Power 5 Conference Analysis

[Teldar]

Now that we are a little over half way through the season, I decided to do a little analysis on each of the conferences. A big complaint is it seems that the Big 10 schedules a much more difficult non conference schedule then the other conferences. I wanted to see if that was true this year. So with most of the conferences mostly done with their non conference schedule (I know there are still a few non conference games left), I thought I would see which conference actually racks up the best non conference wins. My criteria for a marquee non conference win was twofold. First, the win had to be over a team with at least a 5-2 record. Second, that win had to come against a Power 5 Conference or Notre Dame or BYU. Here are the results of my analysis.

ACC
1 Win. Notre Dame 5-2 (Beaten by Clemson)

Big 12
Zero

Pac 12
2 Wins. Michigan 5-2 (Beaten by Utah) and BYU 5-2 (Beaten by UCLA)

SEC
2 Wins. North Carolina 5-2 (Beaten by South Carolina) and Wisconsin 5-2 (Beaten by Alabama)

AAC (Yes that conference)
2 Wins. Penn State 5-2 (Beaten by Temple) and Ole Miss 5-2 (Beaten by Memphis)

Big 10
4 Wins. Stanford 5-1 (Beaten by Northwestern), Duke 5-1 (Beaten by Northwestern), Pittsburgh 5-1 (Beaten by Iowa) and BYU 5-2 (Beaten by Michigan).

Now of course its early, and these records will change tremendously over the next month. However, how do we know the Big 12 is all that when they have beaten NO ONE outside of their conference? The ACC has one whopping win, albeit a good Notre Dame team. And how about the Big Ten? They have double the marquee wins of any other conference (Thank you very much Northwestern!).

Another way to look at this is how many wins against ranked opponents outside of their conference do they have. These numbers are even more telling.

ACC: 1, Big 12: 0, Pac 12: 1, SEC: 0, AAC: 1, Big 10: 3.

That's right boys and girls. The Big 10 has three non conference wins against ranked opponents whereas the other conferences have only one at most.

Food for thought.

 

[Dauminator]

Neat, thanks for putting in the time to compile that.

 

[MadDogC]

Actually, B1G has more than the rest combined...

 

[icu81222]

Didn't NC beat Illinois? did I read your post right?

 

[Teldar]

They did. I almost included them. However, Illinois is only 4-2. The criteria I had was five wins. Also, if I wanted to include all wins with teams of five wins or more, the Big Ten has one more. Indiana beat Western Kentucky which is currently 6-1.

Also, I noticed an error in my original post. The Big Ten has only beaten three ranked opponents. BYU is not currently ranked.

 

[AppraiserHawk]

Interesting, but it excludes 4-2 teams (like Illinois as stated above) who have had a bye week.

 

[Teldar]

That Illinois win is the only 4-2 team that comes into play I think.

 

[MadDogC]

Iowa defeated 3 ranked opponents (currently and/or at the time). The Big-12 has defeated 2 by my count: OU over then-ranked Tenn and Texas over OU...

 

[Bulldogs1974]

What is Notre Dames relationship with the ACC this year? Are they truly OOC?

 

[Teldar]

What is Notre Dames relationship with the ACC this year? Are they truly OOC?

You could make the argument that this is a quasi in conference win since Notre Dame has to play five ACC games. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[MauiHawk]

Playing devil's advocate on behalf of the other conferences-- the special ND and BYU handling seems a bit arbitrary to me. I would say Power 5 + any team ranked top 25 would be more objective, which excludes BYU. (Meaning BigTen would have 3 and Pac12 would have 1)

I suspect you were looking for a way to include Michigan's win over BYU-- a more objective criteria to include BYU is to include all teams receiving votes in the AP top 25... but this includes Utah State, which Washington beat giving the Pac 12 3 wins instead of 2.

 

[Joes Place]

Iowa defeated 3 ranked opponents (currently and/or at the time). The Big-12 has defeated 2 by my count: OU over then-ranked Tenn and Texas over OU...

This is likewise reflected in my post on Top Ten team opponents' records; TCU and Baylor have two of the worst schedules so far.

However, I think they do both play OK St and Oklahoma, as well as each other. So, they will have some good competition coming up. But to date, they truly have played mostly 'little sisters of the poor'....

In comparison, SEC teams (LSU, Alabama, Tx A&M) have some very tough overall schedules; thus, I cannot see a 1-loss SEC team missing out on the playoff vs. an undefeated team from other Power5 conferences; I could even see a 2 loss SEC team overstepping a 1-loss B10, B12, Pac12 or ACC, based on schedule strength. LSU, Alabama and Florida all look like really good teams right now, but we do still have 1/2 the season to go....

 

[Mohawkeye]

That Pittsburgh win keeps looking better and better.