Ranking conferences is an inexact science, but I rank them every year and it is based on many different components. My first blog (Toughest Conf Part I) I took a look at the large amount of games played versus the FCS each year and how I do not count those in my records for non-conference games, unless a team lost to an FCS foe and that happened seven times last year. My second blog (Toughest Conf Part II) focused on how teams fared in non-conference games versus other FBS foes and then narrowed down even further to how each conference fared versus non-conference Power Five foes. Blog three (Toughest Conf Part III) dealt with the number of players each team will send to the NFL this year. Blog number four (Toughest Conf Part IV) dealt with how conferences fared in the postseason. This final blog will at how many teams each conference had ranked at the end of last year when the dust settled. I will then reveal my final rankings for the toughest conferences of 2018.

Clemson defeated Alabama for the national title and grabbed the number one spot in the AP poll. If the battle was close between the conferences, then that could be the deciding factor. This year it was not a deciding factor. The Final AP poll overall is a factor so let me show you last years final AP poll first.

My grading system is pretty easy for this category. I award 10 points for every team that a league had finish in the Top 10 and 5 points for every team that a league had finished ranked 11-25.

Here is how the conferences ranked using this method.

Now it is time for the final results. Over the five blogs I have given you all of the criteria that goes into my final ranking for the leagues for each season. The good news this year is that there is no real controversy at the top as if you read each blog, you could probably tell me #1 conference and #2 conference without even looking. Also, there was no real question this year with the very bottom.

Here are my toughest conference rankings for 2018.