has it always been that way? if not, when did it shift towards the SEC and big ten? is that why the rankings used to be pretty even between the power conferences and have now become heavily big ten and sec?

one thing i’ve noticed looking at OU stuff is that OU plays 6 or more ranked teams 1/3 years this century, but it was more skewed towards the 2000s and early 2010s. however, on sagarin, the schedules were actually slightly tougher in the later 2010s and early 2020s. OU also hasn’t been ranked #1 since 2011 yet had several weeks since then where OU certainly had the resume to be #1 but would barely ranked top 5.

i wonder if the amount of voters for each conference has something to do with that.