Conference Bowl Records | Syracusefan.com

Conference Bowl Records

SWC75

Bored Historian
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
34,502
Like
67,162
(This is an update of a post I first made three years ago.)

Another bowl season has been completed and people are comparing how the conferences did. I decided to make a record of conference bowl success- or the lack of it over the years. I decided to start with the year 1975, which was the first season there were no restrictions as to how many conference teams could go to a bowl. Primarily, this allowed Big 10 and Pac 10 teams to go to bowls other than the Rose Bowl and permitted meaningful assessments to be made about the relative strengths of conferences.

I did a lot of thinking, (if you could call it that) as to how to rank the conferences. If you do it by winning percentage a conference that sent one team to (probably a minor) bowl game and that team won, they would out-rank a conference that sent 6 teams to bowl game and won 5 of them. I thought of just counting the victories but then a conference that went 4-3 in bowl games would rank equally with a conference that went 4-0. How about recording the differential between the wins and losses. A conference that went 5-1 would be +4. A conference that went 1-0 would be +1. A conference that went 4-2 would be +2. A conference that went 4-3 would be +1. A conference that went 3-4 would be -1. But it still bothered me that the conference that won the single minor bowl game would rank equal to the conference that sent seven teams to bowls and won 4 of them. I thought of adding the total numbers of teams that a conference sent to bowl games to the number of wins. Now the 5-1 conference gets 11 points, the 1-0 conference gets 2 points, the 4-2 conference gets 10 points and oops- the 4-3 conference gets 11 points, more than the 4-2 conference.

I finally decided on this: add wins plus the difference between the wins and the losses. Differently stated, double the number of wins and then subtract the losses. I’ll abbreviate that as 2W – L. Game ties add one point to the total. Using that formula, the 5-1 conference now has 9 points. The 1-0 conference now has 2 points. The 4-2 conference has 6 points. The 4-3 conference has 5 points. The 3-4 conference has 2 points. That’s the same as the 1-0 conference. They have a worse record but many more teams in bowls games. That seems fair, at least as fair as we are going to get.

1975
Winner: Pac 8 2-0 = 4 points
SWC 2-1 = 3 points , MAC and WAC 1-0 = 2 points each ACC 1-1 = 1 point, SEC 1-2 = 0 points, Big 8 1-3 = -1 points Big 10 0-2 = -2 points

1976
Winner: Big 8 3-1 = 5 points
SEC 3-2 = 4 points, Big 10, Pac 8 and SWC 1-1 = 1 point, ACC and WAC 0-2 = -2 points

1977
Winner: Pac 8 3-0 = 6 points
ACC 2-2 = 2 points, SEC 1-1 = 1 point, Big 8 1-2 = 0 points, SWC 1-3 = -1 points, WAC 0-1 = -1 point, Big 10 0-3 = -3 points

1978
Winner: Pac 10 4-0-1 = 9 points
SWC 2-1-1 = 4 points, ACC 2-1 = 3 points, Big 8, Big 10 and SEC 1-2 = 0 points, WAC 0-1 = -1 point

1979
Winner: Big 8 and SEC 2-1 = 3 points
Big 10, Pac 10 and SWC 2-2 = 2 points, ACC 1-2 = 0 points, WAC 0-1 = -1 point

1980
Winner: SEC 3-1 = 5 points
Big 8 and Big 10 2-1 = 3 points each, WAC 1-0 = 2 points, SWC 2-3 = -1 point, Pac 10 0-1 = -1 point

1981
Winner: ACC 2-0 = 4 points,
Big 10, SEC and SWC 2-2 = 2 points each, MAC and WAC 1-0 = 2 points, Big 8 2-3 = 1 point, Big West 0-1 = -1 point

1982
Winner: Pac 10 3-0 = 6 points
Big 10 3-2 = 4 points, SWC 2-1 = 3 points, ACC and WAC 1-1 = 1 point, Big 8 1-2 = 0 points, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, MAC 0-1 = -1 point

