Now that we’ve discussed out of conference records, the next category to analyze is bowl games. We’ll take the same approach to bowl games as we did with out of conference regular season games. First, we’ll take an objective look at the cumulative records and compare these records to those of the other conferences. Then, I’ll add my own subjectivity.

The following is a table which details the bowl game results for each team in the six BCS conferences. You can see that only half of the six conferences finished with cumulative records over .500. Objectively speaking, the best conferences in this category were the Big XII and the ACC. Both finished 5-3 – a .625 batting average. Finishing third was the Pac-10 at 3-2 (.600), and fourth was the SEC at 3-3 (.500). The Big Ten produced a 3-4 record for a .429 success rate and bringing up the rear yet again was the Big East at 1-3 (.250).

When comparing these records against each other, you have to consider different factors. First of all, how many teams made it to a bowl game in the first place? This is an accomplishment in of itself, though some would argue that there are too many bowl games these days. Secondly, what level of competition were these teams playing? Texas’ upset Rose Bowl win over the favored Trojans from USC should count more than NC State’s shutout of South Florida in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Let’s take a look at overall numbers of bowl teams from each conference. When doing this, we need to consider that the six conferences are not all the same size. We cannot punish the Big East for only having eight teams or reward the SEC for having twelve. So, let’s rank the conferences based on percentage of teams making it to a bowl game.

The Big XII and ACC had the best percentages once again. Both sent eight teams to bowl games and both are made up of twelve teams. This makes for a .667 percentage. The Big Ten had the next best percentage – seven out of 11 teams went to a bowl game - .636. The Pac-10, SEC, and Big East conferences each sent exactly half of their teams to bowl games (five, six, and four respectively).

Now let’s start adding some subjectivity to these stats. We’ll start with the ACC, whose 5-3 record looks impressive on the surface. Of the five wins, there aren’t any overwhelmingly impressive ones to brag about. Perhaps the most impressive win was Virginia Tech’s over a 9-2 Louisville team. Aside from that, you’ve got Virginia’s win over a 7-4 Minnesota, Clemson’s win over a slumping 7-5 Colorado, BC’s win over a 9-3 Boise State on their home field, and NC State’s win over a 6-5 South Florida. Let’s call the ACC’s bowl victories slightly better than mediocre.

The three losses the conference suffered were tough to swallow for ACC fans. The conference champ took the Big Ten’s champ to triple overtime before losing in the Orange Bowl 26-23. The ‘Noles played valiantly, but missed field goals hurt Bobby Bowden once again. The other two losses were lopsided losses: LSU’s 40-3 thumping of Miami and Georgia Tech’s embarrassing 38-10 loss at the hands of Utah. Overall, the ACC didn’t really have many impressive bowl wins and certainly had some embarrassing losses.

The Big XII also had a 5-3 record, so let’s take a look. Obviously, the National Champion came from this conference and Texas’ win over USC in the Rose Bowl could have been the best game of the season to watch. In addition to this win, the Big XII had three relatively impressive wins over Michigan (by Nebraska), South Carolina (Missouri), and Oregon (Oklahoma). Throw in Kansas’ lopsided win over Houston and you have a nice stable of bowl wins.

The three losses the Big XII suffered were all close games against good teams. The most lopsided loss suffered by the conference was Colorado’s 19-10 loss to Clemson. There were also two three point defeats: Iowa State to TCU (27-24) and Texas Tech to Alabama (13-10). None of these losses are anything to be ashamed of. The Big XII does have an impressive bowl game resume for 2005.

The Pac-10 was the only other conference to win more bowl games than they lost. The three bowl victories were by 12 points or less and against mediocre teams. This list is made up of UCLA’s shootout win over Northwestern (50-38), Cal’s win over BYU (35-28), and Arizona State’s win over Rutgers (45-40). In typical Pac-10 fashion, each game won by a Pac-10 team was a high scoring affair. However, these opponents are nothing to write home about.

The Pac-10’s most visible loss was USC’s Rose Bowl loss to Texas. The Trojans played the Longhorns close, but couldn’t stop Vince Young in the end. The conference only suffered one other loss in Oregon’s 17-14 loss to Oklahoma. In total, the Pac-10 didn’t have any embarrassing losses and stayed close in the two bowl games that they did lose. The Pac-10 has nothing to be ashamed of in their bowl games, but nothing really to pound their chests about either.

“Half” is the word that most accurately describes the SEC’s bowl game. The conference sent half of their teams to bowl games and won half of those. As always, the SEC played tough competition in their bowl games and their three wins include Alabama’s win over Texas Tech, Florida’s win over Iowa, and LSU’s annihilation of Miami. These wins are about as impressive as the wins the Big XII pulled off.

