The usual “best conference” debate hides the shape of the league. Rank each team inside its own conference, then compare the curves: elite ceiling, middle-class strength, and how hard the bottom falls away.
This visualization reads /data/cfb-ratings.json directly from Data Dawgs and uses the published dd-cfb-elo team-strength field. Teams are sorted from strongest to weakest inside each Power Four conference. The source registry currently describes this baseline as modelled, retrodictive, ungraded; it is not a current betting-market power rating or a prospective 2026 forecast. Conference summary values are calculated in the browser from the same snapshot.
Visualization concept inspired by the conference-rank comparison graphic shared by PEA Ratings / Statsowar. This is an independent Data Dawgs implementation using Data Dawgs data and interaction design.