Here are this week's Conference Power Rankings. The formula has substituted the AP poll for the coaches' poll, since USC isn't being ranked by the coaches' or Harris polls because of its probation. To evaluate any conference without considering all of its teams, especially one of its powers, would have been inappropriate.
Week 3 ESPN Stats and Info
Conference Power Rankings
Of note, the Big 12, Pac-10 and Big Ten are in a virtual tie behind the SEC. The Iowa loss to Arizona helped bring the Pac-10 up from fourth and brought the Big Ten down from second. One good feature of this system is that interconference results between Top 25 schools will noticeably alter ratings the following week.
The WAC is still ahead of the ACC. A few bullet points why, comparing the top slots in each conference:
• At No. 1, the Boise State Broncos have 1,333 AP voting points, while the Miami Hurricanes have 472.
• At No. 2, the Nevada Wolf Pack have more AP voting points than the Florida State Seminoles.
• At No. 3, the Fresno State Bulldogs have more AP voting points than the Clemson Tigers.
The ACC is clearly a deeper conference (as seen by their large computer rankings advantage), however, unless the ACC can get a school near the AP top 10 they will not overtake the WAC.