It's one of the most debated topics every college football season, although the conversation should only address the order in which conferences follow the SEC.

Who's the strongest football conference as we head into the 2008 season? It's the Southeastern. I'm a Big Ten guy, but I won't let my bias blind me from the obvious. Frankly, I'm getting tired of the Big Televen vs SEC debates, because right now the Pacific 10 is a much more viable competitor. And as we head into this season, the Big XII has plenty to offer.

Here's my ranking of college football conferences before we kickoff. We'll do this each Tuesday of the regular season, when we have real results to compare. Share your rankings below.

1. SEC
Home to the defending national champions, who are likely going to take a step back this season, but LSU is still one of the nation's five most talented teams. The most talented also belongs to the Southeastern Conference in Athens, Georgia. Combined with Florida and Auburn, you have four teams that could be favored to win to compete with the best team in each of the major power conferences. Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina are hardly slouches and show the extreme depth of the preeminent collegiate football conference.

One exercise I try to keep in mind when ranking conferences is taking a couple of the middle to bottom tier teams from one and sizing it up against the other. For instance, I think Mississippi State could finish in the top three in the Big East, and have a legit shot to win the ACC's Coastal Division this year. That says it all.

2. Big XII
At the end of last season this spot belonged to the Pac-10. The departure of Dennis Dixon and DeSean Jackson moved Oregon and Cal a step back, albeit small. That's enough though for me to move the Big XII up a notch with a bevy of good teams to go with a couple national title contenders. The Pac-10 has just one viable BCS contender in USC. The Big XII offers Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas with that kind of potential, while Kansas and Texas Tech are dangerous. Teams like Nebraska and Kansas State would finish in the top half of the Pac-10.

3. Pac-10
We know what to expect from USC every year. Last year, Cal, Oregon and Arizona State were all tough competition. This year, the gap is pretty large in my mind between the Trojans and the next best team. With Nate Costa basically out for the season for the Ducks, I remain even more convinced that the Trojans will have an easy run. So how would the Ducks, Bears and Sun Devils fair against other conferences top tier? Each would compete with Clemson for the ACC title and compete favorably against Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State. However, I don't like their odds against the likes of Florida, LSU and Auburn. Maybe not even Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina.


4. Big Ten
OK, maybe my bias comes through here, but I don't think the conference is as down as most would like to believe. Despite their National Championship struggles, Ohio State is, FYI, a pretty damn good football team. Last season was supposed to be a slightly down year, while this year's Buckeyes are a more legitimate BCS contender. The biggest question, and one that will be answered during the first few weeks of the season, is how strong are the 2nd place challengers. Michigan State pays a visit to California Saturday night would which should tell us a lot. Purdue visits Oregon, Illinois takes on Missouri, and Penn State host Oregon State. All road teams will obviously be underdogs. Big Ten needs to win three of those four games to prove they've got depth to compete against the top three conferences. The conference needs Iowa and Northwestern to take step forward.

5. Big East
The margin between these final three BCS conferences is small. West Virginia remains the team to beat, but South Florida, Cincinnati, Rutgers and Pittsburgh are all strong. In fact, I'm fully aboard the Pitt bandwagon this season and think they'll compete for the title. What concerns me about the Big East is that Connecticut was a co-champion last year. That's not good. I'm admittedly always down on the Big East and with expectations low they tend to impress. Key games I'm watching early: Cincinnati at Oklahoma, Connecticut vs. Virginia, Louisville vs Kansas State, South Florida vs Kansas and Rutgers vs North Carolina.

6. ACC
Clemson is a very, very good team. On paper. Boston College and Virginia Tech take steps backward. Florida State remains shaky, but dangerous, as is Miami. Those two teams' success will define this conference. Wake Forest remains one of the most underrated teams in the country, but as a whole, besides Clemson, the top teams just don't match up with the rest of the country. Key games: Clemson vs Alabama, Wake Forest vs Ole Miss, Georgia Tech vs Mississippi State, North Carolina at Rutgers. Four wins there and I'll move the ACC up.

7. Mountain West - BYU, BYU, BYU. Utah could pull off an upset at Michigan on week 1.
8. WAC - Hawaii is down and out, but Fresno State and Boise State are always strong and much better than the top of these two conferences below.
9. Mid-American - Miami U and Central Michigan have two big games against the SEC early on.
10. Sun Belt - Troy is competitive, and on its way up as is Florida Atlantic.