THE POWER 5
Ranking the conferences:
1. Big Ten: Bring on the accusations of homerism. But the truth is, the East division continues to be the most intriguing in the land. Ohio State just might romp through it, but Penn State, Michigan State and Michigan — are you ever going to get it done, Jim Harbaugh? — might rise up memorably. In the West, Wisconsin will deal with an arrows-up group of division rivals. It can be argued every other West program is on the climb.
2. SEC: It’s going to be hard to hand this conference its customary recognition as the best there is until Florida gets it going again, LSU gets it going again, Tennessee gets it going again . . . you get the picture. But Alabama is state-of-the-art, and Georgia and Auburn would contend in any conference in the land.
3. ACC: Until Florida State reasserts itself as a true national titan, it’s Clemson all the way and a handful of others — Miami, Louisville, Virginia Tech, N.C. State and, yes, the Seminoles — on the chase. The Atlantic still rules too easily over the Coastal.
4. Pac-12: Better — much better — days are coming (or should be). Just imagine if Mario Cristobal gets Oregon firing on all cylinders again and if Kelly approximates his former success with the Ducks at UCLA. USC and Stanford remain strong, but not playoff-strong. Washington isn’t supposed to be this much better than everybody else.
5. Big 12: Is this the year Texas snatches a conference title? (The pick here: Yes, it is.) Oklahoma still can beat anybody. TCU is intriguing, and West Virginia might be out-of-control good offensively. It’ll be a fun season, but ‘‘one true champion’’ will be headed somewhere other than a playoff semifinal.