texas beat the Sooners. We’ll see if the Longhorns can maintain this pace, but they seem to be inching back toward elite status. West Virginia has a Heisman candidate in Will Grier. A couple of mildly disappointing teams (Oklahoma State, Kansas State) and one big clunker (TCU) reside here, but otherwise the talent level is deep and the league is pretty balanced. Iowa State always seems to spring a surprise each year and even Kansas isn’t as awful as usual.

2. SEC East

This ranking would have seemed ridiculous very recently. Why, hello, Florida. Welcome back. And Kentucky? My, what a nice surprise to see you at this party. Georgia is still elite, if not quite as good as last season. Mizzou is mediocre, but at least the Tigers score a ton on a good day. South Carolina might be the division’s biggest disappointment, but even so, this division is deep and scary and there are some very good coaches here. If it wasn’t for that darn pesky other division in this league ….

1. SEC West

Alabama. It all starts there, doesn’t it? Defending national champion, made the CFP every year, headed there again, etc. Can anybody beat the Crimson Tide? We will find out because LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn loom. Arkansas is lousy and Ole Miss has no defense, but other than that this division is just so dominant on the field and on the recruiting trail. And it all starts with Alabama.