More evidence that the SEC is no longer the best conference.
The recognized preseason top 25 in college football came out this week, and although the voters in the eventual College Football Playoff rankings are supposed to ignore the Associated Press poll, it proves one almost-irrefutable fact: The Southeastern Conference is no longer the best league.
In fact, the SEC is the only Power 5 conference that does not have two teams in the top 10, and the league that seems to have the best chance of having two members square off in the national championship game, if it were to ever happen, seems like the good, old ACC.
Florida State, at No. 3, and defending natty champ Clemson, at No. 5, could each make the Final Four semis even if they were to, say, split their regular-season game and then the rematch for the ACC title. And FSU has a chance right out of the gate the knock off the AP’s top team in the preseason poll, Alabama, which would do serious damage to the SEC.
The Crimson Tide are the only SEC team ranked in the top 10, with Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee all between No. 12 and 25. If the Seminoles were to upset Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Classic on September 2, the SEC could have trouble getting one team into the playoffs.
The Big Ten has No. 2 Ohio State, No. 6 Penn State, and No. 9 Wisconsin, with 11th-ranked Michigan lurking just outside the top 10. Pretty impressive for a conference that has shaken the tags of big and slow, no offense and all defense for the new glamour coaching rivalry: Urban Meyer vs. Jim Harbaugh.
The Pac 12 has fourth-ranked Southern Cal and No. 8 Washington and the Big 12, which only has 10 teams, has No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 10 Oklahoma State, which play each other in the annual Bedlam on November 4 and still favored to meet again in the league’s first championship game.
The SEC is supposedly against the idea of eventually having four power leagues instead of five, each holding its own playoff to produce the Final Four. That’s because the SEC thinks it can have two teams any year.
Well, this season, maybe not even one.
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