College Football Non-Conference Power Rankings: Week 8

In the last 2 weeks, we've seen 5 teams ranked in the Top 5 go down. I love it. A little more chaos never hurt anyone. So as we look ahead at Week 8, it's finally time to start thinking about the Death to the BCS Playoffs that are going to be amazing to think about. Only 12 unbeatens remain, and since the Big East and SEC have half of those, that number will go down. Part of me still hopes that we'll have more than two unbeatens left when all is said and done, if for no other reason than to keep poking holes in the dying BCS.

So before we get going with a playoff preview, here's how the conferences' scheduling checks out going into Week 8 of the season.

1. WAC (6.43): Everyone is either in-conference or off this week, so no change at the top.
2. Conference-USA (6.42): Also no out of conference tilts this week. These are becoming rarer and rarer.
3. Sun Belt (6.1): Middle Tennessee is off to Mississippi State, which gave the conference a bit of a boost this week. Other than that, everyone is in conference or off.
4. MAC (6): Eastern Michigan hosts Army, while Buffalo and Toledo host Pitt and Cincinnati, respectively. Good scheduling this week.
5. Mountain West (5.3): No change this week with a lack of out of conference play.
6. Big East (5): Moved up a bit with Pitt and Cincy off to MAC schools. I like their willingness to hit the road for those types of games.
7. Big 10 (4.58): Indiana is off to Annapolis to face Navy. Other than that all play stays within Big 10 borders.
8. ACC (3.42): Nobody playing outside the confines of the conference this week.
9. Pac-12 (3.33): Stands pat with no out of conference games.
10. SEC (2.86): Mississippi State hosts Middle Tennessee to add a small amount to the scoring, but other than that, everyone is staying in the SEC.
11. Big XII (2.5): No one playing outside the conference means they remain in last place.

Now comes the fun part: looking at who would make the playoffs under Dan Wetzel's system. As a reminder, this is a 16 team playoff where the 11 conference champions make it along with 5 at large teams. Higher seeds host in the first 3 rounds before the national title game played at a neutral site. Bear in mind that this is with several games still to be played and something of an "if the season ended today" setup. Please also note that teams listed as "conference champions" are the teams currently with the best conference records, and for the purposes of these rankings they are given the championship bid. Obviously these spots are the most subject to change, but here's where we're at so far. A lot of the top does coincide somewhat with the BCS rankings.

