Barring any non-conference craziness I feel it is safe to say that the Sun Belt will be the least talked about conference in college football this year. They have only 8 teams after having lost some programs to Conference USA (WHY?) and the teams that remain are far from the national spotlight.
The SEC is loaded with very good teams. Though there are some favourites in each division in Alabama and Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Texas A&M and LSU should all be good this season and one upset could easily shake things up from the expected path.
The MAC always gets overshadowed by the Big Ten and rightfully so.
I am in complete agreement with those who say the PAC 12 does not get enough respect nationally. Most polls have two teams – Oregon and Stanford – in their top 5 and I see no reason why USC could not finish the season in the top 10 as well, especially now that scheduling means they don’t have to all beat up on each other.
Conference USA is going to be the hardest one to completely get used to this football season. They lost a whack of their “brand name” schools to the American Athletic Conference to the point that nearly half the conference are new programs, with additions from the Sun Belt and the Western Athletic Conferences.
The Mountain West Conference was on the verge of becoming irrelevant but saved itself by welcoming back Boise State and San Diego State and opening their arms for the next round of WAC defectors like Utah State and San Jose State.
The Big 12 should offer an exciting conference race this year, the kind that just when you think you know who the winner will be they lose and you have to think about somebody else. There is talent in the league for sure but only one of the ten teams (Texas) is returning their primary starting QB from a year ago.
The consensus is that this year’s Big Ten should be better than last year’s. Sure the Ohio State Buckeyes had a perfect season but it might have been the least impressive one in recent memory, and their inability compete in the Championship game or BCS allowed some other teams to step forward who really didn’t deserve it – we are looking at you Wisconsin.
The brand new American Athletic Conference should be pretty competitive in its first season. I see a couple of teams that could finish 11-1, with the favourite Louisville Cardinals reaching that record and possibly being joined by Cincinnati too.
The ACC is on an upswing. Right now Clemson is about as good as it has ever been, Florida State is getting back its expected heights and Miami seems to be righting itself as well, although more slowly.
