Which teams are bowl eligible?

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Now that we are well into the midst of the conference schedules, it’s time to take an updated look atJeff’s Sagarin’s Conference ratings .

The following are updated through October 27, 2008:

1 BIG 12 (78.18)
2 BIG TEN (77.24)
3 ATLANTIC COAST (76.97)
4 SOUTHEASTERN (76.54)
5 PAC-10 (74.33)
6 BIG EAST (73.44)
7 MOUNTAIN WEST (70.27)
8 I-A INDEPENDENTS (67.33)
9 WESTERN ATHLETIC (65.57)
10 MID-AMERICAN (65.18)
11 CONFERENCE USA (63.31)
12 SUN BELT (61.11)

A find a couple facets of the current rankings rather fascinating:

- The SEC is the fourth best conference, top-to-bottom? Seriously? The SEC is 20-7 out-of-conference against DI-A teams this year. Granted, three of those seven losses are to the ACC, but… the ACC returned the favor in losing three to the SEC. Sagarin has three SEC teams in his top ten, but the ACC gets the slight nod when you contrast the middle and bottom of each conference, which makes sense when you consider that there are… like… forty-seven teams tied for first in the ACC.

- Is another non-BCS blowout in the offing? Cinderella teams from the WAC (Boise State), Mountain West (Utah, TCU), MAC (Ball State), and C-USA (Tulsa) are all looking to qualify into a BCS bowl this year. Sagarin’s ratings would seem to indicate that their resumes might be lacking if and when they get to the big stage.

- The BCS conferences are head-and-shoulders above the non-BCS conferences. The separation between the Big East and Mountain West is statically significant, and I don’t think we’ve seen any rankings that dispute that designation in the last four years.

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Citingreports from Rivals site Soonerscoop.com ,The Stateis reporting thatOklahoma DC Brent Venables has interviewed for the vacant Clemson head football position .

According to reports by a pair of Rivals.com team sites, Phillips met with Venables about the Tigers’ coaching vacancy on Tuesday. Phillips was spotted arriving at an Oklahoma City airport after 5 p.m., and flight records indicated Clemsons plane was scheduled to leave Oklahoma City later in Monday night.

Venables was on Clemson AD Terry Don Phillips’s radar last season when it was unclear if former coach Tommy Bowden may be leaving for the Arkansas opening. Venables is a K-State alum and thought to be very high on the list to replace Ron Prince, which may have prompted Clemson to reach out to the Sooners DC before the end of the season.

While he would be a key loss for OU, Venables has Bob Stoops support to interview.

“I’d put my guys in front of anybody,” Stoops said. “My guys are open to everybody in the country. I think that’s pretty obvious. I’ve had quite a few go on (to become coaches).”

And Venables might not be the only Sooner in the mix. Oklahoma OC Kevin Wilson has told the Normon newspapers that he would like to interview at Clemson, as well.

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