2019 College Football Bowl Performance by Conference
Posted by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @RyanWrightRNG
The measuring stick among college football fans on how good a conference is top to bottom comes with wins in non-conference games. No matter how many wins a program may have during the season, if their schedule is weak, the program and fanbase will hear about it. A program can make excuses during the season about their schedule as a former powerhouse on the itinerary may have slipped into mediocrity, but in the postseason, there are no excuses.
With only six bowl games left, including the National Championship Game pitting No. 1 LSU against No. 3 Clemson, the results are in showing sweeping results for some conferences. The SEC was tops among all Power 5 conferences with a 6-2 record to date. The Pac-12 followed that up with a 4-3 record. The ACC has a chance to break even at 5-5 should Clemson beat LSU. The Big Ten was .500 at 4-4 and the Big 12 had an embarrassing showing at 1-5. The Mountain West have been the “kings” of the Group of 5 conferences with a 4-2 record.
While some of the bowl game performances have been forgettable already, there is still history to be made for either the ACC or SEC. How did your college football conference perform this postseason?
The American Athletic Conference
During the regular season, AAC teams went 6-13 against Power 5 teams with Cincinnati dropping UCLA, Memphis beating Ole Miss, and Central Florida taking down Stanford. SMU got perhaps the biggest victory of the year for the AAC defeating then No. 25 TCU 41-38. Temple helped their peers twice knocking off Maryland and Georgia Tech. Against other Group of 5 teams, the AAC reigned supreme with a 14-1 record in regular season action.
Seven AAC teams made it to the postseason with five having played already; Boston College and Cincinnati and Southern Miss and Tulane are upcoming. The bowl games for the AAC is teetering on bad with a 2-3 performance so far. SMU lost to FAU (52-28), North Carolina beat Temple 55-13, and No. 17 Memphis lost to No. 10 Penn State 53-39. The bright spot, UCF beat Marshall 48-25 and No. 23 Navy notched a Power 5 win over Kansas State 20-17.
Update: The AAC rebounded for a 4-3 win-loss record with Tulane beating Southern Miss 30-13 in the Armed Forces Bowl and Cincinnati toppling Boston College 38-6 in the Birmingham Bowl.
The Atlantic Coast Conference
ACC teams were hammered during the regular season for being a down-trodden football conference, and for good reason. As a group, they came up short against their Power 5 brethren with a 4-14 mark. No surprise, but Clemson was the only team within the ranks earning a victory over a ranked opponent out of conference topping then- No. 12 Texas A&M 24-10 at Memorial Stadium.
The 4-5 run so far in the postseason helps add to the misery for ACC fans, and there are devils is in the details. Clemson, once again, was the only team to beat a ranked opponent taking down No. 2 Ohio State 29-23 in the Fiesta Bowl for the right to play in the National Championship Game. The only other win that shines bright is Louisville’s Music City 38-28 win over Mississippi State. Pitt beat Eastern Michigan 34-30 and North Carolina topped Temple 55-13. The proverbial blackeye for the ACC this postseason, Miami getting shutout 14-0 by Louisiana Tech. In head-to-hear Power 5 games, Michigan State beat Wake Forest 27-21, No. 9 Florida took down No. 24 Virginia 36-28, Arizona State won 20-14 over Florida State, and Kentucky came back for a 37-30 win over Virginia Tech in Bud Foster’s last hurrah.
The Big 12
The Big 12 had a nice showing, record-wise, against Power 5 teams during the 2019 season with a 6-4 showing but none of the wins came against ranked opponents and only two of them (Boston College and Mississippi State) came against teams that made it to a bowl game. Against Group of 5 teams, the Big 12 did well as expected with a 9-2 record. At the end of the season, the Big 12 had three teams ranked but got six into bowl games.
The big one for the conference was No. 4 Oklahoma making the College Football Playoff, but that was a disastrous showing for the Sooners getting chased out of the Peach Bowl by LSU 63-28. Of the six scheduled games, only one worked to the Big 12’s advantage, a 38-10 win for Texas over No. 11 Utah in the Alamo Bowl. Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Kansas State, and Baylor posted losses.
The Big Ten
The Big Ten was top-heavy this season with six squads ranked in the top 25. During the regular season, Big Ten teams showed mixed results with a 5-5 record against Power 5 teams, with an 0-3 showing against Pac-12 squads; unranked Colorado topping then- No. 25 Nebraska 34-31 in overtime and ASU winning 10-7 in East Lansing. Against Group of 5 teams, everyone showed up owing a 25-3 record.
The bowl games look is all about one’s perspective. Overall, the conference is 4-4, again having a losing record (1-2) against the Pac-12 with Cal beating Illinois 35-20 and No. 6 Oregon topping No. 8 Wisconsin 28-27 in the Rose Bowl. The Pac-12 victory came in the Holiday Bowl with No. 16 Iowa winning 49-24 against No. 22 USC. The conference split against the SEC with No. 13 Alabama downing No. 14 Michigan 35-16 and No. 18 Minnesota beating No. 12 Auburn 31-24. There is one more shot for the Big Ten to own a winning or losing record against the SEC with Indiana taking on Tennessee in the Taxslayer Bowl. The toughest loss this postseason for the conference was No. 2 Ohio State falling 29-23 to No. 3 Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl eliminating a chance for a national title.
