Conferences · 2026 Season

The sport gets more interesting when leagues have identity.

Every league has its own shape — the powers at the top, the week-to-week gauntlet in the middle, and the teams quietly setting the pace. Explore all 72 conferences below.

72 Conferences
4 Divisions
11 FBS
14 FCS

Every FBS conference, by shape

Real SP+ ratings for every FBS team, plotted conference by conference. Further right = stronger conference; wider = less agreement among a conference’s own teams about how good it is. Click a conference name to open its page.

Conference power data isn't ready yet for this season — check back after a few games are in the books.

Conference spotlight

Ranked by round-robin strength (RR50): the neutral-field rating a hypothetical team would need to go .500 through that conference’s schedule.

FBS #1
SEC
SEC carries real selection-room weight with 10 teams inside the top 25 and Georgia driving a legitimate national ceiling.
RR50 +23.0
Top team Georgia
Best resume Texas
FBS #2
Big Ten
Big Ten carries real selection-room weight with 6 teams inside the top 25 and Ohio State driving a legitimate national ceiling.
RR50 +21.8
Top team Ohio State
Best resume Michigan
FBS #3
Pac-12
Pac-12 reads like a weekly gauntlet. The middle of the league is strong enough that contenders do not get many breathers.
RR50 +20.0
Top team Boise State
Best resume Boise State
FBS #4
Big 12
Big 12 carries real selection-room weight with 5 teams inside the top 25 and Texas Tech driving a legitimate national ceiling.
RR50 +20.0
Top team Texas Tech
Best resume Texas Tech
FBS #5
ACC
ACC looks stronger on team quality than on season resume, which makes it a dangerous future-facing league.
RR50 +19.4
Top team Miami
Best resume Duke
FBS #6
American Athletic
American Athletic is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.
RR50 +17.6
Top team UTSA
Best resume South Florida
FBS #7
Sun Belt
Sun Belt is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.
RR50 +17.2
Top team Louisiana
Best resume James Madison
FBS #8
Conference USA
Conference USA is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.
RR50 +16.7
Top team Delaware
Best resume Middle Tennessee
FBS #9
Mid-American
Mid-American is more top-heavy than deep. Western Michigan gives the league punch, but the middle tier falls away faster than the top leagues.
RR50 +16.2
Top team Western Michigan
Best resume Massachusetts
FBS #10
Mountain West
Mountain West is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.
RR50 +16.1
Top team North Dakota State
Best resume North Dakota State
FCS #11
MVFC
MVFC is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.
RR50 +11.9
Top team Illinois State
Best resume Illinois State
FCS #12
Big Sky
Big Sky is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.
RR50 +10.7
Top team Montana State
Best resume Idaho State
Power curve
The full-page version, with the takeaway spelled out
The same ridgeline chart above, standalone — plus the numbers behind the gap between the strongest and weakest conference.
Style fingerprints
Every conference has a personality
Six play-style dimensions mapped across all 11 FBS conferences. Click any card to see who they really are.
Identity map
134 teams, one map of how they play
A style scatter across every FBS team, with an outlier board and a style-twin finder.
Head to head
The math doesn’t care about reputation
Pick two conferences. Win probability from SP+ distributions — not narratives, not recruiting stars.
Power × parity
Two axes. Every conference. Where do they live?
Median power vs. internal spread. The scatter that reveals what raw rankings hide.

All conferences

Sorted by RR50 strength within each division. Very small affiliations are lightly regressed toward their subdivision baseline so one-team groups do not break the board.

