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Thread: Best Divisions in College Football

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    Default Best Divisions in College Football

    http://www.espn.com/college-football...rence-division

    As the season approaches and debates heat up about which teams have the most difficult schedules and who has the easiest path to the College Football Playoff, we are here to help clear the air. Or maybe muddy the waters, depending on your argument.

    With the help of ESPN's Football Power Index, which measures each team's strength and helps predict its performance, we have ranked the best divisions in college football for the 2018 season.


    1. SEC West
    Teams: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
    Average FPI: 13.3

    The SEC West comes out as the No. 1-ranked division in college football and it's likely no surprise. Alabama is coming off of a national championship and is ranked the No. 1 team in many preseason polls. The Tide have a desirable situation at quarterback, with two more-than-viable options, and while there are some holes on defense, the past few recruiting classes should be enough to keep Alabama in the conversation for another championship run. Division foe Auburn faced off against Georgia in the SEC championship last season, and while the coaches are looking to replace quite a bit on offense, the Tigers are also in a favorable spot at quarterback with Jarrett Stidham returning. Mississippi State and Texas A&M both have new coaches at the helm, but both have pieces on the roster to help make this one of the most challenging divisions in football.

    2. Big Ten East
    Teams: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers
    Average FPI: 11.4

    The Big Ten East was the biggest challenger to the SEC West in these rankings, and many would argue this division will end up being the best when the season finishes. Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan all fielded young teams in 2017 and are returning an astounding number of starters on offense and defense. The Buckeyes and Spartans have identities on offense that will very likely continue to improve throughout the season, and the Wolverines have added in Ole Miss quarterback transfer Shea Patterson to help push them to the next level. While Penn State has lost all-everything running back Saquon Barkley and three of its offensive assistants from last season, quarterback Trace McSorley is still on the roster, and the quality recruits head coach James Franklin has been able to reel in should make an immediate impact.

    3. ACC Atlantic
    Teams: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Syracuse, Wake Forest
    Average FPI: 10.1

    The Atlantic stumbled in 2017, mainly because Florida State finished the season 7-6. There were some bright spots, with NC State finishing 8-4, but Clemson was the only team to finish with more than eight wins in the division. That could very likely change this season with head coach Willie Taggart now at Florida State. The Seminoles dealt with injuries last season, especially at quarterback, so if they can stay healthy their numbers should improve drastically. If NC State and Louisville can build off of their performances last season and improve their win totals, this could be a sneaky difficult division to deal with. Clemson is likely the only team firmly in the College Football Playoff discussion, but from top to bottom there are some quality teams in this division.

    4. Pac-12 North
    Teams: Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
    Average FPI: 9.4

    Stanford and Washington are the two headliners in this division, both showing up in the top 15 of ESPN's preseason power rankings. Washington checks in at No. 5 and is returning quite a bit of production from last season, including quarterback Jake Browning and running back Myles Gaskin on offense, as well as leading tackler Ben Burr-Kirven and defensive back Byron Murphy, who led the team in interceptions. Stanford is bringing back Heisman candidate Bryce Love at running back and a little more continuity at quarterback with K.J. Costello firmly in the driver's seat. If Washington State can build on its nine-win season from a year ago and Oregon can rebound under new head coach Mario Cristobal, this could be a difficult division to get through.



    5. Big 12
    Teams: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia
    Average FPI: 8.4

    The Big 12 is just one big ole conference, so it gets ranked as one. Oklahoma is carrying much of the heavy lifting for the conference after claiming a spot in the playoff last season. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield is off to the NFL, but there is a lot of excitement surrounding his presumed replacement, Kyler Murray. The offense should be fine, but if the defense can show improvements from last season, this could be another playoff-type year for the Sooners. West Virginia and TCU are at the back half of the power rankings, but both have opportunities to outplay their preseason predictions. The Mountaineers have an exciting combo coming back on offense with quarterback Will Grier and receiver David Sills V, who linked up for 18 touchdowns last season. The wild card in this conference is going to be how well Texas performs under second year coach Tom Herman. There are some quality teams in this conference, but it needs Texas to progress in order to be considered one of the best.

