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College Football's Best Conference, SEC, Big 12, ACC, Big 10, Pac-10, Big East
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NO LAST CALL!
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: PARTY GUIDES: BAR GUIDES: The SEC is the nation's best football conference. Find out who's second best and on down the line.
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College Football's Top Conferences
The great thing about sports is that there can always be arguments – usually over beers in a bar – about who's the best, which team deserves to be recognized, and which player is more capable over another player. In college football, this is extended to the different leagues. People from the Pac-10 look down on the SEC because many teams play the likes of UT-Chattanooga and The Citadel out of league play. Folks from the SEC criticize the Pac-10 (well, USC specifically) because the Pac-10 usually has USC and, well, none others. The Big 12 points to its prolific offenses and the Big 10 to the fact Ohio State has been to two national title games in recent years. But there can be no argument when it comes to the best conference in college football. Clearly, it has been and it still is the the Southeastern Conference. Here's where the major conferences stack up, from top to bottom (sorry ACC). • #1 SEC. The SEC has produced the last three national champions and has potentially a fourth with Alabama playing for the title this year. If the Tide wins, that would not only be four consecutive SEC winners, but with three different teams. That's conference balance and power. Florida, whipped by Alabama in the SEC Championship, game, could probably still beat any other team in the country. LSU has struggled on offense at times – plus experienced and one notable clock management issue – but is still full of talent. In the mid-level, there's Ole Miss, high-powered Arkansas and defense-tough Tennessee. Even Kentucky is not a pushover. No other league can post such talent, depth and coaching acumen. Here's another thing about the SEC that no other conference can match. Frank Beamer makes $2.1 million at Virginia Tech, which is tied for second-biggest salary in the ACC. That would not even place him in the top half of the SEC. • #2 Big 12. The nation's second-best team in 2009 may well be the Texas Longhorns. We'll find out in Pasadena on Jan. 7. The Longhorns have looked both impressive and average. Texas A&M ran up and down the field on its defense one week and its offense looked inept against Nebraska the next. And there was that Les Miles moment at the end of the game that really brings back questions about Mac Brown's capabilities as a sideline coach. Okay, it took two blocked field goals for Alabama to beat Tennessee and a fourth-quarter drive to defeat Auburn, but neither was in a championship game. The rest of the Big 12 has been a disappointment. When Oklahoma lost Sam Bradford to injury it completely collapsed. Nebraska may be a team on the rise and the Huskers are certainly worthy of being on any "up and coming" future watch lists, but it won't win anything outside of the conference if it can't generate more than 100 years of offense in a game. Oklahoma State proved it still needs to learn to win. Kansas is a program in turmoil, Colorado is a team in turmoil that kept its coach only because it allegedly can't afford a buyout and Texas Tech and Missouri don't have the horses to dial it up every year on a consistent basis. • #3 Pac-10. It's exciting, if nothing else. The Pac-10 is known for high-scoring offenses and a maddening lack of week-to-week consistency, but there are some great games out West. Oregon-Oregon State was wildly entertaining. But not even quite as exciting as Oregon-Arizona the previous week. The Ducks won both – and are going to the Rose Bowl – but its success is more of a reflection of the overall average play in the Pac-10 than its particular prowess. Without USC being a threat the door was open and the Ducks waddled through it. Stanford and Tony Gerhart are seeming a tough team but, like all Pac-10 teams, can't do it every week. After thumping USC, the Cardinal got thumped by Cal. In its huge, hated rivalry game! Coach Jim Harbaugh never had the chance to go for two in that one. The prime argument here is this: Is there any team in this conference that poses a national threat? Of course not. Once USC was exposed, that was it for the conference. (The Trojans have simply lost too many players to the NFL the past few seasons and coaches to other programs. When injuries hit this year, they simply weren't deep enough to make up the difference.) The Pac-10 team has two mid-level schools, Oregon State and Arizona. But they are just above average at best. And let's take a look at the number of really bad teams in the conference. UCLA. The Bruins did beat Tennessee in Knoxville and Kansas State to start the year but that was all the gas they had in the tank; as the season went on they tanked. Arizona State, Washington and Washington State proved to be pathetic. • #4 Big 10. What to make of its Rose Bowl representative when it lost at home to an 8-4 Pac-10 team? It's hard to consider Ohio State a strong team with that in the back of the mind.. Penn State? Take a look at that intimidating opening schedule: Akron, Syracuse, Temple, with a later game at Eastern Illinois. And they say there's no preseason in college football! The Nittany Lions were whipped on the offensive line in losses to Iowa and Ohio State. Iowa provide to be the Most Exciting Team in America but it was only a matter of time before its bubble burst. Still, even with injuries to the QB and RB, the Hawkeyes proved to be resilient. Wisconsin didn't really play anyone so it's hard to tell if the Badgers are good or just merely decent. Michigan State was a disappointment and Michigan just plain horrible. • #5 BIG EAST. It's hard to judge just how tough this conference is on a national scale because it's hard to know how the teams would fare playing perceived bigger, stronger teams on a weekly basis. What if Cincinnati were in even in the Big 10? Nothing against UConn, which is well coached (on and off the field as we've seen) but the Huskies are hardly even the Badgers. South Florida has some gifted athletes but not enough of them to even take this conference. Pittsburgh is the most physical team and freshman running back Dion Lewis is a superstar in the making but the Panthers' collapse against Cincinnati shows it's far from an elite team. It's just hard to believe any team in this league could compete in a major conference on a week-to-week basis. • #5 ACC. Here's all one needs to know about football in the ACC: On the week prior to its championship game, the two teams playing in that game were beaten by mid-level SEC schools. The most physical team in the league is Virginia Tech and the Hokies showed a tremendous defensive front against Alabama in the season-opener, but went into its characteristic funk and wound up losing two in a row in October (to Georgia Tech and, of all teams, North Carolina). Well, ACC, at least you've got basketball season. • #6 Mountain West. TCU may be the nation's fourth-best team (behind Alabama, Texas and Florida) but do we really know for sure after playing in this league? Sure, it beat Clemson, but only 14-10 when the Tigers were still finding their way. And nobody talks bout its narrow 20-17 escape against Air Force. Air Force!? BYU beat Oklahoma – and knocked out Bradford – but itself was knocked out by Florida State. In a rout. • Special Mention: Boise State. Congratulations to the Broncos on another undefeated regular season. But that conference, whoa. Why not join the Mountain West? The Broncos are playing Virginia Tech in 2010, but wants home-and-home games with big-name schools. And big-name schools stand to lose too much revenue for an out-of-conference game in a small stadium. Boise needs to such it up and go on the road if it wants serious consideration for the national championship. Respond to this article at bartender@pubclub.com
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Commentary by Kevin Wilkerson, an AP-award winning former sports writer
who now pens prose
for 
