Pac-12 Supremacy, SEC slump, B1G check-in, and Tolly’s Top 25.

Who is the best conference? A common, fun debate among college football fans that has consistently ended with the SEC on top for the last 15 years. Sometimes the B1G has an argument, but they have generally played second fiddle to the teams down south. 2023 is being weird though. The Pac-12 is on an absolute tear, and the SEC’s elite can’t get out of their own way. Minus Clemson, the ACC has a solid argument for 2nd place. Yes, Georgia is still Georgia, but after that – college football has gone a bit off the rails. 

The Pac-12 is the Best Conference – For Now

The top 8 in the Pac-12:

Washington – 2-0
They absolutely destroyed Boise State. The Huskies might have the best defense in the Pac.

Oregon – 2-0
The Ducks scored 81 in week 1 and beat a Big 12 contender on the road in week 2.

USC – 3-0
The offense looks unstoppable. They have 2 special teams TDs in 3 games.

Utah – 2-0
They have two P5 wins with their 3rd string QB.

Colorado – 2-0 
Deion has two P5 wins including one on the road at last year’s CFP runner-up.

Oregon State – 2-0 
The Beavers are quietly obliterating Mountain West teams.

Washington State – 2-0 
Cam Ward is awesome. WSU beat the B1G West’s division favorite handily (Wisconsin).

UCLA – 2-0 
UCLA has a great team (they just have no fans). They are beating up solid G5 teams.

Are you not entertained?

The Pac-12 is playing incredible football right now. The main fear: all the teams above are good enough to beat each other. This would make it nearly impossible for a team to get through the conference schedule with only 1 loss. When the losses do start piling up, teams will inevitably drop in the rankings. That’s just how things work around here.  If a 2 loss champion has ever “deserved” to make the playoff, it would be from the 2023 iteration of the Pac-12. 

Aside – In the bottom 4 category we have: Arizona, ASU, Cal, and Stanford. 

Cal nearly beat Auburn in a bad-on-bad game.
Stanford is a joke.
ASU was kinda competitive vs. OSU… no, the other one, Oklahoma State.
Arizona made it to overtime before losing to Mississippi State – an SEC team I don’t have figured out. 

So the bottom has some potential. This conference will be awesome next year. 
Oh yeah. It’s going away. Well, enjoy the Pac-12 insanity while it lasts. 

I Challenged the SEC, I was let down

Last week I asked the SEC to have a winning record over the course of 6 big non-con matchups, including a win in the biggest non-con game of the season. 

They disappointed me. 

Wins: 

• Auburn 14-10 over Cal.
• Mississippi State 31-24 over Arizona in OT.
• Ole Miss 37-20 over Tulane (who was playing QB2).

Losses:

• Wake Forest 36-20 over Vanderbilt.
• Miami 48-33 over Texas A&M.
• Texas 34-24 over Alabama.

A .500 record, but you lost the tiebreaker SEC. I asked you to win the Bama game, and you couldn’t come through. Texas won in Tuscaloosa and looked like the better team for all 4 quarters. That doesn’t bode well for Alabama fans this season. Texas A&M supposedly has a top 5 roster in the country. It didn’t seem to do them much good in HardRock Stadium on Saturday. And I get that Vandy is bad. But Wake is bad too, so this was a fair fight. The wins were too close and the losses were convincing. Something is wrong down south. This was supposed to be the week where the SEC proved week 1 was an anomaly. Now, it’s starting to look like a pattern. 

A word of warning though. 

Nick Saban has won at least 10 games every year since 2008. He has also won a Natty a minimum of every 3 years while at Alabama. IT’S YEAR 3. Either Alabama regroups and keeps the title streak alive, or Saban takes a tiny step back and makes room for someone else to dominate (probably Georgia). 

Even if Alabama is uncharacteristically bad this year, I bet Saban will go on a revenge tour in 2024. Every time we think we are done with Saban, he just pivots, improves, and goes back to his winning ways. 

The Big Ten – Actually The Big 2 1/2 

Florida State is back. Texas is back. Notre Dame is great again. Miami isn’t garbage. The Pac-12 is king. Georgia is still Georgia. And the B1G… is fine. 

Michigan is likely great, but their schedule is a joke and they aren’t opening up the offense in their pseudo-preseason. They don’t play any great teams until Nov.

Penn State has an absolute stud in Drew Allar. The running game is fantastic. But we shouldn’t see them challenged until they play OSU in late Oct.

And Ohio State is the ½ because they have refused to play offense. It’s a really good half by the way, the defense is legit. 

