Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Updated Bowl Records over the last Decade

Ok... now does anyone actually believe that the Buckeyes were one of the best 2 teams in the country? I guess it was an improved performance over last year's game, but they still proved to be slow. Homer Herbstriet can spin all he wants, but THE Ohio State University had no business being in any BCS bowl, let alone the title game...

Anyway, here's an updated chart of all the overall records of the 6 BCS conferences - ACC, Big10, Big12, Big East, Pac-10, SEC - against each other in bowl games the last 10 years, as well as their all time BCS numbers.



When you look at the final bowl tallies (including BCS games)...
SEC: 44-30 (59.4%)
Big12: 33-32 (50.7%)
PAC10: 20-20 (50%)
BigEast: 19-18 (51.4%)
ACC: 24-28 (46.1%)
Big10: 28-38 (42.4%)

... then just the BCS records...
SEC: 11-4 (73.3%), 4 BCS Titles
PAC10: 8-4 (66.7%), 1 BCS Title
BigEast: 6-4 (60%), 1 BCS Title
Big10: 8-8 (50%), 1 BCS Title (pass interference? really?)
Big12: 6-8 (42.9%), 2 BCS Titles
ACC: 1-9 (10%), 1 BCS Title

...the answer is obvious no matter how you break down the stats. The SEC has been the dominant conference in college football over the last decade. Four national titles in 10 years is impressive, particularly as parity continues to reign. More importantly, there is nothing to indicate that the trend is tailing off. Georgia will certainly be a top 3 team before the start of next season, and a handful of other conference teams will have legitimate national title aspirations.

Bragging Rights: A Season Inside the SEC, College Football's Toughest Conference

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for doing this, I'll be sending this link to my big 10 friend shortly

Anonymous said...

1-5 versus the Big East. Does that mean the Big East is better than the SECheat??

twd3lr said...

"1-5 versus the Big East. Does that mean the Big East is better than the SECheat??"

Puh-lease! Someone sounds a little bitter. 6 games is hardly representative considering the overall sample size.

The Dead Guy said...

1-5 versus the Big East. Does that mean the Big East is better than the SECheat??

You're exactly right. That's exactly what it means. And since the Big East has a losing record against EVERY OTHER BCS CONFERENCE, then the SEC must be the worst conference in all of college football.

I'll get the petition started to move the SEC to 1-AA or whatever it's called now.

Thank you for your wise words.

Anonymous said...

ya, when you look at it like that your right, but when Georgia plays Hawaii you've got to be kidding. games like that ought to be stricken from the record books. There has been a few dominant teams coming out of the sec and they are going to beat anyone. Just like when USC had the dominant team. But to say the conference is better all the time is ridiculous. Nothing like playing all home bowl games either is there. Oh well I'm SEC SICK.

The Dead Guy said...

Nowhere in that post did I say that the SEC is better all the time. There is always an ebb/flow of talent in the BCS conferences. A 1-year sample of bowl games wouldn't provide any data on how consistently strong a conference is.

A decade is a good sample size to look at consistency. Plenty of time for different schools from each to step up and play well.

And not sure what your "Nothing like playing all home bowl games either is there" comment is about... Teams can only play the bowl they're sent to and nearly every bowl will have a regional connection to the schools playing.

Anonymous said...

ya, all home games, I'd like to see your team go play Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas and the eventual national champion LSU all on THE ROAD. Because thats the schedule that South Carolina had to play this year.

Anonymous said...

Ummm, USC has won 2 titles in the span you tallied yet you didn't give them credit for it... but seem to be giving LSU credit for the title they won the year they "split".

Trying to load it for one side of the argument, I see.

The Dead Guy said...

Ummm, USC has won 2 titles in the span you tallied yet you didn't give them credit for it... but seem to be giving LSU credit for the title they won the year they "split". Trying to load it for one side of the argument, I see.

Not really sure what you're talking about there Anonymous. USC won one national title. The major conferences - including the PAC-10 - voted on the BCS to determine the national champ each year. Not really sure how that's "loading" my argument. While I'm kind of a big deal around here, I wasn't allowed to vote on that...

Anonymous said...

I'm an SC guy but I love this post. You can't argue the numbers. SEC recruits the best talent, has the most NFL players drafted, has good coaching, and therefore is the best conference in college football. I personally think it's insulting anyone ever thinks otherwise. SC has outrecruited any one team over the past few years and has great coaching so I feel that playing one game they can compete with any SEC school. Playing IN the SEC is a different story and I can't say they would have the same records doing so. The Pac-10 is full of above average teams (aside from SC and the Dennis Dixon Oregon team) which is more then the other conferences can say except possibly the Big 12. But for now lets end this best conference debate because frankly it's pretty ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Of course the SEC fans fail to note that EVERY bowl game they play is basically a home game. Bad enough they play the Sun Belt teams and the Western Carolina's at home.

