College football subjected viewers to six blowouts New Year’s Day—and once again zero games between the two conferences that play head and shoulders above the others.
The Pac-12 nudged out the SEC last season, and Stanford closed the gap slightly to 4-points after yesterday’s table of all bowl games, in conference rankings.
Football is much more central to life in the South—it would be hard to envision a soccer club trying to block Super Bowl prep like they do in California, or a Southerner not knowing the location of a nearby SEC Stadium as I encountered in Palo Alto when I went to a USC-Stanford game. But on the field, the only conference contending with the SEC remains the Pac-12.
The standings now are:
1. SEC +16.8
2. Pac 12 +12.6
3. B10 +5.3
4. ACC +3.9
5. B12 +3.7
6. American -3.6
7. Mountain West -4.4
8. CUSA -9.3
9. Mid-American -11.8
10. Sun Belt -14.0
It would be nice if the two conferences dominating college football once again could actually play each other. Instead, fans are left to compare how badly each of the two Super Conferences beat up on the rest.
Both the SEC and Pac-12 are 6-2 in bowl games. But the SEC faced tougher competition and played more dominantly to take the four-point edge. (The rating is a calculation of how many points per game an average conference team is better or worse than the average overall FBS team.)
The SEC’s 4-point edge is significant, and it likely holds up unless Arkansas and Georgia both lose Saturday and Arizona State and Oregon both win.
Despite two lopsided losses Friday and Alabama’s blowout of Michigan State Thursday night, very impressive showings by Michigan and Ohio State let the Big Ten slip by the ACC and Big 12 for the best of the rest. But none of these conferences finished within a touchdown of the two great conferences that never play each other.
Here are Friday’s games, and the conference standings that were updated from Thursday’s table of all games.
| Conf | Team | Pts+ | Wins+ | Opponent | Pred | Score | Opp | Win=1 | Pwin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. SEC | Florida | -29 | -35% | Michigan | -5 | 7 | 41 | 35% | |
| 1. SEC | Tennessee | 34 | 35% | Northwestern | 5 | 45 | 6 | 1 | 65% |
| 1. SEC | Mississippi | 33 | 45% | Oklahoma St | 2 | 48 | 20 | 1 | 55% |
| 1. SEC | 6-2, 1.7 above exp. | 15.6 | 1.7 | SEC Rank stays 16.8 | 6.0 | 4.3 | |||
| 2. P12 | Stanford | 22 | 30% | Iowa | 7 | 45 | 16 | 1 | 70% |
| 2. P12 | 6-2, 0.9 above exp. | 3.9 | 0.9 | New Pac12 Rank 12.6 | 6.0 | 5.1 | |||
| 3. B10 | Michigan | 29 | 35% | Florida | 5 | 41 | 7 | 1 | 65% |
| 3. B10 | Northwestern | -34 | -35% | Tennessee | -5 | 13 | 48 | 35% | |
| 3. B10 | Iowa | -22 | -30% | Stanford | -7 | 16 | 45 | 30% | |
| 3. B10 | Ohio St | 10 | 34% | Notre Dame | 6 | 44 | 28 | 1 | 66% |
| 3. B10 | 5-4, 0.2 above exp. | -2.8 | 1.0 | New B10 Rank 5.3 | 5.0 | 4.0 | |||
| 5. B12 | Oklahoma St | -33 | -45% | Mississippi | -2 | 20 | 48 | 45% | |
| 5. B12 | 1-3, 1.0 below exp. | -17.9 | -1.0 | New B12 Rank 3.7 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
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