<p>I’d say:</p>
<li>Pac-10 (Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, USC, UWashington)</li>
<li>ACC (Maryland, Virginia, Boston College, Duke, North Carolina, Georgia Tech)</li>
<li>Big 10 (Northwestern, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue)</li>
</ol>
<p>And if we go into lower divisions the Ivy League and some of the LAC conferences would be higher.</p>
<p>Duke should definitely be ahead in the ACC.</p>
<ol>
<li>Big 10 (Northwestern, Michigan, Illinois, Penn State, Purdue, Ohio State)</li>
<li>ACC (Duke, Virginia, NC, Ga Tech, BC, Maryland)</li>
<li>Pac 10 (Other than the 4 Cali schools, and sort of UW, the rest of the conference isn't too stellar, Big 10 and ACC are much more balanced).</li>
<li>Big East (gets a cop out since Notre Dame is a member of the Big East for basketball and baseball, Georgetown is in with basketball, Villanova and Pitt are decent, West Virginia is too (just kidding!))</li>
<li>SEC (Vanderbilt and sorta Florida's combined weight is barely enough to overcome the inadequacies of every other school in the conference)</li>
<li>Big 12 (Texas and A&M aren't enough to overcome Vandy and Florida)</li>
<li>C-USA (Rice is the only worthwhile school, Tulsa isn't too bad)</li>
<li>WAC, MAC, MWC, SunBelt (it doesn't matter, name one top school from these conferences)</li>
</ol>
<p>Obviously Ivy League is at tops, but they don't actually play legitimate teams, while it is entertaining to watch Penn/Princeton's offense in March Madness attempt to lull the opposing defense to sleep.</p>
<p>Hesterrr, to give the OP credit I'm sure he/she wasn't ranking the schools in order, just listing off well known schools in random order.</p>
<p>Wisconsin not mentioned? Just a very slight step below Michigan.</p>
<p>We've had threads on this before. Anyways, based on the 6 BCS conferences:</p>
<ol>
<li>ACC</li>
<li>Big 10</li>
<li>Pac 10</li>
<li>Big East</li>
<li>SEC</li>
<li>Big 12</li>
</ol>
<p>There's a big gap between three and four. ACC and Big 10 are close, but the back end of the ACC (NC State, etc.) > the back end of the Big 10 (Mich. St, etc.) > the back end of the Pac-10 (Arizona State, etc.)</p>
<p>I'd put the big ten at the top because EVERY big ten school is a very good school, whereas the ACC is good at the top but the bottom end is meh. </p>
<p>ACC and Pac Ten are close, but I would put the acc on top because UVA/Duke/UNC/BC are comparable to Cal/UCLA/USC/Stanford, and the rest of the Pac Ten (besides UWash) is not as good as the rest of the ACC. </p>
<p>Then I'd say Big East, SEC, Big 12</p>
<p>^ Every Big Ten school is ranked ahead of the ACC's NC State (#83) and Florida State (#102) in the US News rankings, and the ACC's Virginia Tech (#71) is tied with the Big Ten bottom-dwellers Michigan State (#71) and Indiana (#71). So it's just not true that the bottom of the ACC is stronger than the bottom of the Big Ten---not by a long shot. It's very close overall, but top to bottom I'd give an edge to the Big Ten which is decidedly stronger at the bottom than the ACC.</p>
<ol>
<li>Ivy League</li>
<li>NESCAC (Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, Williams)</li>
<li>Big Ten</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Ivy League</li>
<li>NESCAC (Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, Williams)</li>
<li>Big Ten</li>
</ol>
<p>Well if we're talking about the top 50, I just made some quick notes and it looks like the Pac-10, Big 10, and ACC are tied with 5 each. </p>
<p>However, I would give the Pac-10 the edge because it has the highest ranked school overall, highest ranked private (Stanford), and the highest ranked public (Cal).</p>
<p>^ Sounds logical to me... ;) :D</p>
