2013 NCAA FBS Rankings: Week 6

We're through five weeks of the college football slate, where supposedly, "Every game counts." So far, for 20 of these teams, these games have really "counted" as they are the elite group that have run the table. Four each are in the ACC and Pac-12, and three apiece reside in the Big 12 and Big Ten. With this many unbeatens, it's still too soon to really start putting together a prospective playoff bracket. While I'm continuing to keep track of the Road-Home Disparity Index listed in my opening post, even that is still a bit premature with no one having played half their slate yet, but it's something I've kept track of. And yes, there are a lot of teams with heavy imbalances towards home games, though a couple of the mid-major conferences are actually in the positive rankings with all the road trips so far.

At this point, I would expect a lot to change in the weekly rankings though with conference play really starting to pick up, but I'm here to chart any changes that do happen, and there are always a few. So below are the updated rankings factoring in the upcoming week's games. For reference, you can view last week's rankings here.


1. Conference USA (0.00, 6.57; LW: 1). Lots of conference games and byes this time around, so no change.
2. Sun Belt (0.38, 5.88; LW: 3). Georgia State visits Alabama. Definite boost for the Sun Belt, even if it means doom for Georgia State. 
3. MAC (0.23, 5.77; LW: 2). Ball State visits Virginia. Inherently, since the conferences had the exact same non-conference schedule this week, the flip isn't entirely fair, but such is what happens when you have a smaller conference: fewer numbers to average in. Simple math. 
4. Mountain West (0.50, 5.08; LW: 5). Must be a partnership week with some of the independents. Air Force and Fresno State visit indy schools, while Utah State and New Mexico host some. 
5. American Athletic (0.00, 4.90; LW: 4). Nothing out of conference this week.
6. Big Ten (0.00, 4.00; LW: 6). All B1G play this week.
7. SEC (0.07, 3.50; LW: 7). A minimal increase with Bama hosting Georgia State. Does anyone else see this as patently unfair, or is that my bias against the system?
8. Pac-12 (0.08, 3.08; LW: 8). Arizona State gets a neutral site game with Notre Dame. Gives them a little cushion still from the bottom two conferences.
9. ACC (0.14, 2.79, LW: 9). Boston College hosts Army and Virginia gets Ball State. A couple tiny gains, but nothing susbstantial.
10. Big 12 (0.00, 2.60; LW: 10). They're staying internal this week.

At this point, any gains we see from conferences are going to be minimal, depending on where the independent schools end up, though I'm also keeping my eyes open for that BS the SEC pulls where they throw the cupcakes in at the end to artificially inflate their rankings in the polls (and a quick glance says they disgrace my birthday with this nonsense). These games will kick off tomorrow, as well Week 5's NFL picks, which should be available over on SSLYAR this week.