College football Week 12 buzz: The best players and teams by conference

With three weeks left in the regular season, all 18 spots in the FBS conference championship games are still open. The SEC is probably the most contested race remaining, as eight teams enter Week 12 with one or two conference losses. The three teams with one SEC loss — Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M — need to win out to make it to Atlanta.

Everyone else needs to keep winning and get some help.

“It’s on to the next,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after losing to Ole Miss. “I mean, welcome to the SEC, baby. I said when the season started that it was going to be the toughest schedule we’ve ever had in the SEC with the addition of the Texas game on top of all the others we had to play.

“It’s tough, but you know what, our future’s in front of us,” he said. “We’ve got a big game next week. We’ve got to go out, and we’ve got to find a way to execute at a higher level.”

So who is the best team in the SEC?

College football insiders Heather Dinich and Adam Rittenberg have been talking to sources to find out who the best teams really are in each power conference. With two-loss Colorado still in the Big 12 mix, and two-loss Clemson hanging by a thread in the ACC, everyone is in must-win mode. Here’s a look at top teams, players, and other storylines to watch heading into Week 12:

Jump to a section:
What is the best team in each conference?
Who are the nation’s best players?
Who have been the best and worst new coaches?
Emptying the notebook

Who’s the best team in each Power 4 conference, according to coaches in that conference?

Dinich: Right now the debate in the SEC is between Texas and Tennessee, but one SEC coach told me Tennessee has the edge because it is better up front than the Longhorns.

“When Georgia went in there and beat Texas, they beat them at the line of scrimmage,” the coach said. “That caused me to question whether their line of scrimmage is going to be good enough to win this league. And they haven’t really been tested since then. When they play Texas A&M we’ll find out.”

Georgia was able to beat Texas up front, but couldn’t handle Alabama or Ole Miss. One SEC assistant coach told me the biggest difference between Alabama and Georgia is how the quarterbacks play –…