1983
Winner: SWC 5-2 = 8 points
WAC 2-0 = 4 points, MAC 1-0 = 2 points, PAC 10 1-1 = 1 point, Big 8 1-2 = 0 points, Big 10 1-3 = -1 points, Big West 0-1 = -1 point, ACC 0-2 = -2 points

1984
Winner Pac 10 = 3-0 = 6 points
ACC and WAC 2-0 = 4 points, Big 8 2-1 = 3 points, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, Big 10 2-5 = -1 point, SEC 1-3 = -1 point, MAC 0-1 = -1 point SWC 1-4 = -2 points

1985
Winner: SWC 3-1 = 5 points
Pac 10 3-2 = 4 points , Big 10 3-3 = 3 points, ACC 2-1 = 3 points, SEC 2-3 = 1 points, WAC 1-1 = 1 point, Big 8 1-3 = -1 points, MAC 0-1 = -1 point, Big West 1-0 = 2 points,

1986
Winner: SEC 3-2 = 4 points
Big 8 2-1 = 3 points, Big 10 2-2 = 2 points, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, Big 8 and WAC 1-2 = 0 points, Pac 10 2-3 = 1 point, SWC 1-3 = -1 point, MAC 0-1 = -1 points

1987
Winner: SEC 3-2-1 = 5 points
Big 10 and Pac 10 3-1 = 5 points, SWC 2-1 = 3 points, ACC 2-0 = 3 points, Big 8 1-2 = 0 points, MAC 1-0 = 1 point, Big West 0-1 =- 1 point

1988
Winner: SEC 3-2 = 4 points, ACC 2-0 = 4 points
Pac 10 2-1 = 3 points,, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, Big 10 2-3 = 1 point, WAC 1-2 = 0 points, Big 8 1-3 = -1 point, MAC 0-1 = -1 points, SWC 0-2 = -2 points

1989
Winner Pac 10 = 4-0 = 8 points
SEC 3-3 = 3 points, Big 10 2-2 = 2 points, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, SWC 1-2 = 0 points, points, ACC 1-3 = -1 points, MAC 0-1 = -1 point, Big 8 0-2 = -2 points, WAC 0-3 = -3

1990
Winner: ACC 3-1-1 = 6 points
Pac 10, SEC and WAC 2-2 = 2 points, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, Big 8 and SWC 1-1 = 1 point, MAC 0-1 = -1 point, Big 10 1-4 = -2 points

1991
Winner: Pac 10 3-1 = 5 points
WAC 1-0-1 = 3 points, Big East and MAC 1-0 = 2 points, SEC 2-3 = 1 point, Big 10 1-3-1 = 0 points, , Big 8 1-2 = 0 points, ACC 1-3 = -1 points, Big West 0-2 = -2 points, SWC 0-3 = -3 points

1992
Winner: SEC 5-1 = 9 points
ACC 3-1 = 5 points, Big East 2-1 = 3 points, MAC 1-0 = 2 points, WAC 2-3 = 1 point, SWC 1-1 = 1 points, Pac 10 2-4 = 0 points, Big 8 and Big 10 1-2 = 0 points, Big West 0-1 = -1 point,

1993
Winner: Big 8 and Pac 10 3-1 5 points,
Big 10 3-3 = 3 points, Big East 2-2 = 2 points, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, ACC 2-3 = 1 point, SWC 0-2 = -2 points, MAC 0-1 =- 1 point, WAC 0-4 = -4 points,

1994
Winner: Big 10 4-1 = 7 points
ACC and SEC 3-2 = 4 points, WAC 2-1 = 3 points, Big 8 and Pac 10 2-2 = 2 points, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, Big East and SWC 1-3 = -1 points, MAC 0-1 = -1 point