    6. SEC East
    Teams: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
    Average FPI: 8.2

    Georgia carried the water for this division last season, winning the conference championship and ultimately making it to the national championship game. South Carolina did its part by winning nine games last season, but those two teams were the only teams with more than seven wins in the division. Florida was a huge letdown, finishing 4-7 on the season. Under new head coach Dan Mullen, there are some pieces in place to improve on what happened in 2017. If the Gators can pull up their bootstraps and outperform expectations, this division could finish in higher regard than expected. You could put Tennessee in that category as well, with new coach Jeremy Pruitt coming from Alabama. If the Vols can take quickly to Pruitt's coaching, it would tremendously help the division, but there are a lot of ifs and questions still left for that to happen.

    7. ACC Coastal
    Teams: Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech
    Average FPI: 7.3

    It's not surprising to see the ACC Coastal this far down the list as it was top-heavy last season with Miami and Virginia Tech leading the way. The Hurricanes have shown progression under Mark Richt and finished at 10-2 overall, while Virginia Tech has taken off under new coach Justin Fuente. Both teams should be able to replicate the 2017 season, or at least come close to it, in 2018. Miami seemingly has the roster and experience now to push forward and potentially make a bigger splash than it did in 2017. If Richt and his staff can keep things progressing forward, the Hurricanes should be in good shape. Outside of those two teams, however, it doesn't look promising. Miami and Virginia Tech were the only two teams in the division to finish with more than seven wins and the prospects don't look great for the bottom half of the division.

    8. Big Ten West
    Teams: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin
    Average FPI: 6.3


    There's no secret that the two divisions in the Big Ten are lopsided, and that looks to be true in the 2018 season as well. Wisconsin could make some noise nationally, returning most of its offensive line as well as running back Jonathan Taylor, who broke records as a true freshman in 2017. Northwestern came away with 10 wins in 2017 and has an opportunity to have another strong season, and the same goes for Iowa. But in terms of a national presence, there likely won't be many other teams outside of Wisconsin. Purdue has taken great strides under coach Jeff Brohm but is still likely a few years away from being what he wants the team to be. While Nebraska hired Scott Frost away from UCF, it will also seemingly take him a few years to get the Huskers back to the top of the standings. This division boasts a lot of promise and young coaches, but the potential hasn't been realized just yet.

    9. Pac-12 South
    Teams: Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah
    Average FPI: 6.1

    Talk about uncertainty in a division! There is a whole mess of it in the Pac-12 South, with USC as the lone team in the division in the preseason power rankings. Add in that Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA are all dealing with new head coaches and you can see why this division comes in last. The Trojans were the only team in the division to finish with more than seven wins in 2017, and it seems as though it's going to take some time to get those numbers up. Chip Kelly is looking for a new quarterback at UCLA after Josh Rosen's departure and could start true freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Kevin Sumlin and Herm Edwards have their quarterbacks at Arizona and Arizona State, respectively, but both have a lot of work to do with the rosters outside of that position. If USC can find its quarterback after Sam Darnold's departure for the NFL, the Trojans should be in great shape, but the rest of the division has too many questions going forward.

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    Ok
    "They are who we thought they were"

    You can dress a fat chick up, but you cant fix stupid

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    Would you switch schedules with anyone from the SEC East? And i say the East because we all know thats the only point of this thread.

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    y'all talk about conference affiliation like there's some conspiracy dating back to the 50s....

    In a forum full of stupid discussions, this one takes the cake....
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

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    Who cares about conference affiliation? As stated above this is simply so can throw stones at the SEC East. Can we all just admit that in the last say 10 years the SEC was Alabama, and sometimes Auburn and Ga and then everybody else? The ACC in that same time frame was Clemson and FSU? Schedule and conference discussions are useless. Win em all and it doesn't matter.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BCR3 View Post
    Who cares about conference affiliation? As stated above this is simply so can throw stones at the SEC East. Can we all just admit that in the last say 10 years the SEC was Alabama, and sometimes Auburn and Ga and then everybody else? The ACC in that same time frame was Clemson and FSU? Schedule and conference discussions are useless. Win em all and it doesn't matter.
    ...


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    Quote Originally Posted by BCR3 View Post
    Schedule and conference discussions are useless. Win em all and it doesn't matter.
    Very few ever go undefeated. Last year UCF did...............so the SOS and conferences do matter for the 1 loss and sometimes 2 loss teams.


    When you have 4 spots and 5 power conferences, there will always be one or two teams crying foul. That may very well be planned to keep up the interest and social media arguments all year long. If so, it's working.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Catdaddy View Post
    Very few ever go undefeated. Last year UCF did...............so the SOS and conferences do matter for the 1 loss and sometimes 2 loss teams.


