In what has already been a weird and wild college football season, to add to it we could see new members win all four power four conferences. We are just three weeks out from possibly seeing first-year conference members Colorado, Oregon, SMU, and Texas all winning their conference championship games and becoming conference champions.
I am very aware that Colorado has been part of the Big 12 before, but considering the amount of time they spent in the Pac 12 it is a new conference for them, and with all the new members it's a completely different landscape than the first time.
Both the Big 10 and SEC are deep in tradition and there are few fans who really thought that a first-year team would come in and not only do well but win the conference. As of right now both Oregon and Texas control their own destiny by not only being in the conference championship game but to winning that game and being the automatic bid into the first 12-team playoff.
Texas of course still has some work to do with a huge game next week against Texas A&M. Oregon on the other hand has already qualified for the championship game and it would be crazy for a first-year conference member to run the table.
The other two possible first-year champs have a little more storybook feel to them with Colorado and SMU. Colorado has gone from a nice story with Prime and the players he brought with him to a legitimate contender with two possible Heisman contenders in Shedeur Sanders and two-way phenom Travis Hunter. They control their own destiny for making the Big 12 Championship game as well as the college football playoff. It's amazing what a year and time has done for this team.
SMU joined the ACC without any of the benefits, other than being part of a power conference, and is on the verge of going undefeated in the conference season. This is an SMU program that hadn't been part of a major conference before this until year since the mid-1990s, and of course like the Buffs control their own destiny by getting into the ACC championship game and automatically qualifying for the playoff. What a story it would be if the Ponies ran the table in their first ACC season.