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Big 12 maintains narrow lead over SEC

The ESPN Stats & Information crew has released the latest conference rankings after three weeks of football.

The SEC gained a little ground, but the Big 12 remained No. 1 in both the computer and human polls.

That's a little surprising, considering the Big 12 went undefeated out of conference play and added a sixth team to the media poll in Oklahoma State.

Here's what Sharon Katz had to say about the Big 12's performance so far:

The Big 12 continued its dominance in non-conference games this week, winning all seven of its games outside of the conference on Saturday. Overall the Big 12 is 22-2 in non-conference games, the best record of any conference in the FBS.

The majority of the Big 12’s non-conference victories have come against non-AQ opponents, though. Of the Big 12’s 24 non-conference games, only four have been against AQ opponents (3-1 in those games). This mild schedule is one reason why eight of 10 teams are currently undefeated and nine teams received at least one vote in the AP Poll.

Agreed on all counts. Outside of Kansas' loss to Rice and Oklahoma State's slip-up out in Arizona, the Big 12's taken care of business ... and done so against inferior competition. Still, 22-2 is 22-2.

The Big 12 leads the SEC by just 2.3 points, but is 10.1 points ahead of the Pac-12, which also gained a little ground on the Big 12 this week.

ESPN Stats & Information College Football Conference Power Rankings