<p>Big 10 should probably be second because I forgot about WI-Madison, MN-Twin Cities, and IL-Urbana-Champaign.</p>
<p>ACC - Average USNWR Ranking = 48.25 (BC 34, Clemson 61, Duke 8, UNC 30, Wake Forest 28, NC State 83, Florida State 102, Virginia 23, Virginia Tech 71, Miami 51, Maryland 53, Georgia Tech 35)</p>
<p>BIG 10 - Average USNWR Ranking = 50.1 (Michigan 26, Ohio State 56, Michigan St. 71, Illinois 40, Indiana 71, Iowa 66, Minnesota 61, Northwestern 12, Penn State 47, Purdue 66, Wisconsin 35)</p>
<p>PAC 10 - Average USNWR Ranking = 68.9 (Stanford 4, Arizona 96, Arizona St. 121, Cal 21, Oregon 108, Oregon State 130, Washington 41, Washington State 116, Southern Cal 27, UCLA 25)</p>
<p>BIG 12 - Average USNWR Ranking = 93.75 (Texas 47, Oklahoma 108, Texas Tech 130, Oklahoma State 130, Texas A&M 64, Baylor 76, Colorado 77, Nebraska 89, Iowa State 89, Kansas 89, Missouri 96, Kansas State 130)</p>
<p>SEC - Average USNWR Ranking - 95.92 (Florida 49, Vanderbilt 18, South Carolina 108, Ole Miss 130, Auburn 96, Alabama 83, LSU 130, Kentucky 116, Mississippi St. 130, Tennessee 108, Arkansas 125, Georgia 58)</p>
<p>Oregon State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Mississippi St. are unranked (Tier 3) so I'll just use 130 for them, that is the lowest ranking of a Tier 1 school. I couldn't think of any other way to do it.</p>
<p>THE RESULTS:
1. ACC
2. BIG 10
3. PAC 10
4. BIG 12
5. SEC</p>
<p>^^ But on the other hand, Arizona (#92 US News), Oregon (#108), Washington State (#116), Arizona State (#121), and Oregon State (US News Tier 3) are true mediocrities with extremely low admissions standards (Arizona State's acceptance rate is 95%) and abysmal graduation rates (ASU's 6-year graduation rate is 56%), easily wiping out any bragging rights the Pac 10 can claim at the top end. The bottom of the Pac 10 is much weaker than the bottom of the ACC, and about on a par with the bottom of the SEC which is notorious for low academic standards.</p>
<p>Look at it by academics + # of NCAA championships (brains and brawn) and Pac-10 is miles ahead. ;)</p>
<p>^ C'mon, guys. The bottom half of the Pac 10---Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State---are, well, academically undistinguished, to put it politely. Oregon State is one of the very few BCS conference schools ranked as a "third tier" school by US News; there are none in the Big Ten or ACC. Arizona State is virtually an open-enrollment school, with a 95% acceptance rate and an abysmal 56% six-year graduation rate. These schools rank far, far below any Big Ten school academically, well below the weakest ACC schools, and about on a par with the bottom of the SEC, a conference notorious for weak academics. This much mediocrity is easily enough to wipe out any academic bragging rights generated by the top of the conference, which is impressive indeed. I'd say the Pac 10 is academically the strongest of the major football conferences in its top ranks, and among the weakest in its academic "second division," making it on average just so-so academically.</p>
<p>Very interesting thread</p>
<p>The National Collegiate Scouting Association has "power</a> rankings" that they use to rate individual schools, based on overall athletic success, academic ratings, and athlete graduation rates. Athletic success is based on all sports, not just football.</p>
<p>They don't break it down by conference, but if they did, it seems likely that Div. III NESCAC would be the highest ranked conference, since it has 5 teams in the Top 10 (including the Top 3 overall). If only Div. I schools are considered, then the Ivy League would likely be at the top, with 5 teams in the Top 10.</p>
<p>But realistically, it may not make sense to rank NESCAC, or even the Ivy League, with the Big 10 or Pac-10.</p>