1995
Winner: Big 8 4-0 = 8 points
ACC 3-1 = 4 points, Big East 2-0 = 4 points, SWC 2-2 = 2 points, SEC 2-3 = 1 point, Big 10 2-4 = 0 points, Big West 0-1 = -1 points, Pac 10 1-4 = -2 points, MAC 1-0 = 2 points, WAC 0-2 = -2 points

1996
Winner: SEC 5-0 = 10 points
Big 10 4-3 = 5 points, Big East 2-2 = 2 points, Big West 1-0 = 2 points, Big 12 2-3 = 1 point, WAC 1-1 = 1 point, ACC and Pac 10 1-3 = -1 points, C-USA and MAC 0-1 = -1 point

1997
Winner: Pac 10 and SEC 5-1 = 9 points
ACC 3-1 = 5 points, C-USA 2-0 = 4 points, Big 10 and Big 12 2-4 = 0 points, WAC 1-2 = 0 points, Big West and MAC 0-1 = -1 point, Big East 0-4 = -4 points,

1998
Winner: Big 10 5-0 = 10 points,
SEC 4-3 = 5 points, Big East and WAC 2-2 = 2 points, Big West and MAC 1-0 = 2 points, Big 12 3-5 = 1 point, ACC 2-3 = 1 point, C-USA 1-2 =0 points, Pac 10 1-4 = -2 points

1999
Winner: Big 10 5-2 = 8 points
SEC 4-4 = 4 points, Big 12 3-3 = 3 points, WAC 2-1 = 3 points, Big East 2-2 = 2 points, MAC 1-0 = 2 points, ACC 2-3 = 1 point, C-USA and MWC 1-2 = 0 points, Pac 10 1-4 = -2 points

2000
Winner: Big East 4-1 = 7 points
Big 12 4-2 = 6 points, MWC 3-0 = 6 points, Pac 10 3-2 = 4 points, SEC 4-5 = 3 points, C-USA 2-2 = 2 points, Big West and MAC 1-0 = 2 points, Big 10 2-4 = 0 points, ACC 1-4 = -2 points, WAC 0-3 = -3 points

2001
Winner: SEC 4-3 = 5 points
ACC 4-2 = 6 points, Big East 3-1 = 5 points, MAC 2-0 = 4 points, Pac 10 3-3 = 3 points, MWC 2-2 = 2 points, Big 10 2-4 = 0 points, Sun Belt 0-1 = -1 point, WAC 0-2 = -2 points

2002
Winner: Big 10 5-2 = 8 points
Big 12 5-3 = 7 points, ACC 4-3 = 5 points, Big East 3-2 = 4 points, WAC 2-1 = 3 points, SWC 3-4 = 2 points, Sun Belt 1-0 = 2 points, C-USA 2-3 = 1 point, MAC 1-1 = 1 point, Pac 10 2-5 = -1 points, MWC 0-3 = -3 points

2003
Winner: ACC 5-1 = 9 points
SEC 5-2 = 8 points, Pac 10 4-2 = 6 points, WAC 3-1 = 5 points, MAC 2-0 = 4 points, Big 10 3-5 = 1 points, Big East 2-3 = 1 points, MWC 1-2 = 0 points, C-USA 1-4 = -1 point, Sun Belt 0-1 = -1 point

2004
Winner: Big 12 4-3 = 5 points
C-USA and Pac 10 3-2 = 4 points, ACC, Big 10 and SEC 3-3 = 3 points, MWC 2-1 = 3 points, WAC 2-2 = 2 points, Big East 2-3 = 1 point, Sun Belt 0-2 = -2 points

2005
Winner: ACC and Big 12 5-3 = 7 points
Pac 10 3-2 = 4 points, C-USA and SEC 3-3 = 3 points, Big 10 3-4 = 2 points, MWC 2-2 = 2 points, Big East 1-3 = -1 point, MAC 1-1 = 1 point, WAC 1-2 = 0 points, Sun Belt 0-1 = -1 point

