Today, the world of college football hinges on the College Football Playoff. This piece is designed to take a closer look at the out of conference scheduling for each conference and try to settle the debate as to which conference does it the best.
With only four spots open for the CFP, one of the Power Five Conferences will be left out. One of the arguments for inclusion, or exclusion, is the strength of a team's conference.
It is great to play other Power Five schools to help bolster a conference's perceived strength, especially ranked P5 teams. It is good to compete against Football Bowl System (non-P5) competition. It is bad to schedule Football Championship Series (FCS) cupcakes. It is horrible to lose to a an FCS school.
To help sort this out, let's take a look at how the Power Five Conference did in Week 3 against their OOC opponents.
OUT OF CONFERENCE POWER RANKINGS
To determine which conference has the best out of conference schedule and performance, the following formula was used:
- 3 points for every win over a ranked opponent.
- 2 points for every win over a Power Five opponent.
- 1 point for every FBS victory.
- 0.5 point for every FCS win.
- -2 points for every FCS loss.
| RANK | CONFERENCE | TOTAL POINTS | RANKED w | P5 W | FBS W | FCS W | FCS L | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BIG TEN | 41.0 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2 | SEC | 35.5 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 5.5 | 0 | |||
| 3 | PAC-12 (+1) | 29.0 | 0 | 14 | 11 | 4 | 0 | |||
| 4 | ACC (-1) | 28.5 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 4.5 | 0 | |||
| 5 | BIG 12 | 20.0 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 3 | -2 |
3 Things The Week 3 Power Rankings
- The Big Ten and PAC-12 gained the most Power Ranking Points (8.5) in Week 3.
- The Big 12 (6.5( picked up the least amount of points.
- The Big Ten extended its lead over the SEC from 4 points to 5.5 points.
| RANK | CONFERENCE | WK1 | WK2 | WK3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BIG TEN | 18.0 | 31.5 | 41.0 | ||||
| 2 | SEC | 17.5 | 27.5 | 35.5 | ||||
| 3 | PAC-12 | 12.5 | 20.5 | 29.0 | ||||
| 4 | ACC | 12.0 | 21.0 | 28.5 | ||||
| 5 | BIG 12 | 2.5 | 13.5 | 20.0 |
The Big Ten has been the top conference in OOC play for the first three weeks of the 2017 season and has extended its lead each week.
The power rankings will be updated each Sunday.*
*Or the day my schedule allows me to work on this.
Memphis was the only unranked team to take down a Top 25 opponent.
| CONFERENCE | OVERALL RECORD | W% | p5 RECORD | P5W% | fbs RECORD | FBS W% | fcs RECORD | fcs W% | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC | 26–6 | .813 | 6–6 | .500 | 9–0 | 1.000 | 11–0 | 1.000 | ||||||
| PAC-12 | 26–7 | .789 | 7–2 | .778 | 11–5 | .688 | 8–0 | 1.000 | ||||||
| BIG TEN | 29–8 | .769 | 7–5 | .583 | 20–3 | .870 | 2–0 | 1.000 | ||||||
| ACC | 22–8 | .733 | 5–8 | .385 | 8–1 | .889 | 9–0 | 1.000 | ||||||
| BIG 12 | 18–10 | .643 | 4–6 | .400 | 8–3 | .727 | 6–1 | .857 |
OVERALL RECORD CRIB NOTES
- The ACC (.733) was the only conference to see its overall record winning percentage increase. The Big Ten's percentage (.769) remained the same.
- With 9 wins, the Big Ten earned the most out of conference victories in Week 3. Only one of the victories was against an FCS opponent. Way to go Rutgers.
- The SEC has the best winning percentage (.813), but it has also played the most FCS teams (11). The Big Ten has only played 2 FCS teams, thanks Maryland and Rutgers.
- With a 5–4 record, the Big 12 had the worst Week 3 out of conference performance.
- The Big Ten was the only conference with a winning record against Power Five OOC teams.
- Last week, the SEC went 1–2 against P5 out of conference competition.
- The P5 conferences went 20–5 against FBS opponents and are now 56–12 (.824).
- The ACC has played the most out of conference Power Five (13), but the Big Ten has faced the most FBS schools (23).
- Against inferior FCS competition, the P5 is 36–1 (.973).
- Baylor, of the Big 12, lost to Liberty (48-45). That marked the 44th time a Power 5 team lost to an FCS opponent.
- Liberty's victory was 17th time a team from the Big 12 lost to an FCS school.
After three weeks, the PAC-12 is the only conference not to face a ranked OOC opponent.
| CONFERENCE | OOC RECORD WHEN RANKED | W % | RECORD AGAINST OOC RANKED OPPONENT | W% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIG TEN (+1) | 11–1 | .917 | 2–4 | .333 | ||
| ACC (+1) | 6–1 | .857 | 2–4 | .333 | ||
| SEC (+1) | 11–2 | .846 | 3–3 | .500 | ||
| PAC-12 (-3) | 8–2 | .800 | 0–0 | .000 | ||
| BIG 12 | 11–3 | .786 | 1–2 | .333 |
Top 25 Crib Notes
- The Big Ten's ranked teams have the best out of conference record. The only loss belongs to Ohio State.
- In Week 3, the Big Ten's ranked teams went 4–0 against out of conference teams.
- None of the Top 25 teams played against a ranked out of conference opponent.
- No. 25 UCLA was the only ranked P5 team to lose to an unranked OOC foe.