1. Alabama/Florida/Mississippi State (all 6-0, SEC Champion)- Three-way tie here that will be broken depending on who comes out of the SEC title game alive... also assuming said winner survives the season unscathed. As of right now it's hard with Bama and Mississippi State being in the same division and having yet to play. If we go by my Non-Conference scheduling score so far, Bama wins with a score of 4 (MSU has a 2, Florida a 1).
2. Oregon (6-0, Pac-12 Champion)- Hard to say on this one too with Oregon State still on the schedule yet. It then also depends on if Oregon tops Arizona State/USC or whoever comes out of the South Division. Oregon currently has a score of 3.
3. Kansas State (6-0, Big 12 Champion)- An unbeaten conference leader getting the edge here. KSU has a score of 5 to date.
4. Notre Dame (6-0, At-Large)- Tough call of where to seed these guys, but of their 6 wins, they've beaten 3 teams that were ranked at the time. Granted, both Michigan and Michigan State were probably overrated, but they've beaten the teams they've needed to. Their (skewed) out of conference score is 12, though obviously they're higher than anyone else given that they are independent.
5. Rutgers (6-0, Big East Champion)- Had to debate between these guys and the Golden Dome. Rutgers has played 3 road games to Notre Dame's 1, but nobody ranked yet. Rutgers also had a cupcake on its slate while Notre Dame has not. Rutgers' does have a score of 4 for its schedule though. There's also the matter still of unbeatens Louisville and Cincinnati, though that will be settled on the field.
6. Alabama/Florida/Mississippi State (all 6-0, At-Large)- Whoever doesn't win the SEC title, most like the loser, assuming that is their first loss. This requires some forethought to what will happen in future weeks (a crapshoot), but you can put one of these 3 teams here without a lot of problems arising.
7. Alabama/Florida/Mississippi State (all 6-0, At-Large)- Whoever is left of the 3. They'll likely also have 1 loss but not make the conference championship game. It becomes a huge mess if Alabama is this team, since it'd mean someone else in their division leapfrogged them (at this stage, either LSU or Texas A&M are the most likely suspects).
8. Iowa/Michigan (4-2, Big 10 Champion)- This one was a tough call with our 9 seed, but if Michigan is the team that comes out on top, it'll be because their 2 losses have been to Notre Dame and Alabama (both of whom are seeded higher on this list). Tough for Ohio State, who is 7-0 but ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions. This of course also assumes whoever comes out of the Legends division wins the conference. For reference, Iowa has a non-conference score of 4, while Michigan's sits at 6.
9. Maryland (4-2, ACC Champion)- Their 2 losses came to West Virginia (who just got exposed this past weekend) and UConn. It's harder to rank these guys if Iowa were to top Michigan. It's early still. Maryland does have the edge in its out of conference score at 7.
10. Oregon State (5-0, At-Large)- Again, that Civil War game looms large. But as an unbeaten to date, they should be in even with a non-conference score of 4.
11. Ohio (7-0, MAC Champion)- Granted, their best win was probably the opener at Penn State and they haven't played a major conference team since then, sitting at a non-conference score of 5.  They still beat everyone on their schedule however, and that deserves credit to this point.
12. Louisville (6-0, At-Large)- Gets the wholesale nod over Cincy (5-0) based on that one extra game so far. This will even out, but it's another case of "You beat the teams on your schedule, you get in." It also helps that Louisville's non-conference score of 7 beats Cincy's 2.
13. Nevada (6-1, MWC Champion)- Had to break a tie here. Lost to South Florida in their 2nd game and haven't looked back since. Also had that opening win at Cal. Their non-conference score is 5, which is important because...
14. Tulsa (6-1, C-USA Champion)- Lost the opener against Iowa State and has since run off 6 straight wins. They take the 14th spot because of their lower non-conference score of 3.
15. Western Kentucky (5-1, Sun Belt Champion)- Got beat by Alabama, and have taken on all other comers. In future rankings this loss might put them a little higher in the seeding, but for now it keeps them above water. A non-conference score of 6 also helps.
16. Utah State (5-2, WAC Champion)- Remember, 5-1 Texas-San Antonio is ineligible for the Death to the BCS Playoffs (but not postseason play, i.e. a bowl game) due to poor scheduling. But the Aggies' 2 losses came by a combined 5 points at the hands of BYU and Wisconsin. Not terrible. They need to watch this honor though with (likely to fall from the Top 25) Louisiana Tech having yet to begin WAC play. Utah State holds a non-conference score of 9, which is really good until you see Louisiana Tech's 12. That could loom large...

Obviously, I am open to suggestion and criticism regarding the playoff teams as well as seeding. The format stays: win your conference and you're automatically in, therefore adding a good semblance of meaning to the regular season for everybody, not just the big schools the mainstream sports media deems important. I did, however leave out unbeaten Louisville, which was a tough omission since I believe if you run the table you should be able to play for a national title. But if you think an at-large team that didn't get in deserves a shot over a team I put in or one team got a bad seed, feel free to let me know either in the comments section below or on Twitter. While I like being an executive decision maker, one person should not have the power to be a gatekeeper for something like this. I'd like to see my knowledgeable friends and readers to have a little input here if there's a compelling argument.

The body of work for determining postseason participants is nowhere near complete, so these rankings are definitely bound to change in next week's rendition. I look forward to more college football chaos and a chance to rebuild the playoff picture, hopefully for the better.