RR50
Round-robin rating — points a typical team would win or lose by against a neutral average opponent, simulated across a full league schedule. Higher is stronger.
Upper str
Upper strength — the rating of the conference’s top tier, so you can see how good its best teams really are.
Median
The middle team’s rating — how strong the league stays once you get past the contenders.
Resume pulse
A 0–100 score for quality wins and schedule strength accumulated across the conference.
Conference Teams RR50 Upper str Median Resume pulse Top team
FBS · Football Bowl Subdivision
SEC 16
4.99
9.05 5.63 87.8 Georgia
Big Ten 18
3.84
8.39 4.58 77.5 Ohio State
FBS Independents 2
2.53
8.57 2.32 80.3 Notre Dame
Pac-12 8
2.02
4.62 1.74 57.7 Boise State
Big 12 16
2.01
6.80 2.64 85.1 Texas Tech
ACC 17
1.44
5.52 1.50 73.3 Miami
American Athletic 14
-0.41
3.28 -0.74 72.4 UTSA
Sun Belt 14
-0.80
2.68 -0.69 63.0 Louisiana
Conference USA 10
-1.34
2.09 -1.95 58.3 Delaware
Mid-American 13
-1.83
2.31 -3.35 45.2 Western Michigan
Mountain West 10
-1.86
1.41 -1.94 58.2 North Dakota State
FCS · Football Championship Subdivision
MVFC 9
-6.15
-3.59 -6.11 61.4 Illinois State
Big Sky 13
-7.26
-4.40 -7.34 56.9 Montana State
UAC 8
-7.32
-4.40 -7.74 49.3 Tarleton State
Southland 10
-7.42
-4.80 -7.36 53.2 Stephen F. Austin
MEAC 6
-7.91
-5.71 -8.22 57.9 South Carolina State
SWAC 12
-8.06
-5.84 -8.34 42.0 Jackson State
OVC 8
-8.20
-6.88 -8.12 47.6 Gardner-Webb
Southern 10
-8.24
-6.23 -7.89 43.2 Tennessee Tech
Coastal Athletic 13
-8.32
-6.29 -8.17 42.3 Rhode Island
Patriot 10
-8.61
-6.58 -8.92 41.2 Lehigh
FCS Independents 2
-8.69
-6.68 -8.77 29.5 Merrimack
Pioneer 11
-9.24
-7.44 -9.43 27.4 Butler
NEC 8
-9.41
-7.69 -9.38 26.9 Central Connecticut
Ivy 8
-9.56
-8.19 -9.76 72.6 Harvard
DII · Division II
Gulf South 3
-20.38
-18.34 -20.94 41.3 Valdosta State
GLIAC 8
-20.79
-18.10 -20.55 57.0 Ferris State
Independent DII 1
-20.80
-19.37 -20.74 75.6 Northeastern State
South Atlantic 10
-20.83
-19.12 -20.42 54.4 Carson Newman
Mid America 10
-21.01
-19.85 -20.63 48.6 Central Oklahoma
Northern Sun 14
-21.24
-19.96 -21.04 46.1 Minnesota State
Rocky Mountain 10
-21.29
-19.52 -20.96 46.9 CSU Pueblo
SIAC 13
-21.30
-19.41 -21.36 50.9 Edward Waters
Great Midwest Athletic 10
-21.48
-20.16 -21.20 53.5 Findlay
Lone Star 10
-21.57
-19.23 -21.60 35.9 Western Oregon
Great Lakes 9
-21.62
-20.06 -22.14 33.0 Indianapolis
Great American 12
-21.80
-20.38 -21.88 41.9 Harding
Pennsylvania State Athletic 15
-21.86
-20.49 -21.86 52.7 Kutztown
CIAA 11
-22.04
-20.04 -21.86 34.5 Virginia State
Northeast 10 8
-22.05
-20.49 -22.00 41.4 Franklin Pierce
Carolinas 7
-22.28
-20.62 -21.72 47.8 UNC Pembroke
Mountain East 9
-22.48
-21.27 -22.25 39.0 Charleston (WV)
DIII · Division III
Wisconsin 8
-29.95
-27.84 -30.06 67.0 Wisconsin Whitewater
American Southwest 5
-30.23
-28.56 -30.60 71.8 Hardin Simmons
USA South 9
-31.20
-29.42 -31.18 40.0 LaGrange
Old Dominion 7
-31.45
-29.92 -31.05 33.3 Randolph Macon
Southern Athletic 8
-31.47
-29.85 -31.60 46.7 Berry
Centennial 7
-31.62
-30.25 -31.44 55.8 Johns Hopkins
Minnesota 10
-31.67
-29.87 -31.99 39.4 Bethel (MN)
Michigan 8
-31.68
-30.21 -31.54 50.5 Hope
American Rivers 8
-31.68
-30.25 -32.13 33.6 Wartburg
Northwest 8
-31.68
-29.67 -31.76 43.6 Whitworth
Presidents' 13
-31.70
-28.94 -32.28 43.1 Saint Francis
North Coast 9
-31.73
-30.35 -31.49 40.4 DePauw
CCIW 9
-31.75
-29.97 -31.83 47.6 North Central College
NEWMAC 8
-31.79
-30.25 -31.86 56.7 MIT
Commonwealth Coast 7
-31.80
-29.86 -31.58 20.5 Endicott
Ohio 10
-31.81
-30.42 -31.64 49.8 John Carroll
So. Cal. 8
-31.89
-30.57 -32.24 39.1 Whittier
Liberty League 7
-32.03
-30.79 -31.76 29.6 Ithaca
Empire 8 9
-32.10
-30.71 -32.26 52.1 SUNY Cortland
New Jersey 8
-32.18
-30.73 -32.41 48.4 Salisbury
Landmark Conference 7
-32.18
-30.52 -32.71 33.2 Susquehanna
NACC 9
-32.27
-31.10 -32.17 44.3 Aurora
Mid Atlantic 10
-32.27
-31.31 -32.30 39.3 Delaware Valley
Southern Collegiate Athletic 5
-32.29
-30.74 -32.13 22.8 Texas Lutheran
Independent DIII 2
-32.30
-31.06 -32.49 3.8 Apprentice School
NESCAC 10
-32.34
-31.49 -32.45 45.2 Trinity (CT)
MSCAC 9
-32.39
-31.16 -32.51 51.1 Bridgewater State
Heartland 7
-32.46
-30.65 -32.50 45.6 Hanover
Midwest 11
-32.56
-31.10 -32.58 33.9 Lake Forest
Upper Midwest 6
-32.75
-31.81 -32.79 22.5 Minnesota Morris