Ranking the Football Bowl Subdivision Conferences After October 2017

 

There is a never-ending debate about which Football Bowl Subdivision conference is superior to the others. As a contribution to the argument, I present the rankings of the ten FBS conferences according to my creation, the Harvey System. This system ranks the ten FBS conferences in an objective fashion. Teams earn points for their conferences based on victories versus other FBS teams. Victories on the road are worth more than those at home or at neutral sites. Wins against other conferences’ champions, divisional or overall, are worth additional points. 

Relatively few inter-conference games occurred during the second month of the NCAA football season. However, some shifts occurred in the order of the conferences as compared to September.

 

Big Ten (.768)

The Big Ten far outpaces the other nine FBS conferences. Its fourteen members are undefeated against four other conferences: Conference USA (4-0), Mountain West (5-0), Southeastern (2-0) and Sun Belt (3-0).                                                                                                              However, the Big Ten is far from perfect. This group split its four games versus the ACC. They also are 1-2 against both the Pacific 12 and the American Athletic. Additionally, they lost two of their nine match-ups with the MAC.

Southeastern (.638)

The SEC is showing signs of collective decline from its lofty status. Among these are 0-2 marks versus both the Big Ten and Pacific Twelve. Its ranking is further diminished by eleven of its 31 out-of-conference victories occurring against FBS members.

All is not doom and gloom for the SEC. In the first month of this season, they won as many games versus the ACC (four) as they did during all of last season, in only five match-ups so far. Also, the conference barely slipped ahead of the PAC-12 after the results of October.

Pacific Twelve (.621)

The Pacific Twelve is 2-0 versus Conference USA, the SEC and Sun Belt Conference, respectively. The PAC-12 did not have as many victories against the Mountain West as in the past, having lost three so far. Nearly half of the PAC 12’s wins occurred against members of the Football Championship Subdivision.

Atlantic Coast (.535)

The ACC has not been able to carry over its impressive finish of the 2016 season into this year. Against the rest of the Power Five, the ACC is only 5-9. The ACC has lost all three of its games against Notre Dame. Nine wins over FBS teams should not impress anyone.

At the least the ACC has dominated the Group of Five. They are 6-0 versus the Mid-American Conference as well as 2-0 against both the AAC and MWC.

Big Twelve (.500)

Just as occurred after September of last season, the Big Twelve is the weakest of the Power Five conferences. The primary reason that the Big Twelve can be considered slightly stronger than the American Athletic Conference is its 5-0 record versus the AAC. The Big Twelve has a 1-2 tally against the ACC, Big Ten and MAC. Versus each of the other two Power Five conferences, the Big Twelve is 1-1. Further degrading the Big Twelve is the fact that 30 percent of their wins came at the expense of FCS members. Also, Baylor lost to an FCS opponent.  

American Athletic (.488)

The AAC has consistently demonstrated that some its members can knock off teams from the Power Five. Their success against the Big Ten (2-1) and Pacific Twelve (2-0) proves that. However, they have not all succeeded when given the chance to face Power Five teams evidenced by the lack of wins versus the ACC in two tries and losing all five contests against the Big Twelve.

Conference USA (.290)

Conference USA managed one win versus both the ACC and Big Twelve. However, they lost their other sixteen matches against teams from Power Five conferences. They are 9-1 versus the FCS with Charlotte having lost to North Carolina A&T.  

Mid-American (.281)

The MAC does not have one member dominating all the rest as in last season. However, the conference has scored more notable victories than in 2016. They have scored a pair of victories over the Big Ten. The MAC also holds a 2-1 advantage over the Big Twelve. However, the MAC does not have a winning record against any other FBS conference. Exactly half of the MAC’s non-conference wins were against FCS teams.

Mountain West (.216)

The members of the Mountain West did not all serve as the punching bag for PAC 12 teams as per usual. The MWC won three of ten games against their neighbors on the West Coast. Those lifted the MWC out of the basement of the FBS conference rankings.

However, the MWC lost all ten of its match-ups with the other four Power Five conferences. The MWC piled up nine wins over teams from the FCS. One member, UNLV, lost to Howard, an FCS opponent.

Sun Belt (.001)

The Sun Belt has looked dreadful. They have a losing record against all the other FBS conferences except the Mid-American with whom they split their two match-ups. They have more wins against FCS members (seven) than against FBS teams (six). The SBC lost three of ten contests with FCS opponents. The only bright spot for the SBC is one win among their six games versus the SEC.

These rankings are only based on the games played through the end of October. The order and numbers could change considering multiple out-of-conference games will be played in November as well as the plethora of bowls games.