The end of summer is slowly beginning to nudge its way into sight.
But with the dreaded dawning of classes also comes the single greatest semester-long crutch known as college football.
There are still roughly six weeks left until the start of football season, but in my mind it’s never too early to start talking.
College athletics typically aren’t known for their off-season activity. Aside from summer recruiting and the occasional coaching carousel that takes place, the off-season is used for training, drills and camps.
This year was vastly different, as collegiate conferences began talking realignment.
Drastic changes were made to some major conferences, and even more transformations occurred in the smaller conferences. I’ll try to make this as simple as possible.
Colorado and Nebraska both left the Big 12, dropping the conference down to 10 teams.
Colorado left for the Pac-10, which will now be known as the Pac-12, also adding Utah from the Mountain West.
Nebraska left for the Big Ten, which ironically had 11 teams and now has 12. They also divided into two divisions – the “Leaders” and the “Legends.” Whatever that means.
Boise State left the Western Athletic Conference for the Mountain West in hopes of moving to a stronger conference.
The problem is the MWC lost its two powerhouses in TCU and Utah — who leaves in 2012 for the BIG EAST — and Utah while adding Fresno State and Nevada, who also moved over from the WAC with Boise. Basically the new MWC is the old WAC.
So with all that in mind, it’s time to take a slightly early look at my take on the new-look conference power rankings.
NO. 1 — SEC
It still isn’t close. The Southeastern Conference boasts the last five national champions, including six of the last eight title winners.
And the conference looks poised for another shot at it this year with both Alabama and LSU featured at the top of most preseason polls.
Top to bottom, the SEC is hard to beat. Eight to ten teams should find themselves bowl bound by season’s end.
NO. 2 — BIG TEN
What used to be a one-horse race has become a little more interesting. The Big Ten has slightly closed the gap on the SEC the past few years, and the addition of Nebraska this season makes up a little more ground.
They lose some points this season with the chaos that has ensued with Ohio State’s off-the-field issues, but the recent successes of teams like Wisconsin, Iowa and Penn State make up for it.
Even the lower half of the conference isn’t too shabby. Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan all finished above .500 last year.
However, they nearly dropped below the Pac-12 simply because of the atrocity of their division names.
NO. 2.5 — PAC-12
The Pac-12 and Big Ten were eerily close in my book. Both made big additions to strengthen itself this off-season and both have a typical powerhouse school dealing with sanctions with the NCAA.
If USC were on its normal high horse, you could make a stronger case for the newly formed Pac-12.
But national champion runner-up Oregon should contend for the title again this season, while Stanford — whose lone loss last year came at the hands of the Ducks — should give them a run for their money.
Similar to the Big Ten, the middle of the pack shows signs of life. Utah plus the Oregon, Arizona and Washington teams could all make some noise before its over with.
The Heisman Trophy could very well shift back to the Pac-12 this year with studs like LaMichael James of Oregon and Stanford’s Andrew Luck as the early frontrunners.
NO. 4  — ACC
The Atlantic Coast Conference always struggles to get to that upper echelon every year. They typically field one or two strong teams who don’t seem to live up to expectations.
But this could be the year for the ACC. Yet again, Va. Tech is full of promise, but Florida State may be the team to watch out for. Promising quarterback EJ Manuel takes over a Seminole squad oozing with talent that failed to find consistency last season.
Miami and North Carolina seem to be headed in the right direction and Georgia Tech, Clemson and North Carolina State are consistantly good, but never great.
NO. 5 — BIG-12
The conferences are coming in tiers. SEC at the top, Big Ten and Pac-12 in tier two, and the ACC and Big-12 fall into tier three.
They have their contenders, like Oklahoma in this case, but are full of those same good, not great teams like Texas A&M and Oklahoma State.
I’m still surprised at the downfall Texas faced last season. They should rebound but not to the juggernaut status they used to be. Throw in the rest of the Texas teams along with Missouri, and you have a very top-heavy, mediocre conference that could be falling apart in coming years.
 
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Contact Mark Clements at [email protected]