In the power rankings world, who would you even put 4th? Iowa, who still can’t score 25 per game? And that’s with the defense’s help. Minnesota, who struggled with a bad Nebraska team? Michigan State is a disaster with its coaching scandal. Illinois lost to Kansas. Wisconsin lost to Washington State. What about Maryland? They seem pretty good. But they haven’t played anybody! They can’t brag about wins over Towson and Charlotte. 

If Maryland actually is the 4th best team in the B1G, what does that say about the West? Yikes. 

Last year the Big 3 went undefeated against the West. I fear that’s what we are headed for in 2023, even if someone steps up and clears the high-water mark that is Maryland football. 

Tolly’s Top 25 – Post Week 2

My ballot for the AP Top 25 – If they let me have one

I have some short explanations for my picks in groups of 5 from 25 to 1. Then, at the bottom, I have a list of 1-40. I went 40 deep to show what my personal “others receiving votes” section would look like. 

25-21

25 – Cincinnati
24 – UCLA
23 – Minnesota
22 – Washington State
21 – Oregon State

Cincinnati had a nice road win at Pittsburg. I expected Pitt to be pretty decent this year, so I give Cincy a lot of credit for the win. 

I think Minnesota is the best team in the West right now. And they haven’t played any FCS teams to pad their record. (Looking at you Maryland.)

UCLA, Washington State, and Oregon State are all good football teams. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these 3 elevates themselves later in the season. 

My top 25 has 8 Pac-12 teams, that’s dominance. 

20-16

20 – Oklahoma
19 – Kansas State
18 – Miami
17 – Duke
16 – North Carolina

I still need more information on Oklahoma and Kansas State. Higher ranking pending. 

Miami looked like the Miami of old vs. Texas A&M. Tyler Van Dyke looked like 2021 Tyler. This team might be really good.

But, I can’t put them above Duke. Duke still has the better win of the two. 

UNC’s win over South Carolina may not be quite as impressive as Duke over Clemson. But I think UNC has a better team and a better QB. Besides, Duke and UNC will settle this on the field in November.

15-11

15 – Colorado
14 – LSU
13 – Alabama
12 – USC
11 – Tennessee

Colorado is amazing. They played poorly and still crushed Nebraska. I want to put them higher, but I also don’t want to overreact. Let’s wait till week 4 vs. Oregon.

LSU and Bama are the best 1 loss teams. Bama is higher because they didn’t get blown out. That was still a game in the 4th quarter. 

I still have concerns about the USC defense. And humiliating Stanford is not impressive to me.

Tennessee, idk man. I just like the teams above the Volunteers more I guess.

10-6

10 – Utah
9 – Ohio State
8 – Oregon
7 – Notre Dame
6 – Washington

I’m still waiting for Cam Rising to return for the Utes. Right now, Utah isn’t one of the 10 best teams. But they have two P5 wins and they are definitely a top 10 team when Rising is back.

Ohio State had to fall. Poor offense vs. Indiana. Then, poor offense vs. YOUNGSTOWN STATE. They do not look ready to travel to Notre Dame in week 4. 

Oregon and Notre Dame are interchangeable. Both are great, both have solid P5 road wins.

Washington is a wood chipper. Penix for Heisman deserves more traction. 

Top 5

5 – Penn State
4 – Michigan
3 – Georgia
2 – Texas
1 – Florida State

Penn State beat Delaware, but that doesn’t mean anything. They have a star quarterback, and that means everything. If they go 0-2 vs. Michigan and OSU it would be devastating. This team should win at least 1 of those games.

Michigan and Georgia are still riding last year’s success. If they beat a real team, maybe I can move them back to the top.

Texas and Florida State have the 2 best wins of the season. Texas beat the better team, but FSU won in a more dominant fashion. If you are so inclined, you may have Texas 1st. I cannot put the Longhorns there yet. For then I would have to fully admit, Texas is Back.

Florida State is still #1.

Top 40

Below is my top 40, I will not elaborate on teams outside the top 25.

1 – Florida State
2 – Texas
3 – Georgia
4 – Michigan
5 – Penn State
6 – Washington
7 – Notre Dame
8 – Oregon
9 – Ohio State
10 – Utah

11 – Tennessee
12 – USC
13 – Alabama
14 – LSU
15 – Colorado
16 – UNC
17 – Duke
18 – Miami
19 – Kansas State
20 – Oklahoma

21 – Oregon State
22 – Washington State
23 – Minnesota
24 – UCLA
25 – Cincinnati
26 – Kansas
27 – UCF
28 – Mississippi State
29 – Oklahoma State
30 – TCU

31 – Ole Miss
32 – Iowa
33 – Auburn
34 – Maryland
35 – Wisconsin
36 – Clemson
37 – Kentucky
38 – Louisville
39 – South Carolina
40 – Texas A&M

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This article was written by Cole Tollison and edited by Hayden Breene