Six weeks down, nine to go in the 2011 college football season. Three teams have really separated themselves as contenders for the BCS National Championship. Those three are #1 LSU, #2 Alabama, and #3 Oklahoma. All of these teams have victories over at least two ranked teams and have incredible talent on both sides of the ball. Besides those three there are about 5-8 teams that have a legit shot at playing for the national championship as well. That group includes Stanford, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma State.
Here’s a breakdown of each conference through the first six weeks of play:
-numbers in parenthesis are overall record, then conference record.
ACC
Coastal Division Standings: #12 Georgia Tech (6-0, 3-0), Duke (3-2, 1-0), North Carolina (5-1, 1-1), #19 Virginia Tech (5-1, 1-1), Virginia (3-2, 0-1), Miami (2-3, 0-2).
Georgia Tech’s option offense continues to confuse and demolish opposing defenses. They have to be considered the favorites to win the division. Virginia Tech will likely be the only team that can stop the “Rambling Wreck” to winning the division, but even they may have problems doing that. The Hokies only loss came at Clemson, but they have not been overwhelmingly successful in their five wins. Although North Carolina sits at 5-1, it will be a major upset if they can beat Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
Atlantic Division Standings: #8 Clemson (6-0, 3-0), Wake Forest (4-1, 3-0), Maryland (2-3, 1-1), North Carolina State (3-3, 0-2), Florida State (2-3, 0-2), Boston College (1-5, 0-3)
This is just a dreadful division. Who would have thought the only ranked team this far in the season would be Clemson, and not Florida State? Clemson has so far won the award for “Most Surprisingly Successful”, while Florida State has won the award for “Most Surprisingly Disappointing”. Clemson has wins against Auburn, Florida State, and at Virginia Tech. This division is Clemson’s to win.
Big 12
Standings: #20 Kansas State (5-0, 2-0), #3 Oklahoma (5-0, 2-0), #6 Oklahoma State (5-0, 2-0), #25 Baylor (4-1, 1-1), #11 Texas (4-1, 1-1), Texas Tech (4-1, 1-1), #24 Texas A&M (3-2, 1-1), Iowa State (3-2, 0-2), Kansas (2-3, 0-2), Missouri (2-3, 0-2)
As expected, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are two of the top teams. The big surprise is Kansas State, which has looked good on offense and especially defense. Kansas State has two winnable games to get to 7-0 before they begin a four week stint that will prove if they’re legit. On October 29th they play Oklahoma at home, then at Oklahoma State, against Texas A&M at home, and Texas on the road. Baylor is also another surprise team that is lead by their senior quarterback Robert Griffin III, who is putting up great numbers and becoming a Heisman candidate.
-It has just been announced that TCU will join the Big 12 conference in 2012. TCU was to join the Big East, but it has abandoned those plans for the slightly more stable Big 12.
Big East
Standings: Rutgers (4-1, 2-0), #16 West Virginia (4-1, 1-0), Pittsburgh (3-3, 1-1), Cincinnati (4-1, 0-0), Louisville (2-3, 0-0), South Florida (4-1, 0-1), Syracuse (4-2, 0-1), Connecticut (2-4, 0-1).
Behold the powerhouse conference in college football. Just kidding. I really feel bad for the writers that have to cover this conference for ESPN and other sports outlets. What is there to write about? Besides mediocre football it’s just teams ditching the conference for better ones. It’s really depressing that whoever wins this conference will be given an automatic bid to a BCS Bowl. Especially when the Mountain West Conference has TCU and Boise State, two ranked teams.
Big 10
Legends Division Standings: #12 Michigan (6-0, 2-0), #23 Michigan State (4-1, 1-0), #14 Nebraska (5-1, 1-1), Iowa (3-2, 0-1), Minnesota (1-5, 0-2)
Leaders Division Standings: #19 Illinois (6-0, 2-0), Penn State (5-1, 2-0), #4 Wisconsin (5-0, 1-0), Purdue (3-2, 1-0), Ohio State (3-3, 0-2), Indiana (1-5, 0-2)
Check the article posted above this one for a more detailed Big 10 analysis.
PAC-12
North Standings: #7 Stanford (5-0, 3-0), #9 Oregon (4-1, 2-0), Washington (4-1, 2-0), Washington State (3-2, 1-1), Oregon State (1-4, 1-2), California (3-2, 0-2)
The North, as expected, is a two-horse race between the Stanford Cardinal and Oregon Ducks. The Cardinal are led by their incredible quarterback Andrew Luck. The Ducks are led by their equally talented running back LaMichael James. The two teams meet on November 12th in a match up that will most likely decide who wins the division.
South Standings: #18 Arizona State (5-1, 3-0), USC (4-1. 2-1), UCLA (3-3. 2-1), Colorado (1-5, 0-2), Utah (2-3, 0-3), Arizona (1-5, 0-4)
When I wrote a season recap at Week 3 I said that this division was up for grabs between three teams, Arizona State, USC, and Utah. As you can see, the South is down to two teams, Arizona State and USC. The Arizona State Sun Devils already beat USC, and their biggest test the rest of the season comes this Saturday against Oregon. I doubt the Devils will be able to beat the Ducks, but they should be able to run the table the rest of the year.
SEC
East: #15 South Carolina (5-1, 3-1), Georgia (4-2, 3-1), Florida (4-2, 2-2), Vanderbilt (3-2, 1-2), Tennessee (3-2, 0-2), Kentucky (2-4, 0-3)
Just when everybody left Georgia to die, they have come roaring back and look like the team they were expected to be. The Bulldogs lost their first two games of the season to #5 Boise State and South Carolina. This resulted in the population of Georgia grabbing their pitchforks and torches and trying to force Mark Richt out of his head coaching position. After those two games the Bulldogs won four straight to bring peace back to the Peach State. The Bulldogs have a very favorable schedule the rest of the way so I would not be surprised to see them get to 9 or 10 wins. That may not be enough to save Richt's job though.
Just as quickly as the Bulldogs bandwagon was emptying out, the Florida Gators bandwagon was filling up. The Gators won their first four games of the season in decisive fashion and appeared to be South Carolina’s biggest road block in the road to the division title. The Gators though have lost their last two games against Alabama and LSU, granted those are two of the best teams in America, but the Gators really aren’t that good.
South Carolina is South Carolina. They have a highly talented team but they just can’t put it all together to win games. The Gamecocks are 5-1 and on top in the division, but I don’t get the sense that they are a national championship-caliber team.
West Standings: #2 Alabama (6-0, 3-0), #1 LSU (6-0, 3-0), #24 Auburn (4-2, 2-1), #10 Arkansas (5-1, 1-1), Ole Miss (2-3, 0-2), Mississippi State (3-3, 0-3)
Like so many other divisions, this one is a two-team race as well. It just so happens that the two teams are the best teams in the country which makes it all the more compelling. Alabama and LSU meet on November 5th in what will be the showdown of the year. Don’t be surprised if the winner of that game goes on to win the SEC Championship and then the National Championship.
Watch out for Arkansas too, who is silently ranked #10 in the league and only has one loss to Alabama. If Alabama or LSU trip up the Arkansas Razorbacks are sitting in a good position to grab the division lead.
Notice how much there is to write about for the SEC. This is, in my opinion, the best conference in college football. The other conferences, particularly the Big 10, have a lot of catching up to do to match the SEC in terms of talent.
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