RSSBot
News Junkie
Texas fell out of the Top 25 this week for the first time in a decade, but it didn't hurt the Big 12's spot in the conference rankings calculated each week by ESPN Stats & Info.In fact, according to the computer rankings, the Big 12 has assumed the No. 1 spot, overtaking the SEC. Meanwhile, the cumulative points in the AP Poll have the Big 12 behind the SEC, Big Ten, Pac-10 and the Mountain West Conference.
"Computer ratings are generally a good indicator on the depth of a conference, and the Big 12 has only one member (Kansas) currently outside the top half of the 120 FBS schools in computer rating average. No other conference can make that claim," writes Albert Larcada.
That's not surprising. Kansas is the league's only team with a losing record (2-3), and one of its wins came over then-No. 19 Georgia Tech.
Clearly, teams like Tennessee, Georgia and Vanderbilt have hurt the SEC. You have to wonder if Colorado's win over the Bulldogs, which raised the Buffaloes' record to 3-1 and sent the Bulldogs to a shocking 1-4, tipped the scales in favor of the Big 12.
"The second aspect of this system is designed to proxy the depth of the conference. Computer ratings are great for this purpose as they always will rate at least all FBS schools," Larcada writes.
As such, a team like Nevada puts points on the board for the Mountain West, whereas teams receiving votes but sitting outside the polls like Kansas State, Baylor and Texas count for nothing.
"Thus if you are a very top heavy conference with bad schools near the bottom of your standings, computer ratings will heavily penalize you," Larcada writes.
That's not a problem for the Big 12, who in Week 3 this* year had nine teams receive votes in at least the media or coaches' poll.
More...