Florida outshines Rust Belt in college bowls

Somewhere, Hillary Clinton must be smiling.

She is, anyhow, if she spent the past month following her election loss to Donald Trump by keeping tabs on the college football bowl season that ended Monday.

Teams from Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania -- three pivotal Rust Belt states in her election downfall -- thoroughly disgraced themselves by going 0-11 during the 41-game bowl marathon. The final ding came in Monday’s Rose Bowl when Penn State fell to Southern Cal.

Not that Clinton fared any better in Florida, another battleground state that turned against her.

But Florida schools went 4-1 in bowls, a turnaround from last year’s dismal 0-4 bowl showing. And Miami, Florida and Florida State posted bowl wins in the same year for the first time in a decade. Throw in South Florida’s victory in the Birmingham Bowl and the Sunshine State produced more bowl winners than any other state. The state’s only bowl loser was Central Florida.

The states of Oklahoma (3-0), California (3-0) and Louisiana (3-1) all had impressive bowl resumes, as well.

Not so Ohio (0-4), Michigan (0-4) and Pennsylvania (0-3), which all came up empty despite teams with lofty rankings, as No. 3 Ohio State, No. 5 Penn State and No. 6 Michigan all went down in flames.

The Atlantic Coast Conference went 8-3, producing at least two more bowl wins than any other conference. The Southeastern Conference went 6-6.

While the bowl schedule is complete, the college football season is not.

Alabama and Clemson will meet Jan. 9 in the College Football Playoff National Championship, which is not technically a bowl.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 9:18 AM with the headline "Florida outshines Rust Belt in college bowls."