UPDATED: 6:45 A.M. 9/5
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 Conferences did in Week 1 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 | RANKED W | P5 W | FBS W | FCS W | FCS L | TOTAL POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BIG TEN | 6 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 2 | SEC | 3 | 8 | 5 | 1.5 | 0 | 17.5 |
| 3 | PAC-12 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 2.5 | 0 | 12.5 |
| 4 | ACC | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| 5 | BIG 12 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.5 | -2 | 2.5 |
The power rankings will be updated each Sunday.*
*Week 1 will be updated after Sunday's and Monday's games.
Alabama defeated the highest ranked out of conference opponent in Week 1.
| CONFERENCE | OVERALL RECORD | W% | p5 RECORD | P5W% | fbs RECORD | FBS W% | fcs RECORD | fcs W% | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PAC-12 | 12–1 | .923 | 3–0 | 1.000 | 4–1 | .800 | 5–0 | 1.000 | ||||||
| SEC | 12–2 | .857 | 4–2 | .667 | 5–0 | 1.000 | 3–0 | 1.000 | ||||||
| BIG TEN | 10–2 | .833 | 2–2 | .500 | 8–0 | 1.000 | 0–0 | ---- | ||||||
| ACC | 10–4 | .714 | 2–4 | .333 | 2–0 | .000 | 6–0 | 1.00 | ||||||
| BIG 12 | 7–3 | .700 | 0–2 | .000 | 2–0 | 1.000 | 5–1 | .833 |
OVERALL RECORD CRIB NOTES
- The PAC-12 (12–1) has the best overall record.
- The Big Ten came in with a respectable 10–2 record, which holds more weight considering B1G teams faced four Power 5 opponents and 8 FBS schools.
- With a 7–3 record, the Big 12 had the worst Week 1 out of conference performance.
- The ACC and SEC played the most P5 opponents (6).
- The Big Ten was the only conference that did not play a single FCS cupcake.
- The P5 conferences went 21–1 (.955) against FBS (non-Power Five) schools.
- The PAC-12 was the only Power Five conference to lose to an FBS opponent (4–1). Colorado State defeated Oregon State 58-27.
- Against inferior FCS competition, the P5 was 19–1 (.950).
- 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.
Maryland was the only unranked P5 school to defeat an OOC Top 25 team in Week 1.
| CONFERENCE | OOC RECORD WHEN RANKED | W % | RECORD AGAINST OOC RANKED OPPONENT | W% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PAC-12 | 4–0 | 1.000 | 0–0 | ----- | ||
| BIG TEN | 3–0 | 1.000 | 2–2 | .500 | ||
| SEC | 5–1 | .833 | 1–1 | .500 | ||
| BIG 12 | 3–2 | .600 | 0–1 | .000 | ||
| ACC | 4–1 | .800 | 1–2 | .333 |
Top 25 Crib Notes
- The PAC-12 (4–0) and Big Ten (3–0) were the only conferences that had all of their teams in the Top 25 escape with perfect records against out of conference foes.
- Not a single school from the PAC-12 faced an opponent ranked in the Top 25.
- The Big Ten had the most out of conference victories over Top 25 teams. Michigan defeated No. 17 Florida and Maryland beat No. 23 Texas.
- Alabama and Virginia Tech were the only non-Big Ten teams to defeat a ranked opponent outside of their conferences.
- Texas was the only ranked P5 team to lose to an unranked OOC foe.