    When you have 4 spots and 5 power conferences, there will always be one or two teams crying foul. That may very well be planned to keep up the interest and social media arguments all year long. If so, it's working.
    I agree that SOS matters and agree most do not go undefeated. I meant that every year it's like ground hog day in here rehashing the same crap. Without googling up a bunch of research and being a casual fan I think most would agree with what I said earlier. Nobody is changing conferences anyway so there is no sense in beating this horse any longer. Win or shut up. I didn't like it when during the 5 year run the Clemson folks were on here making excuses and I don't want to see it now from Carolina fans. Constantly talking about Bama just makes it sound like you want your big brother to beat up the bully that whipped you. I honestly think Muschamp has it a year ahead of schedule and if Bentley and the the top skill guys can stay healthy 9-3 / 10-2 isn't unreasonable. Hopefully that happens and they have another good recruiting class and gap between Carolina and Clemson becomes much smaller. The down side from the Carolina perspective is that Ga jumped way ahead with Kirby and TN and Fl are only going to get better. It's going to be a fun year regardless.
    Last edited by BCR3; 08-13-2018 at 01:42 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BCR3 View Post
    Without googling up a bunch of research and being a casual fan I think most would agree with what I said earlier. .


    Who needs Google? We have Feetsdown for stats.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BCR3 View Post
    I agree that SOS matters and agree most do not go undefeated. I meant that every year it's like ground hog day in here rehashing the same crap. Without googling up a bunch of research and being a casual fan I think most would agree with what I said earlier. Nobody is changing conferences anyway so there is no sense in beating this horse any longer. Win or shut up. I didn't like it when during the 5 year run the Clemson folks were on here making excuses and I don't want to see it now from Carolina fans. Constantly talking about Bama just makes it sound like you want your big brother to beat up the bully that whipped you. I honestly think Muschamp has it a year ahead of schedule and if Bentley and the the top skill guys can stay healthy 9-3 / 10-2 isn't unreasonable. Hopefully that happens and they have another good recruiting class and gap between Carolina and Clemson becomes much smaller. The down side from the Carolina perspective is that Ga jumped way ahead with Kirby and TN and Fl are only going to get better. It's going to be a fun year regardless.
    Only problem is clemson is getting better too. I honestly believe that this 2018 is the deepest team clemson has ever had. This team is deeper than the national championship team. Better is to be determined.
    Last edited by banded_mallard; 08-13-2018 at 02:07 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by banded_mallard View Post
    Only problem is clemson is getting better too. I honestly believe that this 2018 is the deepest team clemson has ever had. This team is deeper than the national championship team. Better is to be determined.
    I don't disagree, especially with the front 4 coming back on D-Line. To be clear I'm not saying Carolina is there yet but I do think they are ahead of schedule and if Muschamp can hold onto this staff for another couple years recruiting is only going to get better. Still have to play the games and as always injuries can change everything.

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    its a sad day when I agree with BCR3 this much....
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    its a sad day when I agree with BCR3 this much....
    Well I don't want you upset so let me say that soccer sucks and so do dentist just to get you back to even keel..

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    Deshaun Watson got Clemson a championship and Mark Richt fired. Everybody is happy with what we are seeing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Highcotton View Post
    Deshaun Watson got Clemson a championship and Mark Richt fired. Everybody is happy with what we are seeing.
    Bingo...

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    Quote Originally Posted by BCR3 View Post
    Can we all just admit that in the last say 10 years the SEC was Alabama, and sometimes Auburn and Ga and then everybody else? The ACC in that same time frame was Clemson and FSU?

    I actually like the original ranking. The biggest thing I would disagree with is the acc rankings seem a little inflated.

    But you're wrong on your synopsis of the last ten years. Which is probably why 2th agreed with you. BTW that's a sure warning sign that you have f'd something up when he agrees with you. (I have actually change my mind for similar posts.)

    Bama has 5 of the last 10. Solid no doubt. Clemson has one. FSU has one. OSU has one. And UF and Auburn another. So SEC has 7 of the last ten. Go back the next 2 years and it's LSU and UF.

    So 9 out of the last 12 have been sec. 75% in the last 12 years. ACC has 2 (both in the Atlantic) And big 10 has 1. That says alot to me.

    And it's numbers which has to appreciate and acknowledge.

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