2006
Winner: Big East 6-1 = 11 points
ACC 4-3 = 5 points, MWC and WAC 3-1 = 5 points, ACC 3-2 = 4 points, Pac 10 3-3 = 3 points, Big 12 3-5 = 1 point, Sun Belt 1-1 = 1 point Big 10 2-5 = -1 points, MAC 1-3 = -1 point, C-USA 1-4 =-2 points

2007
Winner: SEC 7-2 = 12 points
Big 12 5-3 = 7 points, MWC 4-1 = 7 points, Pac 10 4-2 = 6 points, Big East 3-3 = 3 points, Sun Belt 1-0 = 2 points, Big 10 3-5 = 1 point, ACC 2-5 = -1 points, MAC and WAC 1-3 =-1 points

2008
Winner: SEC 6-2 = 10 points and Pac 10 5-0 = 10 points
Big East 5-1 = 9 points, Big 12, C-USA 4-3 = 5 points, MWC 3-2 = 4 points, Sun Belt 1-1 = 1 point ACC 3-6 = 0 points, WAC 1-4 = -2 points, Big 10 1-6 = -4 points, MAC 0-5 = -5 points,

2009
Winner: MWC 5-1 = 9 points
SEC 5-4 = 6 points, Big East 4-2 = 6 points, Big 10 4-3 = 5 points, Big 12 4-4 = 4 points, ACC 3-4 = 2 points, WAC 2-2 = 2 points, Pac 10 3-5 = 1 point, Sun Belt 1-1 = 1 point, C-USA and MAC 1-4 = -2 points,

2010
Winner: MWC 4-1 = 7 points
SEC 5-4 = 6 points, Big East 4-2 = 6 points, ACC 4-5 = 3 points, Sun Belt 2-1 = 3 points, MAC and WAC 2-2 = 2 points, Big 10 and Big 12 3-5 = 1 point , Pac 10 2-3 = 1 point, C-USA 2-4 = 0 points

2011
Winner: Big 12 6-2 = 10 points
SEC 6-3 = 9 points, C-USA and MAC 4-1 = 7 points, Big East 3-2 = 4 points, MWC 3-3 = 3 points, Big 10 4-6 = 2 points, Pac 12 1-5 = -3 points, WAC 0-3 = -3 points

2012
Winner: SEC 6-3 = 9 points
USA 4-1 = 7 points, ACC 4-2 = 6 points, C_USA and Sun Belt 3-1 = 5 points, Pac 12 4-4 = 4 points, Big 12 4-5 = 3 points, Big 10 2-5 = -1 point, MWC 1-4 = -2 points

2013
Winner: SEC 7-3 = 11 points
Pac 12 6-3 = 9 points, ACC 5-6 = 4 points, C-USA 4-4 = 4 points, Sun Belt 2-0 = 4 points, MWC 3-3 = 3 points, Big 12 and AAC 1-2 = 0 points, Big 10 2-5 = -1 points, MAC 0-5 = -5 points

2014
Winner: SEC 7-5 = 9 points and Pac 12 6-3 = 9 points,
Big 10 6-5 = 7 points, C-USA 4-3 = 5 points, MWC 3-4 = 2 points, AAC 2-1 = 3 points, MAC 2-3 = 1 point, Sun Belt 1-2 = 0 points, ACC 4-7 = 1 point, Big 12 2-5 =-1 points,

2015
Winner: SEC 7-2 = 12 points
Big 10, Pac 12 6-4 = 8 points, MWC 4-4 = 4 points, ACC 4-6 = 2 points, Big 12, C-USA and MAC 3-4 = 2 points, Sun Belt 2-2 = 2 points, AAC 1-4 = -2 points

Update:

2016
Winner: ACC 9-3 = 15 points
Big 12, Sun Belt 4-2 = 6 points, CUSA, MWC 4-3 = 5 points, SEC 6-7 = 5 points, Pac 12 3-3 = 3 points, AAC 2-5 = -1, Big 10 3-7 = -1, MAC 0-5 = -5

