19 for ’19: 19 key offseason topics: No. 4. How do the Power Five conferences rank going into the summer?
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19 for ’19 Offseason Topics
19: Best Teams To Not Make CFP
18: Teams That Will Rebound Big
17: Every Power 5 Team’s Letdown Game
16. Top 5 Instant Impact New Head Coaches
15. 2nd Year Coaches Who’ll Be Better
14. Power 5 Hot Seat Coach Rankings
13. Key Transfers You Forgot About
12. Five Big Power 5 Upset Alerts
11. Great Players About To Go Nuclear
10. Group of 5 Teams In New Year’s Six Chase
9. Power 5 Sleeper Teams
8. Most Interesting Quarterback Battles
7. Power 5 Potential Disappointments
6. Power 5 Potential Surprises
5. Ranking Group of Five Conferences
Why does it matter how good a Power Five conference is? The College Football Playoff committee is supposed to care about the strength of the leagues – ask the Big Ten, though, how that’s working out for its champions – and it’s a wee bit of a deal when it comes to public perception.
Ask SEC fans how many national championships Clemson might have won over the last few years if it had played in, say … the SEC.
There’s still a while to go before we dive on into this for real, but after spring football, how do the Power Five conferences stack up?
5. ACC
The ACC might have the big dog – or cat, in this case – up top, but it also has a whole slew of medium-sized mutts who can bit, but mostly bark.
The strange part about the ACC being fifth out of five is that the bad teams of last season – Louisville and North Carolina – should be vastly improved with their respective new coaching staffs, and there don’t appear to be any teams ready for a miserable run.
So which teams are destined for a clunker?
Maybe Duke? After all, how do you improve after losing the starting quarterback – maybe – for the New York Football Giants?
But the Blue Devils have just enough to be feisty. So does Wake Forest, including head coach Dave Clawson with his new contract extension.
Will Louisville be that bad again? New head man Scott Satterfield will show that 2019 was an aberration.
Will North Carolina be that bad again? Mack Brown won’t work wonders, but there’s a lot to like about this Tar Heel team, at least in terms of experience.
So yeah, a case could be made that this the ACC is actually the strongest of the five from 1-14, but the 2-7ish range just don’t match up with the other big boy leagues.
It would be nice if Florida State decided to rejoin the party, and it would be terrific if Miami could play up to its hype and potential.
Virginia Tech has to reestablish itself after a puzzling year, Pitt has to prove that 2019 was more than just a strong midseason stretch, and Syracuse has to show that things are going to keep on progressing under Dino Babers.
Boston College has enough solid players to at least go bowling again, Georgia Tech should be good after the coaching change to Geoff Collins, NC State will be its usual tough self, and Virginia is looking like it has the staying power and skill to pull off a Coastal title.
But again, these are all really good teams – there just aren’t any true killers other than the Clemson powerhouse that should be good enough to do it all again.
NEXT: No. 4 Offseason Power Five Conference
4. Big 12
There’s Kansas.
The Jayhawks have enough experience to be better, and the addition of Les Miles as the head man was a stunningly amazing get, but it’s still okay to pencil them in as the tenth-best team in the Big 12.
But they’re going to be more dangerous, and so will Kansas State. Bill Snyder is an all-timer coaching legend, but his team underachieved last season. Chris Klieman is walking into a nice situation, and so is Matt Wells at Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders will still be amazing offensively, and they’ll be bowl-worthy if they can keep their quarterbacks upright and healthy this season.
The other seven teams, though, are why the Big 12 is ahead of the ACC – and again, Kansas State and Texas Tech aren’t bad fringe options, either.
Former Troy head coach Neal Brown should keep all the fun going for another dangerous-looking West Virginia squad.
TCU is going to score this year – promise. The offense will be far better than the anemic 2019 version, and the defense will be there to go along with it.
Iowa State is loaded on the lines and has one of the league’s more interesting quarterbacks in Brock Purdy, Baylor appears ready to take a massive leap forward under head man Matt Rhule, and Oklahoma State quietly has the talent to be deep in the hunt for the Big 12 title.
Of course, the noise is all about Texas and what it’s expected to do after the way it closed out last season, and Oklahoma is going to be Oklahoma again.
The Longhorns might not be quite as good as all the hype considering all the big replacements needing to be made on the defensive front seven and the O line, but the talent level has undergone a big upgrade.
Can Oklahoma be just as good without a No. 1-overall-pick type of quarterback? Jalen Hurts is just good enough to keep it all going with another amazing array of Sooner skill guys to work with, and best of all, the defense might actually tackle this year.
NEXT: No. 3 Offseason Power Five Conference
3. Pac-12
You’ve heard of the tired cliché of taking a step back to take a giant leap forward. Last season the Pac-12 took a giant leap back, but it should lead to a massive blast ahead. And why?
Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State and UCLA all underwent coaching changes and should all be stronger in Year Two under their respective head men. Throw in new head coach Mel Tucker at Colorado – and the explosion returning on offense – and the league should be ready to get out of the dark.
