The first few weeks of the college football season predominantly feature non-conference matchups. Most games are Power Five schools taking on FCS schools or Group of Five schools. The lower-level school gets a paycheck that funds its athletic department in exchange for taking a beating on the road at a major conference school. Of course, those smaller conference schools sometimes pull off the upset, and sometimes, Power Five schools battle other major conference schools in out-of-conference matchups. Those games and the perceived quality of the performances in those “guarantee games” provide us with an opportunity to evaluate which conferences are best this season. Once Big Ten schools are playing exclusively against other Big Ten schools, it becomes more challenging to determine the actual quality of each conference.
With that in mind, which “Power Five” conferences have been best thus far in 2023?
1. PAC-12
People who were paying attention before the season knew two things about the PAC-12: the conference was disintegrating, and the quality of the conference for the 2023 season would be high. That has come to fruition to a degree that not even the most optimistic PAC-12 booster could have imagined. The No. 1 conference right now is not the SEC nor the Big Ten; it is the PAC-12. The “Conference of Champions” has eight teams in the top 25 and five in the top 14. The underlying quality of the PAC-12 is the excellence of the quarterbacks. USC (No. 5) has Caleb Williams, Washington (No. 8) has Michael Penix Jr., Oregon (No. 10) is led by Bo Nix, Colorado (No. 19) has Shedeur Sanders, and Washington State (No. 21) has Cam Ward. Utah is 3-0 with wins over Florida and Baylor despite not having quarterback Cam Rising back from injury yet. The bottom portion of the league has quality from teams like Arizona and Cal. In addition, Colorado has been the biggest story of the young season, thanks to “Coach Prime.” Washington, USC, and Oregon seem like the best bets to turn into legitimate National Championship contenders, but for now, the league has only lost a combined six games, and eight teams are 3-0.
2. Big Ten
The Big Ten is in the second spot thanks solely to the “Big Three” at the top of the Big Ten East. Michigan is ranked second, Ohio State is ranked sixth, and Penn State checks in at seventh. Iowa is the only other team ranked. They are 24th and still offensively challenged. Maryland and Wisconsin are receiving votes. The league has not challenged itself much in non-conference play, and the bottom of the conference (Northwestern) is poor. Still, several teams will win somewhere between five and eight games, along with three genuine threats to make the College Football Playoff. The strength of the Big Three raises the league to No. 2.
3. ACC
The Florida State Seminoles stand at the top of the ACC, and their victory over the LSU Tigers is doing a lot of work for the conference. That’s a marquee win on a neutral field, and it gives the Noles a great chance to make the College Football Playoff. The ACC checking in at No. 3 is not just a byproduct of FSU beating LSU. North Carolina beat South Carolina and Minnesota, and they are 3-0 and ranked 17th. Duke has a big win over Clemson and is 3-0, ranked 18th. Miami knocked off Texas A&M and is 3-0. In addition, Syracuse just won at Purdue and is 3-0, Louisville is 3-0, and Wake Forest beat Vanderbilt and is 3-0. Clemson is not ranked, but there are not 25 better teams in the country than the Tigers. The league is hurt by a weak bottom, with Boston College, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, and Virginia all floundering.
4. SEC
It is shocking to have the Southeastern Conference this low, but the SEC would be at the bottom if not for the Georgia Bulldogs. The biggest issue for the league is a weak crop of quarterbacks, which has cost the conference wins in non-conference play. That written, the SEC still has the back-to-back national champion in Georgia and five other ranked teams (LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Florida). Those teams have some warts, but this is still a strong conference loaded with great athletes and talent. However, the lack of difference-making quarterbacks is a significant problem.
5. Big 12
The Big 12 will be a highly competitive and entertaining conference, but there’s no denying that the league lacks great teams outside of Texas. Oklahoma is the only other team in the conference in the AP Top 25, ranked 16th. Eight teams in the league have at least one loss, and four are 1-2. Iowa State lost to Ohio, and Cincinnati lost to Miami of Ohio. Currently, this conference’s only ranked versus-ranked matchup is Oklahoma versus Texas on October 7. The defending conference champion just lost to a middle-of-the-road SEC squad. Again, the Big 12 is very competitive, but it isn’t very impressive.
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