AAC
What We Learned: Houston has officially left the ranks of the contenders. The Cougars are 2-3 and opened league play with a 27-24 home loss to Tulane. The offense is a mess beyond Tank Dell, the defense is on the field constantly and Dana Holgorsen looks completely out of control. They’re replaced in tier No. 2 by Memphis, which hasn’t played anyone but sits at 4-1 – enough to separate it from everyone but Cincinnati and UCF.
Tulsa and Tulane are on the move too, while SMU drops for its blowout loss to UCF.
What We Can Learn: Memphis gets to prove itself against the Cougars on Friday night, and ECU heads to Tulane for a contender elimination game. The winner jumps into tier two, the loser leaves our minds forever.
Power Rankings:
ACC
What We Learned: Clemson, unfortunately, is the best team in the ACC. N.C. State and Florida State drop over their losses, but remain in the second tier with Wake Forest, which is up to No. 2 in the power rankings. In tier three, Syracuse, Duke and North Carolina continue to rise, Pitt sits on the edge and Louisville falls into hell for its loss to Boston College.
What We Can Learn: Florida State and N.C. State have a tier two elimination game in Raleigh, but that’s about it here. This is not a good week for the ACC.
Power Rankings:
Big 12
What We Learned: Oklahoma State strengthen its grip on the top spot with a win over Baylor, while Kansas, Kansas State, TCU and Texas all jump after wins. TCU is the biggest winner after its blowout of Oklahoma, which suffered the biggest drop – all the way to the bottom of tier two.
What We Can Learn: Kansas and TCU open the weekend with a fascinating fixture, trailed by Oklahoma-Texas, Oklahoma State-Texas Tech and Kansas State-Iowa State. In other words: One heavyweight fight, and three tests (of varying quality) for other tier one contenders.
Power Rankings:
Big Ten
What We Learned: It was a separation Saturday in the West, and separate it did. Illinois and Purdue are the new favorites after their wins over Wisconsin and Minnesota respectively. Their positioning was helped even further by Iowa’s performance against Michigan – not exactly an encouraging outing. The only other change is Maryland’s drop, which is a result more of other teams looking good rather than Maryland looking bad, so the Terps stay in tier two.
What We Can Learn: Nebraska and Rutgers have a Friday night gutter fight, Purdue and Maryland draw a Noon banger, and Illinois looks to further establish itself atop the West with a home game against Iowa.
Power Rankings:
Conference USA
What We Learned: The C-USA has a middle class, which is more than it had a week ago, but it has developed at the cost of UAB’s contender status. The Blazers fall in with the masses after their loss to Rice, which has established itself as competent. That’s enough for it to rise all the way to No. 4, behind the two real teams in this league and North Texas, which dominated FAU.
What We Can Learn: We’ll have a one-team top tier this time next week after UTSA and Western Kentucky duel it out in San Antonio. MTSU has a chance to jump into tier two with an upset at UAB, as does the winner of UTEP at Louisiana Tech.
Power Rankings:
MAC
What We Learned: Fuck this conference. I have no idea who, beyond Toledo, is good here. It’s a mess.
What We Can Learn: Buffalo can prove its… resurgence(?) with a road trip to Bowling Green; the bottom four gets a playoff of Akron-Ohio and EMU-WMU; Ball State has a prove it game of its own at Central Michigan; Kent State takes a trip to Miami and Toledo-NIU closes us out with what should be the best game of the slate. Or, it’ll be awful. Who knows? This shit sucks!
Power Rankings:
Mountain West
What We Learned: Air Force, San Jose State and UNLV are the only teams who have yet to look completely incompetent at some point this season, so they fill the top tier with Fresno State – which just lost to UConn, but has a built-in excuse with Jake Haener’s injury. Beyonf the top tier, Wyoming falls for its loss to SJSU, as does San Diego State for its loss to Boise State.
What We Can Learn: This is a pretty fun slate. SJSU and UNLV are set for a de facto West title game on Friday night, Air Force and Utah State may have the same in the Mountain on Saturday evening, while Fresno State travels to Boise State for a backup quarterback mid-off.
Power Rankings:
Pac-12
What We Learned: You do not understand how badly I want to put UCLA in the top spot. The Bruins took care of business against Washington – a more impressive feat than anything USC has pulled out to this point this season – and jump into the No. 2 spot (for now). Utah moves up as well for its comfortable win over Oregon State, which remains in tier two with Washington State and, for the first time, Arizona.
What We Can Learn: The winner of UCLA-Utah is going to be No. 1 in the next power rankings. USC gets a home test against Washington State while Arizona has a major opportunity in hosting Oregon. It’s not much, but it’ll provide some depth of information and further cement some of these tiers.
Power Rankings:
SEC
What We Learned: Alabama is the new No. 1 after Georgia’s second consecutive near-pants pooping, but the top tier remains two-deep. Tennessee is now alone as No. 2 in the SEC East, trailed by a new No. 2 in the West: Ole Miss, thanks to its narrow win over Kentucky. Mississippi State moves into the second tier as well for its win over Texas A&M, jumping Arkansas – who is accompanied in tier three by LSU, Florida and the Aggies.
What We Can Learn: The Hogs may not need to be there for very long, because they have a big road trip to Mississippi State this week. Tennessee heads to Death Valley for an LSU trap game, while Kentucky and Alabama get what should be home gimmes against South Carolina and Texas A&M, respectively.
Power Rankings:
Sun Belt
What We Learned: I’m sick of Coastal Carolina playing with its food. The Chants won, and sit now at 5-0, but they very nearly lost to Georgia Southern. That’s enough, with James Madison’s dominant win over Texas State, for me to push the Dukes into the top spot. South Alabama and Troy rise as well after toppling Louisiana and Western Kentucky, respectively, and are now the teams to beat in the West. Georgia State’s first win of the season is enough reason for it to leap listless programs in Louisiana, Marshall and Old Dominion.
What We Can Learn: Georgia Southern can prove that decision wrong with a trip to Atlanta to play the Panthers, but that’s about it here. App State, Coastal Carolina have easy road trips to Texas State, ULM and Arkansas State, while James Madison hosts a capable Southern Miss team.
Power Rankings:
