Oklahoma, ND, and Mich St Score Big Wins

This weekend’s “A” grades went to the Mid-American and American Athletic Conferences, while Conference USA and the SEC struggled.

All 127 teams in action received a grade on the scoreboard below. Memphis backed our billing as perhaps the best non-Power Conference team by thrashing Kansas 55-23, while in the SEC Arkansas was shocked and Auburn, Florida and Missouri barely survived.

Scores listed by conference. Grade for each team based on if they exceeded or fell short of our projected score (C = they did exactly as well as we projected).

ACC fell from +7 to +6 points better than average: Houston shocked Louisville and Notre Dame hit a late bomb to win at Virginia to hold the ACC one game below expectations at 11-3. Georgia Tech rolled up a great margin and plays Notre Dame next week with a chance to be on course for the playoffs.

American Athletic improves from -4 to +0: Memphis backed our claim they may be the No. 1 non-Power Conference team in the country, but Houston’s stunning upset of Louisville of the ACC and lopsided upsets by SMU and Tulsa established the conference as the 6th best in the land.

Big 12 improves +9 to +10: Oklahoma’s rally from down 3-17 to win at Tennessee moved the Big 12 closer to the SEC overall. Disappointing losses from Kansas and Iowa State hurt.

Big Ten stays improves from +7 to +9: Michigan State won the big game of the day 31-28, the exact 3-point margin we gave them over Oregon in the college football preview. Several slight favorites looked very impressive in blowouts, with Maryland the only disappointment of the day. With Michigan blowing out Oregon State and Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue all delivering blowouts in games that could be tough, the Big Ten had a nice day even before Minnesota survive in OT.

Conference USA drops from -3 to -7. Conference USA came back to earth after a great Week 1 with Ohio shocking heavily favored Marshall and several slight underdogs getting blown out.

Independents: Many will be thankful at LDS and Catholic churches Sunday as both BYU and Notre Dame threw long touchdown passes in the closing seconds.

Mid-American Conference improves from -13 to -7: Four underdogs won big with Bowling Green crushing Maryland, Eastern Michigan killing Wyoming, Ohio stunning Marshall, and Toledo saving the best for last by shocking Arkansas.

Mountain West Conference drops from -5 to -11: BYU’s late miracle bomb to beat Boise State wrapped up a dreadful weekend in which the conference went 1-11—three wins fewer than expected. Colorado State was the only to finish within double digits and Air Force the only one to win.

Pac-12 Conference improves from +3 to +8: Oregon and Oregon State lost to Michigan schools on national TV, but in fact the conference dominated everywhere else with a 10-2 record. UCLA looks every bit the national contender—but so did USC and Arizona, and Cal looked very good, too.

SEC Conference drops from +16 to +12: Toledo stunned Arkansas, Jacksonville State just missed stunning Auburn for the biggest upset since Appalachian State stunned Michigan. Tennessee then blew a two touchdown lead against Oklahoma, and Florida and Missouri joined Auburn in dodging upsets. The silver lining on a bad day was that Alabama and Mississippi looked every bit the playoff contenders.

Sun Belt Conference improves from -17 to -15. Arkansas State narrowly missed stunning Missouri, while Georgia Southern and Troy won big in games that were supposed to be close.