Despite Michigan being runaway No. 1, SEC still reigns supreme in annual T-U power rankings

For the first time since Trevor Lawrence quarterbacked Clemson to the 2018 national championship, college football has a king from outside the Southeastern Conference in the Michigan Wolverines.

But a perfect 15-0 season by Jim Harbaugh’s team still didn’t prevent one long-standing tradition in the 33rd annual Times-Union College Football Power Rankings: the SEC being home to the nation’s best conference.

For the 15th time in the past 17 years, the SEC had too much overall depth for the Big Ten or anybody to dethrone its place as the top league in the country.

With four teams in the top 10 of the final Associated Press poll and six in the top 25, the SEC strength below its top two schools in Georgia and Alabama enabled it to win comfortably with an average score of +11.28, well ahead of runner-up Big Ten at +1.14. That 10.14-point SEC margin of victory was similar to last year when the SEC (+13.07) outpointed the Pac-12 (+4.25).

The Pac-12 finished third this time with a –8.33 average ranking, followed by the Big 12 (9.42), ACC (-19), Conference USA (-48.77), Sun Belt (-58.07), American Athletic (-61.15), Mountain West (-64.83) and MAC (-73).

In the team rankings, there was a slight difference in the order among the top 10 teams of the T-U rankings from the AP final poll. The only significant difference was Georgia and Alabama pushed Texas down two spots from third to fifth.

While it didn’t emerge as the runaway winner by a 54-point margin like Georgia did last year, national champion Michigan cruised easily finished atop the T-U rankings with a +146 ranking. Washington, the team it beat 34-14 for the national title, was second at +129.

Jan. 8, 2024: Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy and head coach Jim Harbaugh celebrate after defeating Washington in the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship game…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/despite-michigan-being-runaway-no-024736781.html

Author : The Florida Times-Union

Publish date : 2024-01-18 02:47:36

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