Unlike college basketball, football doesn't technically have a start time for its conference season. Teams can attempt to play three or four -- depending on the conference -- big money, non-conference games with little regard for the conference schedule.
Now that week four -- and the unofficial start of conference play -- is upon the college football landscape, the time has come to dissect and rate the conferences, or at least the BCS "sponsored" ones -- minus the Big Least.
1. SEC
The best conference in the country resides in the Deep South. Last week's LSU-Auburn matchup will be remembered as the game of the year. The conference is loaded from the top dogs (LSU and Auburn) to the second tier consisting of Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. Also, there is a certain coach in South Carolina that could throw a monkey wrench into the equation.
Conference Championship: Auburn defeats Tennessee
2. Big Ten
There could very well be a three-way tie for this spot between the next three conferences, but I give the edge to the Big Ten because of the volume of mediocre teams. The conference is very top heavy with Ohio State and Michigan, but it has the most equally talented teams in the nation. Every team below the top two -- except Indiana and Illinois -- can defeat any team on the same level on any given weekend.
Conference Champion: Ohio State
3. Big 12
Surprisingly, the teams that reside in the Heartland aren't as talented as years past, but they do harbor a few national championship hopefuls. Nebraska has a pulse in the conference every year because it has no legitimate team in its division. Oklahoma, on the other hand, has a certain team wearing burnt orange that blocks its path to the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship Game.
Conference Championship: Oklahoma defeats Nebraska.
4. Pacific 10
The Pac-10's slogan should be: The conference that hates defense. Some of the country's better offensive teams reside on the Left Coast, but it's too bad they can't stop even the most mediocre of offenses. USC's defense is serviceable, but that is good enough to win in this conference.
Conference Champion: USC
5. ACC
Entering this season, the ACC had four teams in the top-25 (Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech, Clemson) and two on the fringes (Boston College and Georgia Tech). But after three weeks the conference is a shell of itself. The Hurricanes were a fraud, and Larry Coker will be fired at the end of the season. So far, no team in the conference has looked dominant, opening the door for an old ACC power to win the conference title, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Conference Championship: Virginia Tech defeats Clemson.
Game of the Week
Last weekend included three big-time games, but this weekend a very uneventful one. After sifting through the garbage, I came up with the Hawaii-Boise State match-up.
I decided to look outside of the BCS conferences.
Hawaii is averaging almost 400 yards passing as a team, but Boise State averages 215 rushing yards.
Boise State 45, Hawaii 42
