Greetings oh great and wonderful college football fans and welcome to Monday night. I thought tonight we’d explore both conferences and divisions (FBS only). In the data, I’ve ranked each (two different tables) by average ranking. I’ve also added how many undefeated teams and one-loss teams are still around for each. Then, the best and worst team. As an added statistical bonus, I’ve added the average SOS rank for each division/conference. Reminder, there are 131 FBS schools. First let’s look at conferences from worst to first.
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| POS | Conference (teams) | Perfect Teams | 1-Loss Teams | Best Team | Worst Team | Avg Rank | AVG SOS Rank |
| 11 | Conference USA (11) | — | — | Rice (3-2/80) | FIU (2-2/143) | 107.91 | 97.55 |
| 10 | MAC (12) | — | — | Buffalo (2-3/78) | Ball St (2-3/132) | 105.00 | 72.75 |
| 9 | Mountain West (12) | — | Air Force, San Jose St, UNLV | Air Force (4-1/52) | Hawaii (1-4/129) | 90.50 | 77.92 |
| 8 | Indies (7) | — | BYU, Liberty | Notre Dame (2-2/33) | New Mexico St (1-5/139) | 89.71 | 75.00 |
| 7 | Sun Belt (14) | Coastal Carolina, James Madison | South Alabama | James Madison (4-0/17) | Georgia St (1-4/125) | 85.29 | 86.00 |
| 6 | American (11) | — | Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane, UCF | Tulane (4-1/36) | South Florida (1-4/130) | 78.55 | 80.27 |
| 5 | ACC (14) | Clemson, Syracuse | Duke, Florida St, NC St, Wake Forest | Clemson (5-0/7) | Virginia Tech (2-3/121) | 48.43 | 56.43 |
| 4 | Big Ten (14) | Michigan, Ohio St, Penn St | Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota | Michigan (5-0/3) | Nebraska (2-3/108) | 42.79 | 54.07 |
| 3 | Pac 12 (12) | Southern Cal, UCLA | Oregon, Utah, Washington, Washington St | Southern Cal (5-0/8) | Arizona (3-2/69) | 37.50 | 45.17 |
| 2 | Big 12 (10) | Kansas, Oklahoma St, TCU | Kansas St | Kansas (5-0/2) | West Virginia (2-3/74) | 36.40 | 51.70 |
| 1 | SEC (14) | Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee | Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi St | Alabama (5-0/1) | South Carolina (3-2/68) | 32.78 | 39.07 |
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Based on this analysis, the SEC is the best conference with 4 remaining undefeated teams and 3 1-loss teams – half the conference is a combined 31-3 (the rest is 20-15 with only Missouri having a losing record) – AND they’ve played the most difficult schedule by a good margin over Pac 12. More to come for sure, but even their worst GCR ranked team has a winning record – so far. Last year, the Big 12 (and the Indies) was the only non-division conference, but the Pac 12 (without member changes) and C-USA (with 3 teams leaving) dropped their divisions. I read a good amount of speculation that the SEC and others will as well in the future, but for now, we still have a few. And divisions are almost never equal. Let’s redo the above table, but by division, if they exist, from worst to first.
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| POS | Division (teams) | Perfect Teams | 1-Loss Teams | Best Team | Worst Team | Avg Rank | Avg SOS Rank |
| 17 | MAC – West (6) | — | — | C Michigan (1-4/84) | Ball St (2-3/132) | 114.67 | 95.50 |
| 16 | C-USA (11) | — | — | Rice (3-2/80) | FIU (2-2/143) | 107.91 | 97.55 |
| 15 | MTW – West (6) | — | San Jose St, UNLV | UNLV (4-1/57) | Hawaii (1-4/129) | 99.17 | 91.33 |
| 14 | MAC – East (6) | — | — | Buffalo (2-3/78) | Miami OH (2-3/119) | 95.33 | 50.00 |
| 13 | Sun – West (7) | — | South Alabama | South Alabama (4-1/40) | Louisiana (2-3/122) | 92.29 | 75.14 |
| 12 | Indies (7) | — | BYU, Liberty | Notre Dame (2-2/33) | New Mexico St (1-5/139) | 89.71 | 75.00 |
| 11 | MTW – Mtn (6) | — | Air Force | Air Force (4-1/52) | New Mexico (2-3/104) | 81.83 | 64.50 |
| 10 | American (11) | — | Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane, UCF | Tulane (4-1/36) | South Florida (1-4/130) | 78.55 | 80.27 |
| 9 | Sun – East (7) | Coastal Carolina, James Madison | — | James Madison (4-0/17) | Georgia St (1-4/125) | 78.29 | 96.86 |
| 8 | ACC – Coastal (7) | — | Duke, UNC | Duke (4-1/23) | Virginia Tech (2-3/121) | 61.57 | 64.00 |
| 7 | Big Ten – West (7) | — | Illinois, Minnesota | Illinois (4-1/19) | Nebraska (2-3/108) | 52.14 | 47.29 |
| 6 | SEC – East (7) | Georgia, Tennessee | Kentucky | Georgia (5-0/2) | South Carolina (3-2/68) | 39.00 | 42.71 |
| 5 | Pac 12 (12) | Southern Cal, UCLA | Oregon, Utah, Washington, Washington St | Southern Cal (5-0/8) | Arizona (3-2/69) | 37.50 | 45.17 |
| 4 | Big 12 (10) | Kansas, Oklahoma St, TCU | Kansas St | Kansas (5-0/12) | West Virginia (2-3/74) | 36.40 | 51.70 |
| 3 | ACC – Atlantic (7) | Clemson, Syracuse | Florida St, NC St, Wake Forest | Clemson (5-0/7) | Boston College (2-3/105) | 35.29 | 48.86 |
| 2 | Big Ten – East (7) | Michigan, Ohio St, Penn St | Maryland | Michigan (5-0/3) | Michigan St (2-3/71) | 33.43 | 60.86 |
| 1 | SEC – West (7) | Alabama, Mississippi | LSU, Mississippi St | Alabama (5-0/1) | Texas A&M (3-2/59) | 26.57 | 35.43 |
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SEC (first and sixth), Big Ten (second and seventh), ACC (third and eighth). Nope, divisions are not equal. I’ll look at this breakdown again after week 10 to see what’s changed.
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One bit of news: two more head coaches are looking for work as Colorado (0-5/44) who has played the most difficult schedule this year and Wisconsin (2-3/63) are out. San Diego St (2-3/113) fired their OC after a very slow start (Offensive Efficiency Rating of 76 good for 208th in the country).
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That’s it for this episode. Next up is G’s Expectations with predictions for all the games this week. Thanks for checking the post out and we’ll see you next time, G
