Which conference had the best record of the 2019-20 college football bowl season?
The Southeastern Conference is often considered the best and toughest conference in college football.
But did that translate into producing the best results during the bowl season?
This year, it rang true. The SEC produced the best record, including the College Football Playoff, for the bowl season as LSU finished unbeaten after defeating Clemson for the national championship.
There are several reasons determining bowl results of teams, with star players deciding to skip in lieu of protecting themselves from injury in preparation for the NFL Draft as one. The matchups, too, aren’t necessarily pairing Power 5 schools against Group of 5 programs in every situation, unlike March Madness when there’s more of a possible David vs. Goliath pairing that isn’t tied to a bowl game.
That said, the SEC still proved it’s the dominant conference in college football.
Here’s a breakdown of conference records, based on winning percentage, this bowl season for FBS programs:
SEC
Record: 8-2.
Teams: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M.
Noteworthy: Only Auburn and Mississippi State failed to win their respective bowl games. The conference’s top team, LSU, steamrolled Big 12 champion Oklahoma with seven first-half touchdown passes from Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Joe Burrow in the CFP semifinal, before defeating Clemson in the national championship game. Alabama blasted Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, Georgia cruised in the Sugar Bowl over Baylor and Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas A&M each won their games.
Independents
Record: 2-1.
Teams: BYU, Liberty, Notre Dame.
Noteworthy: Yes, there’s no conference affiliation with these teams. But they’re all FBS programs that competed in bowl games. Notre Dame routed Iowa State convincingly, and BYU had the lone loss for independents.
Sun Belt
Record: 3-2.
Teams: Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana.
Noteworthy: Appalachian State, the conference’s top team and a program in the running for a New Year’s Six Bowl berth for most of the year, won its bowl game, 31-17 over UAB. Both Georgia Southern and Georgia State lost, and Arkansas State won its bowl game. Louisiana capped the Sun Belt’s bowl season with a 27-17 victory over Miami (Ohio) in the LendingTree Bowl.
Mountain West
Record: 4-3.
Teams: Air Force, Boise State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State, Wyoming.
Noteworthy: Boise State, the conference’s best team, was drilled in a game with Power 5 program Washington of the Pac-12. Air Force won its game with Pac-12 opponent Washington State, while the conference produced other solid results.
Pac-12
Record: 4-3.
Teams: Arizona State, California, Oregon, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State.
Noteworthy: Where was Utah? While the Big 12 suffered a dismal bowl campaign, they got their lone victory from Texas against the Utes, a team that lost the Pac-12 Championship against Oregon, which also saw their CFP hopes dashed. Texas ran roughshod over Utah, while Washington sent head coach Chris Petersen into retirement on a high note by beating his previous team and annual Group of Five power, Boise State.
American Athletic
Record: 4-3.
Teams: Cincinnati, UCF, Memphis, Navy, SMU, Temple, Tulane.
Noteworthy: Cincinnati beat up Boston College 38-6 in the Birmingham Bowl, UCF had little trouble with Marshall at the Gasparilla Bowl and Navy used a trick play to set up a game-winning field goal against Kansas State. The conference, though, didn’t get a clean sweep against Power 5 opponents as Temple lost to North Carolina and the top Group of 5 team this year, Memphis, lost 53-39 to Penn State.
Big Ten
Record: 4-5.
Teams: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin.
Noteworthy: Iowa, Minnesota and Penn State each tallied big victories, with the Hawkeyes crushing USC in the Holiday Bowl, Minnesota scoring a win over Auburn in the Outback Bowl and Penn State defeating Memphis in the Cotton Bowl. The conference’s top team, Ohio State, took Clemson to the brink in the CFB semifinal before a late interception sealed the Buckeyes’ fate. And Wisconsin lost a thriller to Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
Mid-American
Record: 3-4.
Teams: Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Ohio, Western Michigan.
Noteworthy: Buffalo opened the bowl season with a 31-9 victory over Conference USA’s Charlotte in the Bahamas Bowl, and Kent State provided a win with a 51-41 victory over Utah State in the Frisco Bowl, while Ohio defeated Nevada, 30-21, in the Potato Bowl.
Conference USA
Record: 3-5.
Teams: UAB, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Southern Mississippi, Western Kentucky.
Noteworthy: Among the three winners (FAU, Western Kentucky and Louisiana Tech), there was no bigger win for the conference than Louisiana Tech’s victory over Miami. The Hurricanes were blanked as Louisiana Tech won 14-0 in the Independence Bowl.
ACC
Record: 4-7.
Teams: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest.
Noteworthy: What was true throughout the regular season was proven a bit in the bowl season: it’s Clemson and then everyone else in the ACC. The Tigers won a tight CFP semifinal against Ohio State, before losing the national title game to LSU. But after Clemson’s performance in the CFP semifinal, there’s not much else to brag about among the ACC. Boston College was routed by a Group of 5 program, Cincinnati, and FSU and Miami both lost. The Hurricanes were shut out by Conference USA’s Louisiana Tech.
Big 12
Record: 1-5.
Teams: Baylor, Kansas State, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas.
Noteworthy: The conference’s best team, Oklahoma, was overmatched in a blowout loss to the SEC’s top team, LSU, in the CFP semifinal held at the Peach Bowl. With Baylor and Oklahoma State’s losses to Georgia and Texas A&M, respectively, the Big 12 went 0-3 against the SEC. The lone bright spot for the conference was Texas smashing Utah, who played in the Pac-12 championship game and was ranked No. 11.
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 4:12 PM.
