The leaves are starting to change across the country, which usually means that one-third of the 2023 college football season is in the books. As the sport goes through this final season of an era (The First Alignment Chapter), all of the major players out of the New Years' Six participants are providing some juicy headlines to keep track of. Which ones are catching my eye as conference seasons take over the molding of the story?
The Group of Five: Who Will Step Into the Spotlight?
In my opinion, the best item from the of the College Football Playoff era was the addition of mid-major programs getting the chance to automatically play in one of the major bowl games of the season. Schools that were typically left to play their final exhibitions in games that needed a corporation to facilitate a name had the opportunity to enter contests that go by a single name (Rose, Cotton, Orange, etc.).
As we sit at the dawn of a new era in the sport, there seems to be a void that a mid-major left out of the limelight could fill. Houston, Cincinnati, UCF, and BYU have all stepped up a level (for now). Maybe a team from the MAC will give the conference another chance to impress (Western Michigan lost their undefeated season at the 2017 Cotton Bowl). What about the Mountain West sending a representative outside of Boise State? Is it the year a Sun Belt team earns an invite to one of these games? Who gets the chance to usher the "lesser" tier of programs into the new era?
The ACC: Is Everything Old Becoming New Again?
Florida State was the latest of the traditional powers to take on a stretch of struggle. It wasn't terribly long, but the Seminoles did sputter for a minute. After Saturday's come-from-behind win at Clemson, the prevailing winds of momentum have lifted FSU back atop the ACC (somewhere they haven't finished since 2014). Will they continue to ride it through Thanksgiving weekend? The toughest remaining games on the regular season schedule look to be in Tallahassee against an old scratching post (Duke) and their most bitter rival (Miami).
Speaking of the Blue Devils, they may be entering their most-critical three-game block in decades. Home wins over Notre Dame and N.C. State could set up quite the showdown on Oct. 21st in northern Florida. Can Duke shock the conference and return to a game they haven't seen since 2013? Will the Hurricanes find their way to a peak they've never reached (in this particular conference)?
The Big XII: Parting Shots For the Overlords?
It's tough to utterly dominate a Power Five conference. Yes, there are stretches where one team lords over all the others, but the longest that lasts is usually a full four-year class (if you're lucky). Two schools have shared the biggest presence across the Plains ever since this league was formed in the mid-1990s. Texas is the perceived bully. Always has the gruffest look and rarely comes through, but when they do, the punches land hard. Oklahoma is the actual bully, taking your lunch money with such a tried and true consistency that you've grown numb to the embarrassment.
When these two schools decided to take the ball and head to the "greener" pastures of the SEC, their conference rivals may have thought it was the perfect time for some get-back. Neither the Longhorns nor the Sooners made it to the league championship game in 2021, before their stunning announcement. Last season, the "others" kept the trend going by denying UT and OU another trip to Arlington. Can an expanded roster of programs shut the bullies out one last time, or will Bevo and Boomer leave a special parting gift for their future, former cohorts?
The SEC: Can Enough Teams Hang On?
Ultimately, there's only one team history will laud forevermore ... the lone winner. Right now, the trophy's collecting dust in Athens, GA. The Bulldogs started a clear No. 1 team, and the two-time defending champs have passed all of the tests put in front of them. The same can't be said for the rest of the conference.
LSU may have been the second option to make a title run. The Bayou Bengals lost in Week 1 to Florida State. Alabama was probably the next in line to grab the title back from their league rival. The Tide lost in Week 2 against Texas. And in the battle between conference programs and the dissolving Pac-12, the SEC went 2-1 ... and they were very fortunate to win any of those matchups. Now, they're starting to beat each other up. Dark horses Tennessee and Ole Miss already have a league loss. No SEC West member is undefeated at this point, and if Georgia can't hold on to a "0" in the loss column, this season may be a lost one for the best league in the sport.
The Big Ten: Adding More Weight to the Seesaw
Let's be frank. The most recent adjustment of the Midwest's power conference has been a failure. Over the decades, two schools have carried the flag for the gridiron programs. With Ohio State and Michigan being on one side of the conference's geographical line, the East division has retained most of the clout. Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, and the rest of the West have rarely held up their end of the bargain. That may change starting next year.
In this week's Associated Press poll, the East's power brokers (UM, OSU, and Penn State) are ranked 2nd, 4th, and 6th in the country (respectively). Next in line ... that would be three of the schools scheduled to join the conference before next Labor Day. Washington is 7th, USC stands 8th, and Oregon comes in 9th. Outside of the Trojans, there isn't a ton of championship pedigree moving into the Big Ten. But what matters is now. Even though the East/West separation will disappear with the new lineup, the illusion that the wealth is more spread out should help the optics of the league's core being stronger.
The Pac-12: A Championship Sendoff?
The story from the offseason was the pending breakup of this 100-plus years-old conglomeration. The story of the first trimester of the season has been Coach Prime's job elevating Colorado's horrible, really bad, no-good program. Maybe the story in a few months will be one of these coaches hoisting the national championship trophy. Going into last Saturday's slate, eight teams were ranked in the AP's top 25. With conference play kicking into high gear, six of them faced off against one another. The resulting carnage sent the Buffaloes and UCLA back to Receiving Votes status.
That will continue to happen throughout the next months. The key is, can the top of the scrum avoid multiple losses while trying to keep the committee impressed? The non-conference wins seem solid enough right now. Let's find out if any of the schools can bring one last gridiron crown to the Conference of Champions.
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