Update: The Big Ten finished 4-5 after Tennessee beat Indiana 23-22 in the Taxslayer Bowl.
Conference USA
Play within the Conference USA ranks was tight throughout the 2019 season with five teams finishing with two or less losses (FAU, Marshall, Western Kentucky, UAB, and Louisiana Tech). Western Kentucky got two notable wins during the season taking down Army (17-8) and Arkansas (45-19). Florida International added a feather in the cap win beating Miami 30-24 in Week 13. How would the teams hold up in the bowl season?
The group got eight teams into bowl games going 3-4 thus far with a chance to break even when Southern Miss takes on Tulane in the Armed Forces Bowl. WKU continued to make the conference proud winning the First Responder Bowl 23-20 over Western Michigan and FAU trounced SMU 52-28 in the Boca Raton Bowl. The big win was the aforementioned 14-0 Independence Bowl win for Louisiana Tech over Miami. Charlotte, FIU, UAB, and Marshall lost their opportunities to tack on another victory this season.
The Mid-American Conference
The MAC served as an easy victory team for Power 5 teams in 2019 posting a 2-21 against their big brothers. The two big wins? Eastern Michigan dropped Illinois (34-31) and Toledo beat BYU (28-21). The results were better against their Group of 5 peers with a 5-6 run.
Seven teams got into postseason action with a 2-3 record so far with Ohio, in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl against Nevada, and Miami-Ohio, in the Lending Tree Bowl against Louisiana, upcoming. The bowl wins came on behalf of Buffalo stopping Charlotte 31-9 and Kent State upending Utah State 51-41.
Update: Conference USA ended 3-5 after Southern Miss dropped their bowl game 30-13 against Tulane.
The Mountain West
Mountain West squads did not backdown from a Power 5 challenge in 2019 going 10-12 overall. There were several key wins posted by the MWC this season, especially against the SEC and Pac-12. San Jose State topped Arkansas, Wyoming dropped Missouri, and UNLV beat Vanderbilt going 3-2 against the SEC in 2019. Hawaii got wins in against Arizona and Oregon State, Air Force beat Colorado, and San Diego State walked away from UCLA the victor.
Seven MWC teams made the postseason with a 4-2 record thus far waiting on the outcome of Nevada verses Ohio. Air Force notched another Pac-12 win for the MWC leaving Washington State on the Cheez-It Bowl field a 31-21 loser. Hawaii added another nice win beating BYU 38-34. San Diego State and Wyoming added to the win total while Utah State and Boise State dropped their affairs against Kent State and Washington respectfully.
Update: The great post-season the MWC was having dimmed slightly when Nevada fell 30-21 to Ohio. Overall, the MWC went 4-3 in post-season action.
The Pac-12
The regular season results for the Pac-12 out of conference was mixed. Against Power 5 teams, they went 7-6 and 8-6 against Group of 5 foes. Colorado beating Nebraska, Arizona State over Michigan State, and California over an unranked Ole Miss team (28-20) were the big wins. Stanford and USC both dropped opportunities against Notre Dame and No. 11 Oregon fell in the opening week to No. 16 Auburn 27-21 in the top game of the season.
That same so-so performance came through in the bowl games with a 4-3 record. The biggest disappointments were No. 11 Utah losing 38-10 to unranked Texas and Washington State falling to an unranked Air Force team 31-21. The big win, No. 6 Oregon came up with the roses in Pasadena defeating No. 8 Wisconsin 28-27.
The SEC
The conference with the target on their back went 9-7 during the regular season against Power 5 teams and 16-7 against Group of 5 squads. Four of the Power 5 losses came from teams that did not make a bowl game (South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss), and Clemson took two wins from SEC teams (Texas A&M and USC). The big wins for the conference were No. 6 LSU beating No. 9 Texas, No. 16 Auburn over No. 11 Oregon, and No. 3 Georgia downing No. 7 Notre Dame. Six of the seven Group of 5 losses came from teams not invited to a bowl game (Ole Miss, Missouri, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina).
The postseason has set the record straight with a 6-2 mark, all against Power 5 competition. The losses were Mississippi State to Louisville and Auburn to Minnesota. The notable wins, No. 1 LSU over No. 4 Oklahoma 63-28, Alabama beating Michigan, and Georgia downing Baylor. Two SEC games remain, Indiana verses Tennessee and No. 3 Clemson against LSU in the National Championship Game.
Update: The SEC still has one more very BIG game left with LSU taking on Clemson, but all the other games wrapped with the conference dominating. Tennessee came from behind in the Taxslayer Bowl pushing the conference’s record to 7-2 effectively “winning” the 2019 bowl season.
The Sun Belt
The Sun Belt went 4-9 against Power 5 teams in 2019. Two of the wins came against SEC squads, Georgia State over Tennessee 38-30 and Appalachian State defeating South Carolina 20-15 in November. Coastal Carolina got a feather in the cap win against Kansas (12-7) and Appalachian State showed out again being victorious against North Carolina (34-31). The conference went 4-9 against their peers.
With one game left to play, Louisiana vs. Miami-Ohio, the SBC is 2-2 this postseason. Appalachian State and Arkansas State, again, did the conference right by winning with Georgia Southern and Georgia State losing their chances.
Update: Another Group of 5 Conference posted a winning post-season when ULL upended Miami-Ohio 27-17. That pushed the conference to 3-2 overall.