Research desk · Conferences
2026 conference previews
Power 4 + Notre Dame / Independent note + two Group-of-X (AAC, Mountain West). Linked from Teams filter and Overview.
Filter Teams · Power 4 →2026-08-31
SEC 2026 conference preview
The SEC is the deepest power conference on the frozen SoT: Ole Miss #3, Texas A&M #6, Texas #8, Oklahoma #10, Auburn #13, Alabama #16. Win totals compress because everyone plays each other. This is not a CFP bracket.
2026-08-31
Big Ten 2026 conference preview
Ohio State #1 and Oregon #2 are the talent ceiling. Indiana #5 is the 2025-holdover row (Josh Hoover prior) — not a G5 inversion. USC #11 and Washington #12 keep the West side in the top 15. Penn State is #20.
2026-08-31
ACC 2026 conference preview
Miami is the ACC talent and win-total leader (power 4, E[wins] 10.15). SMU #14, Clemson #18, Louisville #21, Virginia #22, NC State #27. The ACC is where expected wins run hot relative to power.
2026-08-31
Big 12 2026 conference preview
Utah #9 is the power lead. Arizona #15, Texas Tech #17, BYU #24, TCU #28, Iowa State #30. Several Week 1 games are FCS — do not read those openers as conference information.
2026-08-31
Notre Dame / Independent 2026 note
Notre Dame is the Independent product. Power #7, E[wins] #2 (10.05). UConn remains a true Independent. The SoT Independent bucket also still contains leftover mappings (Missouri, North Texas, Toledo, New Mexico, East Carolina, and others). Those teams are filtered to their 2026 affiliation on Teams; we do not silently rewrite their power index.
2026-08-31
AAC 2026 conference preview
Group-of-X #1 in this ship: South Florida is the AAC power lead (#42) with post–Week-0 E[wins] #15 (8.38) — no longer the national 8.88=OSU trap. UTSA is #55 power / mid-pack E[wins]. Memphis and Tulane follow. This is a path conference, not a talent conference.
2026-08-31
Mountain West 2026 conference preview
Group-of-X #2: Boise State is the power lead (#47). Hawai'i #62 and UNLV #63 sit together. Hawai'i’s E[wins] (6.34) is a schedule number — power is 62nd, not inverted.