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There will never be a definitive way to rank college football teams, but it doesn't stop us from trying. The same goes for conferences. This is the time of year when fans use bowl game results to try to prove their conference's superiority. Bowl games are just one method, though. Let's take a look at a few others:
Best Team
Let's keep it simple to start. Give us the best you've got:
Rk | Conf | High | F+ | Rk |
1 | ACC | Florida State | 49.7% | 1 |
2 | SEC | Alabama | 44.9% | 2 |
3 | P12 | Stanford | 41.5% | 3 |
4 | B10 | Ohio State | 31.7% | 5 |
5 | B12 | Baylor | 30.8% | 7 |
6 | AAC | Louisville | 24.3% | 16 |
7 | IND | Notre Dame | 18.8% | 24 |
8 | MW | Utah State | 13.7% | 33 |
9 | CUSA | East Carolina | 11.0% | 36 |
10 | MAC | Bowling Green | 9.1% | 41 |
11 | SB | South Alabama | -4.0% | 71 |
Worst Team
You're only as strong as your weakest link, right?
Rk | Conf | Low | F+ | Rk |
1 | ACC | N.C. State | -11.4% | 89 |
2 | AAC | South Florida | -16.2% | 98 |
3 | SEC | Kentucky | -16.5% | 99 |
4 | B12 | Kansas | -18.8% | 101 |
5 | P12 | California | -20.8% | 105 |
6 | MW | Air Force | -26.2% | 113 |
7 | B10 | Purdue | -26.4% | 114 |
8 | SB | Georgia State | -33.6% | 121 |
9 | IND | New Mexico State | -34.6% | 122 |
10 | MAC | Eastern Michigan | -41.8% | 124 |
11 | CUSA | Florida International | -42.1% | 125 |
Top 4
Here, I took the average F/+ ranking of the top 4 teams in the conference. The thought process here is that a conference should be judged from the top down. Let's see how the best 4 from each conference stack up:
You can see how some of the conferences drop off after 2-3 teams. The Pac 12 and SEC don't, though...both leagues have 4 teams in the F/+ top 20.
Rk | Conf | 1 | F+ | 2 | F+ | 3 | F+ | 4 | F+ | Avg |
1 | P12 | Stanford | 3 | Arizona State | 6 | Oregon | 7 | USC | 12 | 7.0 |
2 | SEC | Alabama | 2 | Auburn | 4 | South Carolina | 14 | Missouri | 17 | 9.3 |
3 | B10 | Ohio State | 5 | Michigan State | 9 | Wisconsin | 10 | Iowa | 28 | 13.0 |
4 | ACC | Florida State | 1 | Clemson | 15 | Virginia Tech | 21 | Miami | 29 | 16.5 |
5 | B12 | Baylor | 7 | Oklahoma State | 11 | Oklahoma | 23 | Kansas State | 27 | 17.0 |
6 | AAC | Louisville | 16 | Central Florida | 24 | Houston | 42 | Cincinnati | 64 | 36.5 |
7 | MW | Utah State | 33 | Boise State | 36 | Fresno State | 43 | Colorado State | 68 | 45.0 |
8 | CUSA | East Carolina | 36 | North Texas | 49 | Marshall | 51 | Rice | 55 | 47.8 |
9 | IND | Notre Dame | 24 | BYU | 26 | Navy | 66 | Army | 99 | 53.8 |
10 | MAC | Bowling Green | 41 | Ball State | 52 | Northern Illinois | 61 | Toledo | 63 | 54.3 |
11 | SB | South Alabama | 71 | Western Kentucky | 82 | UL-Lafayette | 88 | Arkansas State | 93 | 83.5 |
Top 8
Let's go a little bit deeper into each league to see how they hold up.
The Pac-12 and SEC are still very impressive here. Eight teams in the top 35? No other league has 6 teams in the top 35. The Big 12 is the weakest of the 5 major conferences by quite a wide margin here due to the big dropoff in the 7th and 8th spots (Texas Tech and West Virginia).