The Dead Guy said...

Basically a home game how? Bowl games are - for the most part - at least fairly regional. And the SEC always has a ton of fans because nearly every team in the conference travels well.

Not sure what point you're trying to make.

Anonymous said...

@me: The SEC gets bowl home games because everybody wants to be in the southeast when it's cold-as-tits anywhere north of the Maxon-Dixon line. Just because there's a reason for it doesn't change the fact that they basically get home field advantage at a LOT of their bowl games.

Big 10 gets no regional affiliations for their bowl games. Who wants to play a bowl game in the cold-as-tits Midwest? They get this:

Rose vs. Pac-10 in California
Capital One vs. SEC in Florida
Outback vs. SEC in Florida
Alamo vs. Big 12 in Texas
Champs Sports vs. ACC in Florida
Insight vs. Big 12 in Arizona
Motor City vs. MAC in Michigan

@twd3lr: Sample sizes? Really, you're going to bring that up? Bring any of this data to a statistician and you will flat out be told to leave.

166 points of data taken over 10 years is small enough to be considered completely insignificant. There is no data on the table that is meaningfully more significant than any other data on the table. The conclusion you draw from 1-5 Big East vs. SEC record is pretty much just as valid as any other conclusion you draw from the table.

The Dead Guy said...

The SEC gets bowl home games because everybody wants to be in the southeast when it's cold-as-tits anywhere north of the Maxon-Dixon line.

Interesting point you make here and you certainly get bonus points for your weather terminology.

To play Devil's Advocate though, while the SEC may play the majority of its bowl games close to home, the ticket sales are split down the middle between the two invited schools. Sure the regional crowds may tend to pull for the Southern schools, but is that really enough to create a significant home-field advantage win 59% of bowl games participated in when the next best BCS Conference is in at 51%?

As for the sample size, nothing about this post was designed to prove all-time supremacy. That said, it covers every BCS head-to-head bowl matchup since the dawn of the BCS era in college football. To dismiss it as "completely insignificant" is being a bit brash, don't you think? I'm pretty sure you can get a feel for a conference's strength based on a decade of work.

Anonymous said...

Your numbers are bad. The Big 10 is 34-33 in Bowl Games from 98 to 07. I'd research the SEC, but I figure that could be your job.

The Dead Guy said...

Your numbers are bad. The Big 10 is 34-33 in Bowl Games from 98 to 07. I'd research the SEC, but I figure that could be your job.

Nah, my numbers are right. When I update this sheet after this year's games, I'll post it team by team if you'd like.

Anonymous said...

Ohio State 5 4
Michigan 5 5
Northwestern 0 3
Michigan State 2 2
Iowa 3 3
Minnesotta 3 4
Wisconsin 6 3
Penn State 5 1
Indiana 0 1
Illinois 2 1
Purdue 3 6
34 33

rhv said...

You have the right records, but you're leaving out bowl games against non-bcs conferences. If you include all the bowl games, the Pac-10 overtook the SEC this year for best bowl record.

The Dead Guy said...

"You have the right records, but you're leaving out bowl games against non-bcs conferences. If you include all the bowl games, the Pac-10 overtook the SEC this year for best bowl record.

I've got the new bowl records just about compiled and will post them the day after the BCS title game. I'll include a separate section about the non-BCS wins, but they were intentionally left off this one. It's hard to classify a Pac-10 win against MWC #3 in the same category as a BCS win for another conference.

rhv said...

So that means you're ignoring Alabama's loss to Utah and ignoring Arizona's win against BYU.

I don't know about every year, but this year for sure, the 6 BCS conferences were not the 6 best conferences in the country. The Mountain West was probably the 3rd best conference.

I think you have to include all bowl games to have the complete picture, but I understand where you're coming from.

The Dead Guy said...

So that means you're ignoring Alabama's loss to Utah and ignoring Arizona's win against BYU.

No, the BCS bowls were included in the previous chart and will be in the one I'll put out later this week. As for AZ's win over BYU, yes, it's quality, but then you've got wins like USF's throttling of a pathetic Memphis team.

Regardless, I'm adding a non-BCS win column this year, so it'll all be there.

Anonymous said...

Howdy all! I have a budget tattoo salon in Los Angeles. Since 2002 I've been purchasing all tattoo supplies at bulk prices but my supplier committed suicide (believe it or not) so I'm in search of a good tattoo supplies company (preferable online) to buy tattoo supplies from. Here is an example of what I am interested in: Tattoo Supplies. Thanks in advance for all tips dudes! PM me or write me at: triple6tattoo@hotmail.com