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.

Team position (hover for name)
Conference top team

Click a conference name to open its full page — ratings, standings, roster strength, and more.

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 8 teams inside the top 25 and Georgia driving a legitimate national ceiling.
RR50 +24.4
Top team Georgia
Best resume Kentucky
FBS #2
Big Ten
Big Ten carries real selection-room weight with 7 teams inside the top 25 and Ohio State driving a legitimate national ceiling.
RR50 +23.3
Top team Ohio State
Best resume Indiana
FBS #3
Big 12
Big 12 carries real selection-room weight with 6 teams inside the top 25 and Texas Tech driving a legitimate national ceiling.
RR50 +21.5
Top team Texas Tech
Best resume Utah
FBS #4
Pac-12
Pac-12 looks stronger on team quality than on season resume, which makes it a dangerous future-facing league.
RR50 +20.8
Top team Boise State
Best resume Boise State
FBS #5
ACC
ACC is more top-heavy than deep. Miami gives the league punch, but the middle tier falls away faster than the top leagues.
RR50 +20.5
Top team Miami
Best resume Miami
FBS #6
American Athletic
American Athletic has real upper-tier density. The top of the board raises the conference ceiling without the rest of the league completely falling away.
RR50 +18.3
Top team UTSA
Best resume UTSA
FBS #7
Sun Belt
Sun Belt is more top-heavy than deep. Louisiana gives the league punch, but the middle tier falls away faster than the top leagues.
RR50 +17.3
Top team Louisiana
Best resume Louisiana Tech
FBS #8
Mountain West
Mountain West is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.
RR50 +16.5
Top team New Mexico
Best resume New Mexico
FBS #9
Conference USA
Conference USA is more top-heavy than deep. Liberty gives the league punch, but the middle tier falls away faster than the top leagues.
RR50 +16.4
Top team Liberty
Best resume Liberty
FBS #10
Mid-American
Mid-American is more top-heavy than deep. Toledo gives the league punch, but the middle tier falls away faster than the top leagues.
RR50 +16.0
Top team Toledo
Best resume Buffalo
FCS #11
MVFC
MVFC is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.
RR50 +12.4
Top team South Dakota State
Best resume South Dakota 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 +10.9
Top team Montana State
Best resume Northern Arizona
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
6.41
10.43 7.06 90.4 Georgia
Big Ten 18
5.36
10.00 6.33 88.7 Ohio State
FBS Independents 2
3.71
9.93 3.66 89.7 Notre Dame
Big 12 16
3.52
8.07 2.58 86.0 Texas Tech
Pac-12 8
2.82
7.24 3.00 70.8 Boise State
ACC 17
2.52
7.09 2.32 74.9 Miami
American Athletic 14
0.35
3.91 0.49 74.4 UTSA
Sun Belt 14
-0.65
3.32 -1.63 64.7 Louisiana
Mountain West 10
-1.50
2.73 -1.53 66.1 New Mexico
Conference USA 10
-1.53
3.04 -2.71 60.6 Liberty
Mid-American 13
-1.95
2.48 -2.79 58.1 Toledo
FCS · Football Championship Subdivision
MVFC 9
-5.62
-2.04 -4.51 61.2 South Dakota State
Big Sky 13
-7.12
-3.31 -6.33 55.7 Montana State
UAC 8
-7.14
-3.38 -7.73 53.7 Tarleton State
Southern 10
-7.56