2017
Winner: Big 10 7-1 = 13 points
Big 12 5-3 = 7 points, Sun Belt 4-2 = 6 points, AAC 4-3 = 5 points, CUSA 4-4 = 4 points, SEC 5-6 = 4 points, MWC 3-3 = 3 points, ACC 4-6 = 2 points, MAC 1-4 = -2 points, Pac 12 1-8 = -6 points

2018
Winner: Big 10 6-4 and ACC 7-6 = 8 points
Big 12 5-3 = 7 points, Sun Belt 4-2 = 6 points, SEC 6-6 = 6 points, CUSA and MWC 3-2 = 4 points, Pac 12 3-5 = 1 point, AAC 2-6 = -2 points, MAC 1-5 = -3


Overall standings, (based upon points per season):

SEC
Won: 1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 (15)
169 wins 123 losses 1 tie. 169 X 2 = 338 - 123 losses =215 points plus one for the tie = 216 points divided by 44 seasons since 1975 = 4.9 points per season.

Big 12
Won: 2004, 2005, 2011 (3)
80-76-0 = 84 points in 23 seasons =3.7 per season

Pac 8/10/12
Won: 1975, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997 (9)
118-110-1= 127 points/44 seasons= 2.9 per season

Big East
Won: 2000, 2006 (2)
55-43-0 = 67 points/22 seasons = 3.0 per season

Mountain West
Won: 2009, 2010 (2)
51-47-0 = 55 points in 20 seasons = 2.8 per season

SWC
Won: 1983, 1985 (2)
29-46-1 = 59 points in 21 seasons = 2.8 per season

ACC
Won: 1981, 1988, 1990, 2003, 2005, 2016, 2018 (7)
119-121-1 = 118 points in 44 years = 2.7 per season

Big 10
Won: 1994, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2017, 2018 (6)
121-143-1 = 100 points in 44 seasons = 2.3 per season

Sun Belt
Won: none
27-20-0 = 34 points in 18 seasons = 1.9 per season

C-USA
Won: none
41-51-0 = 31 points in 20 years = 1.6 per season

Big 8
Won: 1976, 1979, 1993, 1995 (4)
43-46-0 = 40 points in 24 seasons = 1.7 per season

Big West
Won: none
13-8-0 = 18 points in 26 seasons = 0.7 per season

WAC
Won: none
42-62-0 = 22 points in 39 seasons = 0.6 per season

AAC
Won: none
12-21-0 = 3 points in 6 seasons = 0.5 per season

MAC
Won: none
38-64-0 = 12 points in 44 seasons = 0.3 per season


Comment: it will come as no surprise that the SEC leads the pack or that they are dominant now. But they haven’t always been this dominant. The Pac8/10/12 was once a serious rival but they haven’t ‘won’ a year in this century. The Big 12 has done pretty well since it consolidated the best programs from the old Big 8 and SWC. The Mountain West has been pretty good, better than people might think. The Big East was better than people remember: it out-ranks the ACC and Big 10. It will be interested to see how the ACC does moving forward. I think the influx of new coaches will at least make things interesting. (2015)

Update Comment: the mighty SEC hasn’t won the bowl season in the last three years and are 17-19 in that period. The ACC has the best record in that time, 20-15 and the Big 10, (16-12) and big 12 (14-8), have made comebacks in that time. The Pac 12 has become irrelevant, (7-16). The Sun Belt, who I perceived as the weakest conference, has the best record of the Group of Five, 12-8, with Conference USA just behind, (11-8). The Mountain West, (8-9), the AAC, who I thought was the strongest, (8-14), and the MAC (5-12), bring up the rear.
 
It would be neat to see records/points based off of current conference members (i.e. SU’s bowl record as an Indy/BE would count towards the ACC)
 

Forum statistics

Threads
171,994
Messages
4,987,639
Members
6,020
Latest member
OldeOstrom

Online statistics

Members online
205
Guests online
2,946
Total visitors
3,151


...
Top Bottom