“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Three weeks into the college football season and Ferris Bueller is sounding like a philosopher. In just one day (last Saturday), two Big East schools shocked the collegiate world when they announced they would leave the Big East Conference and join the Atlantic Coast Conference. The two schools, the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University, have been staples in the Big East for more than two decades. It is unknown how soon the two till join the ACC, but it is for sure happening. The move by the two schools has created mass chaos with nobody knowing how it’s all going to end.
The chaos really all began in the Big 12 last year when three of the schools left for other conferences. Now the Big 12 is on life support and will probably be nonexistent by the end of 2011. There are nine teams currently in the Big 12, but Texas A&M has already declared they will be leaving to join the SEC after the 2011 season. The other eight teams are frantically trying to find new homes, while the president of the Big 12 is trying to keep everybody together. The big dogs in the B-12 are Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. The ACC and PAC-12 (the only conference whose number is correct) are licking at the chops to bring Texas and Oklahoma into their respective conferences. Texas has one of the most dominant athletic programs and a brand that is recognizable all across America; and Oklahoma isn’t far behind in them the total revenue.
Looking into the future, the strongest conferences appear to be the Big 10, ACC, SEC (Southeastern Conference), and the PAC-12. They were the ones that anticipated collegiate athletics’ changing landscape and made sure they didn’t fall behind like the Big East and Big 12. It would not surprise me to see these “super conferences” each have 16 members in a couple of years. If that does happen, what would stop those schools from breaking away from the NCAA and creating their own league; a league that would allow the paying of players and less strict recruiting rules?
It’s a very tumultuous time for college sports. For some universities (i.e. Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri) it is a time of great fear and unknown, for others it is a time of great opportunity (i.e. Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Texas).
I’m not sure if I like the idea of “super conferences” or not. One hand, the conferences will create incredible rivalries, games, and good overall competition. On the other hand, I think you’ll lose underdog teams like USF, Boise St., and TCU. The amount of competition in these huge conferences will also make it even harder for teams such as Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Baylor, and Washington State to compete with bigger name schools.
It’s also important to remember the students in all this. They are the ones who are putting their blood, sweat, and tears into each of their respective sports and generating money for their schools.
So how about we get to what’s happening ON the field. After three weeks of playing the contenders and pretenders have begun to separate themselves. I’m gonna break down the first three weeks of the season conference-by-conference.
ACC
The most impressive team in this league so far has been the Clemson Tigers. The Tigers started the season unranked but are now #21 and 3-0 with a victory over #21 Auburn. The #11 Florida State Seminoles came into the season with national title aspirations (which I said in my preview were ridiculous) but after losing pretty soundly to Oklahoma last Saturday, those aspirations are nearly toast. The Seminoles and Clemson showdown on Saturday, and the winner will likely be the Atlantic Division Champions at the end of the season.
In the other ACC Division, the Coastal Division, there are three teams that stand out as contenders: #13 Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and #25 Georgia Tech. The Virginia Tech Hokies won’t play any real competition for another week, so the verdict is still out on them. The North Carolina Tar Heels have beaten average competition so far and get their first test at Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Georgia Tech Hornets run an option offense that has been impossible to stop so far this year. If they can beat North Carolina Saturday they will have a fairly easy road until late October.
Big East
This is by far the worst of the six “power conferences” I’m writing about. There are two teams that are undefeated right now, the #18 USF Bulls and #16 West Virginia Mountaineers. The USF Bulls have a win at Notre Dame and look to be a solid team. The Mountaineers will be considered a legit team if they can defeat #2 LSU Saturday night. The final game for USF and West Virginia in November is against each other. This could be a huge matchup if it decides the Big East Champion, but that’s a long way down the road.
Big 12
The conference has three teams in the Top 10, the most of any conference. As mentioned earlier, Oklahoma is the #1 team in America. Oklahoma State and Texas A&M are #7 and #8 respectively. The Oklahoma Sooners have a powerful offensive attack, but also a great defense. They are the best in the Big 12 and one of the best in the country. Oklahoma State and Texas A&M have not played any quality teams, but that changes Saturday as they go up against each other. Whoever wins will remain as Oklahoma’s biggest competitor in the conference.
Big 10
The only shockers(if you can call them that) so far are the Buckeyes losing to the Miami Hurricanes and Michigan State losing to Notre Dame. Other than that there isn’t a lot that’s going on in the Big 10. Wisconsin and Nebraska still look like the best teams in their respective divisions. Michigan is looking good but there’s no way their quarterback Denard Robinson can carry them too much farther. Penn State (as I predicted) flopped against Alabama and barely managed to beat Temple. The Penn State Nittany Lion’s second loss should be coming anytime now. Illinois is off to a good start at 3-0 but they could go typical Fighting Illini on us and lose the next three.
PAC-12
There are also not a lot of surprises in this conference either. #10 Oregon and #5 Stanford are the best teams and only Oregon has a loss (The Ducks lost to LSU in the first week). These two teams are in the same North division though, so one will end up better than the other. The South Division, on the other hand, is wide open. USC, Utah, and Arizona State all have the capability to win the South. It’ll be interesting to see which team takes the reins and establishes themselves as the leader.
SEC
The Southeast Beast (just made that up!) has five teams in the Top 25 and two in the Top 5. #15 Florida is one of the biggest surprises in all of college football and the biggest in the SEC. The Florida Gators had a losing record last season, plus brought in a new coach and new offensive scheme before the 2011 season. The Gators were expected to hover right around .500 all season but are 3-0 thus far. The #12 South Carolina Gamecocks were expected to win the East division without a problem, and possibly the whole SEC. They don’t appear to want that SEC Title too badly though. The Gamecocks barely beat unranked Georgia and Navy. Their first game against a ranked opponent doesn’t come until October 17th so the Gamecocks have time to work out all the kinks.
The West Division, much like the PAC-12 South Division but with better teams, is wide open. This division is home to #2 LSU, # 3 Alabama, and #14 Arkansas. These three teams all face huge matchups this weekend. LSU travels to #16 West Virginia, and Arkansas heads to Alabama. These games will not only give the winner an advantage in winning the division, but also in deciding who plays for the national championship.
The 2011 season is still very young so anything can, and most likely will, happen. Be sure to check back after Week 6 for another recap of the season.
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