-4.20 -7.40 51.7 Tennessee Tech
SWAC 12
-7.98
-5.06 -7.42 40.8 Alabama A&M
Southland 10
-8.17
-3.25 -9.12 48.4 Stephen F. Austin
OVC 8
-8.31
-5.77 -8.27 48.9 Gardner-Webb
Ivy 8
-8.33
-6.04 -8.21 64.8 Harvard
MEAC 6
-8.60
-5.21 -9.22 45.0 South Carolina State
Coastal Athletic 13
-8.82
-5.69 -9.07 45.2 UAlbany
Patriot 10
-9.14
-6.01 -9.60 41.9 Lehigh
NEC 8
-9.75
-6.50 -9.83 37.1 Central Connecticut
Pioneer 11
-9.75
-6.22 -9.80 31.6 St. Thomas (MN)
FCS Independents 2
-9.76
-6.57 -9.90 19.2 Merrimack
DII · Division II
Independent DII 1
-20.45
-17.93 -20.37 83.7 Northeastern State
GLIAC 8
-20.54
-16.19 -19.57 52.5 Ferris State
Gulf South 3
-20.55
-17.85 -20.85 46.4 Valdosta State
South Atlantic 10
-20.99
-18.49 -21.47 46.7 Carson Newman
Mid America 10
-21.03
-19.06 -20.98 41.4 Northwest Missouri State
Northern Sun 14
-21.29
-18.41 -20.85 43.5 Minnesota State
Great Midwest Athletic 10
-21.40
-18.46 -20.77 49.4 Findlay
Rocky Mountain 10
-21.55
-18.05 -21.22 43.9 Western Colorado
Great American 12
-21.90
-19.55 -21.91 41.4 Harding
Pennsylvania State Athletic 15
-22.01
-19.89 -22.63 45.8 Slippery Rock
Lone Star 10
-22.04
-18.27 -21.29 38.0 Central Washington
SIAC 13
-22.31
-18.83 -22.86 44.0 Benedict
CIAA 11
-22.60
-18.77 -23.36 39.0 Virginia State
Great Lakes 9
-22.61
-19.34 -23.23 33.4 Truman State
Northeast 10 8
-22.82
-19.65 -23.07 45.3 Franklin Pierce
Mountain East 9
-22.98
-20.97 -22.68 39.4 Frostburg State
Carolinas 7
-23.33
-19.54 -23.36 42.0 UNC Pembroke
DIII · Division III
American Southwest 5
-28.57
-25.30 -29.09 66.4 Hardin Simmons
Wisconsin 8
-29.21
-26.33 -28.75 53.0 Wisconsin Whitewater
Michigan 8
-31.44
-29.11 -31.09 44.5 Calvin
Presidents' 13
-31.44
-28.87 -32.01 42.4 Washington & Jefferson
Southern Athletic 8
-31.57
-29.05 -31.50 43.4 Berry
Old Dominion 7
-31.59
-29.00 -30.81 37.9 Randolph Macon
USA South 9
-31.63
-29.26 -32.11 39.2 LaGrange
Centennial 7
-31.64
-29.28 -31.27 42.8 Dickinson
CCIW 9
-31.64
-29.02 -32.49 43.1 North Central College
Minnesota 10
-31.67
-28.74 -32.49 38.8 Saint John's (MN)
Ohio 10
-31.68
-29.36 -31.37 46.0 Mount Union
North Coast 9
-31.68
-29.41 -31.50 40.4 DePauw
Commonwealth Coast 7
-31.69
-28.75 -31.63 32.7 Endicott
American Rivers 8
-31.77
-29.03 -31.61 36.9 Wartburg
Northwest 8
-31.78
-28.81 -31.68 38.7 Linfield
NEWMAC 8
-31.81
-29.68 -31.62 50.4 Springfield
New Jersey 8
-31.90
-29.71 -31.72 50.1 Salisbury
Liberty League 7
-31.98
-29.80 -31.46 40.4 Ithaca
Empire 8 9
-32.11
-29.63 -32.46 44.6 SUNY Cortland
Mid Atlantic 10
-32.31
-30.54 -32.53 41.5 Delaware Valley
So. Cal. 8
-32.31
-29.63 -32.20 37.4 Chapman
NESCAC 10
-32.35
-30.78 -32.41 43.7 Trinity (CT)
Landmark Conference 7
-32.39
-29.89 -32.97 31.7 Susquehanna
NACC 9
-32.42
-30.29 -32.52 41.8 Aurora
MSCAC 9
-32.55
-30.74 -32.21 43.6 Bridgewater State
Heartland 7
-32.76
-29.67 -31.62 43.2 Mount St Joseph
Midwest 11
-33.00
-30.37 -33.37 36.7 Lake Forest
Independent DIII 2
-33.03
-30.84 -33.11 4.1 Apprentice School
Southern Collegiate Athletic 5
-33.13
-30.37 -33.87 23.3 Texas Lutheran
Upper Midwest 6
-33.51
-31.50 -33.60 27.4 Northwestern (MN)