Ad Disclosure
Through Week 6, here are what the records look like for each conference against Power 5 schools
Published:
Each college football season, schools either choose to test themselves in the non-conference portion of their schedule, or they choose to go against “cupcake” competition.
RELATED: Eastern Michigan brings out MAC flag after beating Illinois 34-31
By the end of the season, Power 5 schools do have to play one another at some point though, and including Notre Dame, here are records for each conference and how they fare against non-conference Power 5 schools through Week 6 this season:
Records vs. Power 5 non-conference opponents & Notre Dame:@MountainWest 8-10 @Big12Conference 6-4@SEC 6-5@American_Conf 6-12@pac12 5-3@bigten 4-5@theACC 3-8*@SunBelt 3-8 @NDFootball 2-1@BYUfootball 2-2@MACSports 1-21@ConferenceUSA 0-17
*Doesn't include UNC-Wake game
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) October 6, 2019
So, what can we take from this? That the SEC is great and the Big Ten is terrible? Not so much. What about the other way around? Is the Big Ten now king?
Hold your horses.
It seems as though that every major conference is doing… fine against out of conference Power 5 opponents (again, including Notre Dame) this season.
- Big 12: 6-4
- SEC: 6-5
- Pac-12: 5-3
- Big Ten: 4-5
- ACC: 3-8
Sure, the ACC may be struggling a tad more and the Pac-12 boasts the best winning percentage at 5-3. But all in all, every conference seems to be fairly even, no?
Of course, these matchups aren’t exactly 100 percent fair, either. However, sports will never be perfectly fair. It’s impossible to do so.
One thing is for sure, though. Don’t take much from the numbers above. No conference is that much better (or worse) than any other.
And please, don’t point toward bowl (exhibition) records, either.
Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.