The three SEC losses were somewhat surprising. Auburn was handled by Wisonsin and lost by two touchdowns. Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks couldn’t outscore the Missouri Tigers and lost 38-31. Perhaps most surprising of all, SEC Champ Georgia found themselves trailing to Big East Champ West Virginia 28-0 quickly and couldn’t recover. The Bulldogs made a great comeback attempt, but couldn’t pull it out in the end and lost 38-35. Summing up the SEC’s bowl resume, I can say they had impressive wins and surprising losses.

Just like the SEC, the Big Ten played very tough competition in bowl games compared with the other conferences. Those two conferences play the toughest competition in bowl games every year. The three wins the Big Ten had were very impressive as this was the only conference to enjoy two BCS bowl wins. Big Ten Champ Penn State took ACC Champ FSU to triple OT and pulled out the win. Ohio State also beat Notre Dame convincingly in the Fiesta Bowl. On top of that was Wisconsin’s two touchdown win over Auburn.

Unfortunately for the Big Ten, the conference still lost more bowl games than it won. The four losses were Iowa’s loss to Florida, Michigan’s loss to Nebraska, Minnesota’s loss to Virginia, and Northwestern’s loss to Arizona State. This totals more losses than any other conference, but in the conference’s defense, these are all good teams and the scores of each game was close. Overall, the 3-4 bowl record of the Big Ten is misleading. The wins are impressive and the losses aren’t too bad.

The Big East had one bowl win but it was a big one. The Mountaineers beat Georgia on their “home” turf of the Georgia Dome in the Sugar Bowl. This BCS bowl was relocated to Atlanta, GA because of the damage done to the New Orleans Super Dome during Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, this was the lone highlight for the young conference.

The three losses were against pretty good competition. Rutgers played Arizona State close and lost by five points. Louisville played Virginia Tech tough and lost by eleven, though the score makes the Gator Bowl look more lopsided than it really was. South Florida was shut out by a tough NC State defense which featured the eventual overall #1 pick in the NFL draft just four months later: Mario Williams. Overall, the Big East can hang its hat on a win over the SEC Champ, but there’s not much left to discuss after that.

This category has a fairly obvious winner, but let’s start with the losers first. The Big East loses again. Even though the conference only has eight teams, it tied for last place in percentage of bowl teams and finished last by itself in winning percentage. Had the conference been able to win another bowl game or two, it would’ve been easy to bump them up in this category.

The Pac-10 places fifth in this category. Even though they came in third in overall winning percentage, they tied for last in number of teams sent to bowls and did not have any impressive wins. The Pac-10 didn’t lose any blow outs, which almost puts them ahead of my fourth place finisher, but the biggest win was against Northwestern. Not to put down the very good season the Wildcats had, but if that’s the best your conference can come up with, you don’t deserve to rank higher. Had USC pulled out that win in the national title game, the conference would’ve been bumped up for sure.

Despite tying for first in both winning percentage and number of teams sent to bowls, the ACC ranks fourth in this category. The quality of competition is higher than that of the Pac-10 and the Big East, but not higher than the other three. The ACC cannot claim any huge bowl wins and can hang their heads with the performances of both Georgia Tech and Miami. An FSU win in the Orange Bowl may have been enough to push the ACC up a little higher.

Third place goes to the SEC. This is a very close decision between them and the Big Ten. Even though the Big Ten has a sub .500 winning percentage, they sent more teams bowling and had better overall performances. While the whooping put on the Hurricanes by LSU was extremely impressive, the upset loss by SEC Champ Georgia may have been the difference. The media did take notice that the SEC had tie-ins with two bowls but did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to send teams there. That fact hurts the SEC too.

So, the Big Ten takes second. Even though the conference ranked fifth in winning percentage and third in number of teams sent, you need to look down the list of games. Putting the Big Ten up against the SEC made for a tough decision. In head to head bowl games, the conferences split so we can’t give either one an advantage there. Two BCS wins pushes the Big Ten over the SEC in this category, simple as that.

The Big XII tied for the best bowl record and percentage of bowl teams. The conference played tough competition, enjoyed huge wins and was never embarrassed in its losses. The Big XII easily won this category and I doubt I’ll hear many objections here. You have to applaud the conference for producing the National Champion and for showing well in every single one of its eight bowl games.

So, let’s take a look at the standings after two categories have been discussed:

Overall                                    Out of conference                   Bowl games

1. Big XII                                     4                                              1

1. ACC                                        1                                              4

1. SEC                                         2                                              3

1. Big Ten                                    3                                              2

5. Pac-10                                     5                                              5

6. Big East                                   6                                              6

Note that there’s a tie between all of the top four conferences. As we discuss more categories, some conferences will certainly distance themselves from the others.

Stay tuned for our next article where I’ll discuss poll rankings throughout the 2005 season.