2011 College Football Preseason Conference Rankings
by Murray Hill Mike
1. SEC – It’s no wonder that the SEC is the strongest College Football conference heading into the 2011 season. It has won the BCS National Championship five straight years and has eight teams ranked in the Top 25 with #2 Alabama, #4 LSU, #12 South Carolina, #14 Arkansas, #19 Auburn, #20 Mississippi St, #22 Georgia and #23 Florida. It’s almost a guarantee that the SEC Champion gets a BCS Championship Game nod.
2. BIG XII – The consensus #1 team in College Football, Oklahoma, heads a strong group along with #8 Oklahoma St, #9 Texas A&M, #21 Missouri and #24 Texas. They have been taking hits as Nebraska and Colorado left this year and Texas A&M is now threatening to join the SEC. But, nonetheless the BIG XII is going to be very good in 2011.
3. Big Ten – With the addition of #11 Nebraska, the Big Ten helped solidify itself after conference top dog #16 Ohio State has come under turmoil. Also ranked are: #10 Wisconsin, #11 Nebraska, #17 Michigan State and #25 Penn State. That's six ranked teams along with Iowa, Northwestern and Michigan popping their heads into the others getting votes puts them in this spot.
4. PAC-12 – Surprisingly the newly named PAC-12 has no other ranked teams besides #3 Oregon and #6 Stanford, who are in the top 10. USC, Arizona State, Utah and Arizona should all have strong years.
5. ACC – Besides #5 Florida State and #13 Virginia Tech, the ACC looks to be down somewhat. Miami (FL), North Carolina, NC State, Georgia Tech and Clemson also received votes in the preseason Top 25 poll and could jump this league up a spot or two.
6. MWC – The conference loses two of its big boys with Utah going to the PAC-12 and BYU becoming an independent. They did get a very good new team in WAC refugee #7 Boise State, who should battle with #15 TCU atop of the conference standings, but it will be short lived as TCU is headed to the Big East in 2012.
7. Big East – The Big East has suffered a few setbacks over the years with top teams leaving, but they will be getting a good one in TCU in 2012. However, the conference appears to be really down this season as not one team is ranked. Receiving votes were West Virginia, South Florida and Pitt.
8. Conference USA – No ranked teams to begin the year, but expect to see strong years from UCF, Houston and Southern Miss.
9. WAC – The WAC took a big hit financially when Boise State bolted for the MWC and will lose even more when Hawaii, Fresno State and Nevada leave for the MWC next season.
10. MAC – Northern Illinois seems to be the top team in the MAC being their only member who received votes in the preseason poll.
11. Sun Belt – Not much is expected from this conference this season.
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