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The Final College Football Conference Strength Rankings

Post-bowl games, here is a rundown of how I rank the six major conferences. First off, I'll run down the conference standings.

ACC
1. Virginia Tech (11-3)
2. Clemson (10-4)
3. Florida State (9-4)
4. Georgia Tech (8-5)
4. North Carolina State (8-5)
4. Virginia (8-5)
7. North Carolina (7-6)
8. Miami (Florida) (6-6)
9. Wake Forest (6-7)
10. Boston College (4-8)
11. Duke (3-9)
12. Maryland (2-10)

Big XII
1. Oklahoma State (12-1)
2. Baylor (10-3)
2. Kansas State (10-3)
2. Oklahoma (10-3)
5. Missouri (8-5)
5. Texas (8-5)
7. Texas A&M (7-6)
8. Iowa State (6-7)
9. Texas Tech (5-7)
10. Kansas (2-10)

Big East
1. Cincinnati (10-3)
1. West Virginia (10-3)
3. Rutgers (9-4)
4. Louisville (7-6)
5. Pittsburgh (6-7)
6. Connecticut (5-7)
6. South Florida (5-7)
6. Syracuse (5-7)

Big Ten
1. Michigan (11-2)
2. Michigan State (11-3)
2. Wisconsin (11-3)
4. Nebraska (9-4)
4. Penn State (9-4)
6. Illinois (7-6)
6. Iowa (7-6)
6. Purdue (7-6)
9. Northwestern (6-7)
9. Ohio State (6-7)
11. Minnesota (3-9)
12. Indiana (1-11)

Pac-12
1. Oregon (12-2)
2. Stanford (11-2)
3. USC (10-2)
4. Utah (8-5)
5. California (7-6)
5. Washington (7-6)
7. Arizona State (6-7)
8. UCLA (6-8)
9. Arizona (4-8)
9. Washington State (4-8)
11. Oregon State (3-9)
12. Colorado (3-10)

SEC
1. LSU (13-1)
2. Alabama (12-1)
3. Arkansas (11-2)
3. South Carolina (11-2)
5. Georgia (10-4)
6. Auburn (8-5)
7. Florida (7-6)
7. Mississippi State (7-6)
9. Vanderbilt (6-7)
10. Kentucky (5-7)
10. Tennessee (5-7)
12. Mississippi (2-10)

To rank the conferences, I've ranked the six conferences in five different categories:

1) Win/loss record versus the other AQ (automatic qualifier) conferences
2) Percentage of non-conference games versus AQ conference teams
3) Record of teams in wins versus AQ conferences
4) Record of teams in losses versus AQ conferences
5) Percentage of games versus I-AA teams

I sorted through all the statistics and ranked the six conferences in the before-mentioned five categories. I then devised a formula by ranking the categories by importance.

1) I saw the win/loss record versus the other AQ conferences as being the most important, so I multiplied the conferences' ranking by 2.50.

2) The record of teams in wins versus AQ conferences I saw as second most important and I'll multiply the conferences' ranking by 2.00.

3) The third most important category as far as I see it is the record of teams in losses versus AQ conferences. I multiply the ranking by 1.50.

4) The percentage of non-conference games versus AQ conference teams is fourth most important from my vantage point and I multiply the ranking by 1.00.

5) Lastly is the percentage of non-conference games against I-AA opponents. I multiply these rankings by 0.50.

I then added up the five scores, the lowest of which will rank #1 in term's of conference strength and the highest which will rank last or 6th in this case. I'll now run down the statistics category by category from one through five based on importance.

Record vs. AQ Conference Teams
1. SEC: 15-6 (.714)
2. Big XII: 12-5 (.706)
3. Big Ten: 9-10 (.474)
4. Pac-12: 8-12 (.400)
5. Big East: 7-11 (.389)
6. ACC: 9-16 (.360)

Record of Teams in Wins vs. AQ Conferences
1. SEC: 129-68 (.654)
2. Big XII: 82-72 (.533)
3. Big East: 43-47 (.478)
4. Big Ten: 56-62 (.475)
5. Pac-12: 47-55 (.461)
6. ACC: 52-62 (.456)

Record of Teams in Losses vs. AQ Conferences
1. SEC: 59-21 (.738)
2. Pac-12: 110-48 (.696)
3. Big XII: 45-20 (.692)
4. Big Ten: 89-40 (.690)
5. ACC: 141-67 (.678)
6. Big East: 83-58 (.589)

Percentage of Non-Conference Games vs. AQ Conference Teams
1. Big XII: 17/38 (44.7%)
2. ACC: 25/56 (44.6%)
3. Pac-12: 19/43 (44.2%)
4. Big East: 18/45 (40.0%)
5. SEC: 21/57 (36.8%)
6. Big Ten: 19/58 (32.8%)

Percentage of Games vs. 1-AA Teams
1. Big XII: 6/38 (15.8%)
1. Big Ten: 10/58 (17.2%)
3. Big East: 8/45 (17.8%)
4. Pac-12: 8/43 (18.6%)
5. SEC: 12/57 (21.1%)
6. ACC: 13/56 (23.2%)

Here are how I attained the final sums:

ACC: 15.00 (6 * 2.50) + 12.00 (6 * 2.00) + 7.50 (5 * 1.50) + 2.00 (2 * 1.00) + 3.00 (6 * 0.50) = 39.50
Big XII: 5.00 (2 * 2.50) + 4.00 (2 * 2.00) + 4.50 (3 * 1.50) + 1.00 (1 * 1.00) + 0.50 (1 * 0.50) = 15.00
Big East: 12.50 (5 * 2.50) + 6.00 (3 * 2.00) + 9.00 (6 * 1.50) + 4.00 (4 * 1.00) + 1.50 (3 * 0.50) = 33.00
Big Ten: 7.50 (3 * 2.50) + 8.00 (4 * 2.00) + 6.00 (4 * 1.50) + 6.00 (6 * 1.00) + 1.00 (2 * 0.50) = 28.50
Pac-12: 10.00 (4 * 2.50) + 10.00 (5 * 2.00) + 3.00 (2 * 1.50) + 3.00 (3 * 1.00) + 2.00 (4 * 0.50) = 28.00
SEC: 2.50 (1 * 2.50) + 2.00 (1 * 2.00) + 1.50 (1 * 1.50) + 5.00 (5 * 1.00) + 2.50 (5 * 0.50) = 13.50

The final rankings are as follows:

1. SEC (13.50)
2. Big XII (15.00)
3. Pac-12 (28.00)
4. Big Ten (28.50)
5. Big East (33.00)
6. ACC (39.50)

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