Rk | Conf | 1 | F+ | 2 | F+ | 3 | F+ | 4 | F+ | |
1 | P12 | Stanford | 3 | Arizona State | 6 | Oregon | 7 | USC | 12 | |
2 | SEC | Alabama | 2 | Auburn | 4 | South Carolina | 14 | Missouri | 17 | |
3 | ACC | Florida State | 1 | Clemson | 15 | Virginia Tech | 21 | Miami | 29 | |
4 | B10 | Ohio State | 5 | Michigan State | 9 | Wisconsin | 10 | Iowa | 28 | |
5 | B12 | Baylor | 7 | Oklahoma State | 11 | Oklahoma | 23 | Kansas State | 27 | |
6 | CUSA | East Carolina | 36 | North Texas | 49 | Marshall | 51 | Rice | 55 | |
7 | AAC | Louisville | 16 | Central Florida | 24 | Houston | 42 | Cincinnati | 64 | |
8 | MW | Utah State | 33 | Boise State | 36 | Fresno State | 43 | Colorado State | 68 | |
9 | MAC | Bowling Green | 41 | Ball State | 52 | Northern Illinois | 61 | Toledo | 63 | |
10 | IND | Notre Dame | 24 | BYU | 26 | Navy | 66 | Army | 99 | |
11 | SB | South Alabama | 71 | Western Kentucky | 82 | UL-Lafayette | 88 | Arkansas State | 93 | |
Rk | Conf | 5 | F+ | 6 | F+ | 7 | F+ | 8 | F+ | Avg |
1 | P12 | UCLA | 13 | Washington | 19 | Arizona | 30 | Utah | 34 | 15.5 |
2 | SEC | LSU | 18 | Georgia | 20 | Texas A&M | 22 | Ole Miss | 35 | 16.5 |
3 | ACC | Georgia Tech | 31 | Duke | 36 | North Carolina | 40 | Boston College | 54 | 28.4 |
4 | B10 | Michigan | 32 | Nebraska | 45 | Minnesota | 48 | Indiana | 55 | 29.0 |
5 | B12 | Texas | 39 | TCU | 47 | Texas Tech | 60 | West Virginia | 80 | 36.8 |
6 | CUSA | UTSA | 67 | Tulane | 71 | Florida Atlantic | 73 | Middle Tennessee | 77 | 59.9 |
7 | AAC | Memphis | 83 | SMU | 86 | Rutgers | 90 | Connecticut | 91 | 62.0 |
8 | MW | San Jose State | 74 | Hawaii | 84 | Nevada | 85 | San Diego State | 94 | 64.6 |
9 | MAC | Buffalo | 69 | Kent State | 102 | Ohio | 104 | Akron | 107 | 74.9 |
10 | IND | Idaho | 116 | New Mexico State | 122 | - | - | - | - | 75.5 |
11 | SB | Troy | 106 | Texas State | 108 | UL-Monroe | 111 | Georgia State | 121 | 97.5 |
All-Teams Average F/+ Ranking
This is probably the most popular method to rank a conference. Take a simple average of all of the teams' rankings. The Pac-12 is your regular season conference champ this year.
Rk | Conf | Teams | Avg F+ | Rk | Team Closest To Avg |
1 | P12 | 12 | 15.0% | 36.1 | Utah (34) |
2 | SEC | 14 | 13.7% | 38.1 | Ole Miss (35) |
3 | B10 | 12 | 9.1% | 44.6 | Nebraska (45) |
4 | ACC | 14 | 8.7% | 48.0 | Boston College (54) |
5 | B12 | 10 | 7.9% | 47.6 | TCU (47) |
6 | AAC | 10 | -2.4% | 69.1 | Cincinnati (64) |
7 | MW | 12 | -7.7% | 78.1 | San Jose St (74) |
8 | IND | 6 | -7.7% | 75.5 | Navy (66) |
9 | CUSA | 14 | -11.7% | 82.9 | Middle Tenn (77) |
10 | MAC | 13 | -16.5% | 91.7 | Kent St (102) |
11 | SB | 8 | -17.3% | 97.5 | Arkansas St (93) |
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