Skip to main content
Volleyball On SI

P4 Conference Races Heat Up Down the Stretch

Nebraska, Florida clinch share of the Big Ten and SEC regular season titles while Big 12 and ACC teams battle in final weeks
Lincoln Arneal|
Nebraska earned a share of the Big Ten title in a win on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026.
Nebraska earned a share of the Big Ten title in a win on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. | Nebraska Athletics

It’s winning time for volleyball teams. 

Now with the calendar flipped to November, the conference races wind down to the final three weeks. Two teams have already clinched at least a share of the league title, but no one has an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament locked up yet. 

Here’s what teams in the Power 4 conferences have at stake in the final weeks of the race for conference crowns and seeding in league tournaments. 

Big Ten

Nebraska clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title on Sunday with a sweep of No. 18 Washington. The Huskers got an assist earlier in the day when Penn State pulled out a five-set win over Wisconsin in Madison. 

NU can win its fourth straight league championship outright with a win over Illinois, Iowa or Minnesota. Doing so would also lock up the No. 1 seed in the inaugural Big Ten Tournament in Fishers, Indiana. 

The race for the second seed is a bit more contested. Penn State, Wisconsin and Oregon are all tied at 11-3. Penn State, which has matches remaining against Maryland, Illinois and Rutgers, has the inside track because of their head-to-head wins over the other two teams. 

Wisconsin faces Rutgers, Ohio State and Northwestern, and would have the tiebreaker over Oregon, which plays USC, UCLA and Washington. 

The 5-9 seeds receive a single bye in the tournament. Washington, Purdue, Minnesota and Illinois are well-positioned to get the first day off at 9-3. The last bye will likely come from the three teams at 7-7: Michigan State, Indiana and UCLA. Michigan will need some help at 6-8. 

Drama also exists at the bottom of the standings. With only 15 teams making the field, three team will see their season end early. Northwestern (0-14) is already eliminated. 

Maryland and Rutgers are currently tied for 15th at 3-11 and play each other on Friday, which means it will take at least four league wins to make the field. Iowa needs to win two of its remaining matches. Fortunately, the Hawkeyes play Northwestern, but they would also need to upset Illinois or Nebraska. 

Ohio State and USC are above the cut zone at 4-10, but likely need one more win to stay out of any tiebreakers. The Buckeyes close with Maryland, while USC has a tougher path with three games left against their fellow West Coast Big Ten teams. 

SEC

Florida (12-1) essentially locked up the conference title by mid-October, going 5-1 against Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, and Texas. The Gators have handled their business against the bottom half of the league. They can win the title outright by beating either Mississippi State (7-6) or Alabama (1-12). 

Kentucky and Vanderbilt have the inside track to the double bye at 10-3. The Wildcats face South Carolina (2-11) and Georgia (7-6), while Vandy plays Arkansas and Oklahoma (both 5-8).

The fourth double bye will likely come down to 9-3 Tennessee (also facing South Carolina and Georgia) and Texas, which plays Ole Miss (2-11) and LSU (6-7). Texas has the tiebreaker with a five-set win over the Lady Vols on Sept. 25. The other team will get a single bye. 

Missouri (8-5) is in sixth place and is also in position to earn another bye. The final two spots will come out of the 7-6 trio of Georgia, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Should they slip up, LSU is one game back. 

Big 12

Now we move to the two power conferences that don’t have conference tournaments. In the Big 12, only four teams have a shot at the title, but they are all chasing BYU. 

The Cougars (12-0) are two games up in the loss column on Arizona State and Kansas, who are both 11-2. BYU still has six matches remaining, with the toughest tests coming at No. 23 Baylor on Thursday and the season finale on Nov. 27 against No. 17 TCU. Of its six remaining matches, four are in Provo, where the Cougars haven’t lost this season. They still have a cross-country away match at UCF on Nov. 25. 

Arizona State and Kansas have similar paths, as they both also play TCU and Baylor. The difference is that the Sun Devils go to Texas for those matches, while KU hosts them in Lawrence. Then the two teams meet in Tempe for the regular -season finale. Catching BYU is only possible if one of them stays clean through the final three weeks. 

TCU is on the fringes at 9-3 and will need to knock off the three teams ahead of it in the standings and get some more help to have any shot. 

ACC

Now for the fun one. 

Louisville leads the way at 14-0 with six matches remaining. Pitt is one game back, while SMU is 12-2. The Cardinals have the most control over their future, but also the most difficult final month. 

The U of L starts with a trip to Dallas to play the Mustangs on Thursday before taking on Pitt on Sunday. Louisville also plays North Carolina (11-3) and the Mustangs again in the final week. 

Pitt also controls its destiny and will make a quick trip to California to face No. 24 Stanford on Thanksgiving. SMU will need help from the Panthers and knock off Pitt twice to earn any part of the ACC title. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google
Published | Modified
Lincoln Arneal
LINCOLN ARNEAL

Lincoln Arneal has covered Nebraska volleyball for more than two decades and posts on social media about the Big Ten and national volleyball stories. He previously covered the program for Huskers Illustrated and the Omaha World-Herald and is a frequent guest on local and national sports talk shows and podcasts. Lincoln hosts the Volleyball State Podcast with Jeff Sheldon.

Share on XFollow Lincoln_VB
Home/College