Oregon State is still a ways away from going bowling again, but Jonathan Smith has a veteran team coming back with a whole lot of good parts to play around with.
No chance Arizona isn’t better in Kevin Sumlin’s second season – the Cats are in for a winning season – and so is UCLA. It’s Chip Kelly. His team isn’t going to be that miserable again, especially after the way it showed signs of explosion and life last year.
Kelly had to tear down the program and do a complete overall, and the payoff will start to kick in.
Arizona State was strong under Herm Edwards, and it has a whole lot to like coming back, and Oregon is about to go from very good to preseason top five – okay, maybe top ten – with Justin Herbert leading a way-too-experienced and talented team.
Cal’s defense isn’t going anywhere, Utah’s defense isn’t going anywhere, and Stanford’s defense is going to be fantastic once the linebackers get their feet wet.
All Washington did was go to the Rose Bowl last season, and all it did was upgrade its quarterback situation with Georgia transfer Jacob Eason taking over. There’s a bit of reworking to do, but Chris Petersen has dealt with worse problems.
And then there’s the big key to the Pac-12 being ahead of the ACC and Big 12. USC has to start being USC again.
This isn’t going to be a national championship-level powerhouse again quite yet, but other than UCLA, no one in the league did more to get the young guys going to prepare for the next few years.
NEXT: No. 2 Offseason Power Five Conference
No. 2 Big Ten
Don’t just assume the Big Ten is automatically one of the two best conferences in college football. At least not this season.
After three straight years of not getting its champion into the College Football Playoff, it might be tough to bust the streak.
Ohio State has the mega-star recruit talent – including at quarterback with Georgia transfer Justin Fields – to expect nothing less than a third straight Big Ten title. But can Ryan Day pull a Lincoln Riley and step in for a legend and make the situation even better?
Can he beat Michigan?
Everyone will be sleeping on the Wolverines, but they’re going to be every bit as salty as they were last season, and now the offense is going to be even better.
But it’s Ohio State without Urban Meyer, and it’s, well … Michigan under Jim Harbaugh. There are question marks.
Penn State’s quarterback situation just got weird with presumptive No. 1 guy Tommy Stevens leaving, the James Franklin has amassed enough talent to keep the program a player.
Michigan State isn’t going to win the national title, but it has a CFP-caliber defense again. Just a little more offense will make it a killer in the Big Ten title chase.
And then there’s sort of a problem.
Indiana will be better, but it appears destined to be around the five-win range again. Maryland isn’t going to be appreciably better under new head coach Mike Locksley, and Rutgers will be appreciably better without coming close to going bowling.
Will Wisconsin overcome the massive losses on the O line and be okay at quarterback?
Nebraska has talent and the right scheme, but it’s still a year away from being any sort of thought in the College Football Playoff chase, and Purdue is going to be fun, but seven-win fun.
Iowa will be Iowa. It’ll be tough every week, but will miss just enough to be amazing.
Illinois won’t quite be Illinois. It’ll get more out of the offense in what seems like Year 13 of a youth movement under Lovie Smith, but it’s not winning the Big Ten.
Northwestern will be even better than the Big Ten West champion version, but this time around the schedule is a whole lot nastier – at least early on.
At least for the Big Ten winner, the Rose Bowl is a nice prize to still go after – even if the top four teams in the country are playing in the CFP’s Fiesta and Peach.
NEXT: No. 1 Offseason Power Five Conference
1. SEC
It’s so annoying to fans outside of the SEC to suggest that the SEC is by far the best conference in college football.
So let’s go full on nails on a chalkboard here. It’s not crazy to suggest that half of the league’s teams belong in the preseason top 15, or close to it.
Alabama is the best team in college football. Some are going to love the youthful NFL talent of Clemson, and some might get funky and suggest Oklahoma, or even Oregon if they’re trying to get noticed, but stop it.
Basically, you’ve made Bama mad, college football.
At the very least, the Tide are No. 2, and put Georgia somewhere in that top four overall mix. There might be some huge losses on both sides of the ball, but it’s an easy Next Five-Star Man Up situation under Kirby Smart.
LSU won’t be underappreciated like it was going into last season, and it’s still going to be good enough to reach the loftier expectations. The same goes for Texas A&M, who has a BRUTAL schedule, but also has the team to win a few of those nasty games.
Mississippi State might be missing some NFL parts of last year’s amazing defense, but the offense should pick up the slack this time around. Arkansas has the quarterbacks and the offensive talent to be a whole lot more dangerous, and Ole Miss should be just dangerous enough to be a tough out every week.
And that just rounds out the SEC West.
Along with Georgia, Florida is going to be deep in the hunt for the East title with an improved offense to go along with another brick wall of a defense.
South Carolina will be far better, but won’t have the record to show it thanks to a harsh schedule.
Missouri will be a fascinating X factor with Kelly Bryant taking over the reins of another great offense, Tennessee is loaded with offensive veterans, and even without Benny Snell and Josh Allen, Kentucky should be a thing again.
The SEC will be a thing again.
