Big Ten, Big 12 Struggle Without Star QBs

Two of the biggest programs in the country, Ohio State and Texas, found playing without their starting quarterbacks very difficult, and the ACC took advantage to pass both of their conferences. Conference USA moved into 6th place and not far behind the Big Ten in the updated ranking of the 10 FBS conferences. 

On a day that the Big Ten was an average of 10 points worse per game than projected, Conference USA got a big upset from Louisiana Tech (over ULL) and had three other strong showings from UTEP (against Texas Tech), UAB (against Mississippi State), and Texas-San Antonio (against Arizona). The following are the new rankings followed by the highlights and low-lights for each conference:

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The table shows how many points the average team was better or worse than the average FBS team as of last week, by how many wins and points per game they exceeded expectations in Week 2, and then the new rating heading into Week 2. For example, it was thought the SEC was 13 points better than the average FBS team heading into Week 2, but they actually won 1.2 more games than expected in a perfect week and won by 1 point more than expected per game, so SEC schools ended the week rated 14 points better than the average FBS team.

10. Sun Belt. South Alabama won a 50-50 game against Kent for the only breakthrough, but ULL gave up the 99-yard TD run (see AP footage here on ESPN) that started the avalanche as they were stunned by Louisiana Tech in a blowout.

9. Mid-American. The conference had a bad day EXCEPT for their 2-2 record against the hapless Big Ten, as Central Michigan crushed Purdue, North Illinois beat Northwestern, and Ball State almost stunned Iowa.

8. Mountain West. Nevada upset Washington State.

7. American. Temple could not follow-up on the magic from their opening-week win over Vanderbilt, as they fell one touchdown short to a good Navy team.

6. Conference USA. As noted above, they played everyone tough to pass the American Athletic and close the gap to five points behind the Big Ten.

5. Big Ten. Illinois’ win over Western Kentucky was actually an upset on an otherwise disastrous day.

4. Big 12. They won seven games, as expected, but every win except West Virginia was closer than expected and Texas getting blown out by BYU may indicate the loss of the quarterback cannot be overcome.

2 (tie). ACC. As noted in the story about Virginia Tech’s upset of Ohio State, it was a perfect day for the ACC. 

2 (tie). Pac-12. Oregon’s big win over Michigan State may have covered up the near misses that dropped the Pac-12 well behind the SEC and into a tie with the ACC. Arizona, Colorado, Oregon State, UCLA and Washington all won by eight points or less against smaller conference teams. For the second straight week they got their wins (won 9 just as projected) but in a manner that suggests they may be down a little this year.

1. SEC. They were perfect like the ACC, but everyone almost expects it now from the SEC. They actually won by an average of one point more than projected to improve slightly to a +14 – 5 points better than any other conference. 

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