This is shaping up to be an incredibly important season in both the Big 12 and the ACC. College football has become a conference arms race and despite nominally being Power Four conferences, they are most emphatically not among the Big Two conferences. Both leagues have done enough to not become the next Pac-12 so far, but it’s going to take more than cherrypicking schools from around the country to join in order to stay relevant.
While not a cure-all, one sure fire way to stay in the mix is by having a conference member win the national championship. And while both the Big 12 and the ACC have had teams in the mix, neither has brought home the trophy in a long time. It’s been eight years since Clemson last won a championship for the ACC. It’s been 21 years since a Big 12 team has won a championship, and 36 years since a team that’s still in the Big 12 was crowned champion. But this year both conferences have schools that can pull it off. The first step will likely be winning the conference title.
Who will win the ACC?
The ACC came remarkably close to winning a national championship last season, despite the conferences best efforts, with upstart Miami falling just short against powerhouse Indiana (that still feels so weird to put in print). Even with the conference bumbling through the ACC championship game, which resulted in Miami being the conference’s lone representative despite not participating in the title game, the ACC showed how strong it could be.
This season will at least start off feeling remarkably similar to last. Most of the hope for the ACC rests squarely on the backs of Miami. But the likes of Louisville, SMU, Clemson, Pitt, and Virginia have proven they can jump up and really make a run out of it.
Who will win the Big 12 championship?
The Big 12 finds itself in a slightly different position. Last season there was genuine interest in what was happening with the league. Two teams entered the conference title game last year with only one loss. For BYU, it’s lone loss came to its title game opponent Texas Tech. After Tech beat BYU again, there was legitimate consideration that the Red Raiders could win it all. But everything fell apart quickly in the first game of the CFP, when TTU lost to Oregon at home in blowout fashion. Then, to add insult to injury, Texas Tech became the NCAA punching bag in the Brendan Sorsby ordeal.
Texas Tech is again the favorite to win the Big 12, with BYU right behind. The rest of the league firmly remains in play in a conference that is well known for beating itself up with almost no concept of who is better than the rest in the middle of the pack.
Be on the lookout later this week for results to these surveys and the rest of the Reacts polls from this week.