Top College Football Bowl Conference

10 of the 12 teams in the SEC received bowl bids in the just passed 2009 - 2010 Bowl Season. That tied the record set by the ACC last year.

The SEC racked up it's 4th straight BCS Championship with With Alabama's victory over Texas in the 2010 BCS Championship Game. Combine that with it's 6-4 bowl record and there's no doubt that the SEC remains the top college football bowl conference.

Our all-time bowl records (as well as specific results from the past 2 years) are below. But first, here's the comparison of the conferences this last bowl season:

Final 2009-2010 Conference Bowl Record:

Mountain West: 4-1

Big East: 4-2

SEC: 6-4

Big Ten: 4-3

Big 12: 4-4

ACC: 3-4

Pac-10: 2-5

Sun Belt: 1-1

C-USA: 2-4

WAC: 2-2

You can see, the Mountain West has made a statement again. The BCS is breathing a sigh of relief though since their best team (TCU) lost in the Fiesta Bowl to Boise State.

Yes, the SEC is not at the top of the list. But, there are very good reasons for that. These posts explain it better than I could: Stats, Facts and Rubbish and Only Count January Bowl Games.

Most readers of SECSportsFan.com agree that college football is the greatest sport in the world.

And the culmination of the college football season is the bowl season. The bowl season is the time when most major college football teams (with winning records) get to play in bowl games.

The better a team does during the season; the better their bowl (generally).

The bowl games are the highlight of the year for players, fans, and coaches alike. If you are lucky, hopefully you get to travel to a warm, sunny place, in late December or early January, to play the game.

These games are big pay days for the teams that go (and the athletic departments and conferences they represent).

Click this link for the 2009-2010 College Football Bowl Game Schedule.

Given the importance of bowl games, a logical question is – which conference has the most all-time college football bowl victories?

Good question. And, we have the answer.

You will probably not be surprised to find that – the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has the top college football bowl record.

So, here is the bowl game record (through 2008-2009) of the major college football conferences (based on historical conference affiliation). The first number is total bowl games. The second is wins; third is losses; fourth is ties; fifth is bowl game win percentage.

	Bowls	Wins	Losses	Ties	Win %
SEC	348	190	149	9	.559
Pac-10	193	103	88	2	.539
Big Ten	209	97	111	1	.467
ACC	166	81	83	2	.494
Big 8	127	63	63	1	.500
Southwest	151	63	80	8	.444
Big 12	92	45	47	0	.489
Big East	76	42	34	0	.553
WAC	101	42	58	1	.421

As you can see from the chart, the SEC basically dominates the field as the #1 all-time top bowl conference. The Southeastern Conference has more bowl wins and a higher winning percentage than anyone else. And, it really isn't even close.

To get the above numbers, we used a great calculator at Sports Link Network. It includes the bowl records of conferences by historical conference membership. So, it only counts a bowl result if the team was in the conference at the time of the bowl game.

Seems to make sense. But, surprisingly, this stat is seldom used. The more common stat (you'll get from the NCAA) is based on current conference affiliation. So, for instance, the ACC would get credit for all of Miami and Va. Tech's bowl wins -- even when they were in the Big East. Crazy.

Even if you do it that way, the SEC still comes out on top. Just not by quite as much.

Here's the chart for Top College Football Bowl Conference based on current conference affiliation.

	Bowls	Wins	Losses	Ties	Win %
SEC	366	188	166	12	.530
Pac-10	208	110	95	3	.529
Big Ten	238	114	121	3	.485
ACC	285	144	134	5	.519
Big 12	318	152	162	4	.484
Big East	108	52	54	2	.491
WAC	67	34	31	2	.522

You can see that when we look at "current conference affiliation" the ACC and Pac-10 do better. The ACC, for instance, picks up the great Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech numbers -- which the Big East loses (thus Big East numbers go down). But, in any event, no one's win percentage in all-time bowl games exceeds the SEC (except the WAC) and no one comes close in number of bowl victories. So, the SEC is still the #1 college bowl conference -- no matter how you look at it.

NUMEROUS Big Ten fans have posted on this site about the fact that apparently the Big Ten only allowed one team to play in a bowl game up until 1976. The Big Ten Champ played in the Rose Bowl; everyone else went home. So, obviously, this would severely restrict the number of Big Ten teams that went to bowl games during those years. Of course there were far fewer bowls back then; still, it's a valid point worth mentioning.

But, however you slice it -- them's the numbers and the SEC is still #1!

But what about the college football conference bowl record for the just passed 2008 - 2009 bowl season? Here it is:

Pac-10: 5-0

SEC: 6-2

Big 12: 4-3

Big East: 4-2

ACC: 4-6

Big Ten: 1-6

WAC: 1-4

Mountain West: 3-2

Sun Belt: 1-1

Obviously the Pac-10's performance (on the upside) is notable; as is the Big Ten's (on the downside -- again); and the ACC's (moved the ACC all-time bowl record from above .500 to below). And, I note the SEC did just fine (including Florida winning it all -- 3rd straight BCS Championship for the SEC) -- despite all the talk about it being a down year for the SEC.

Ok, How bout last year's (2007-2008) bowl season?

Here you go:

SEC: 7-2

Pac-10: 4-2

Big 12: 5-3

Big East: 3-2

Big Ten: 3-5

ACC: 2-6

WAC: 1-3

*Mountain West: 4-1 (great job by the MWC, but they simply didn't play in any major bowls or face the tough competition the other conferences faced).

Sun Belt: 1-0 (Florida Atlantic won the New Orleans Bowl against Memphis)

You can see that the SEC finished the 2007-2008 Bowl Season as the top college football bowl conference. It set an all-time record with 7 bowl victories in one season.

The SEC also further established itself as the Top All-Time NCAA College Football National Championship Conference.

How about all-time head to head SEC vs Other Conferences in bowl games?

Here you go (historical affiliation):

	SEC Wins vs.	SEC Losses vs.	Ties	SEC Win %
ACC	33	13	0	.710
Big Ten	34	21	0	.618
Big 12	15	9	0	.625
Southwest	32	26	3	.549
Pac-10	7	7	1	.500
Big East	6	6	0	.500
Big 8	13	19	1	.409
WAC	5	3	0	.625

So, head-to-head, all-time Conference vs Conference CFB bowl games -- the SEC beats every conference but three. And, two of those (Pac-10 and Big East) the SEC Ties. The only conference the SEC has lost more bowl games than one against is the Big-8 which doesn't exist any more.

How about SEC vs Other Conferences in bowl match-ups -- using current conference affiliation? Here you go:

	SEC Wins vs.	SEC Losses vs.	Ties	SEC Win %
ACC	43	27	2	.611
Big Ten	38	26	0	.594
Big 12	41	48	3	.462
Pac-10	9	8	2	.526
Big East	6	12	1	.342
WAC	1	0	0	1.000

Well, SEC haters -- you finally have some stats to back you up. Based on current conference affiliation, the Big 12 and Big East both beat the SEC in all-time head to head bowl game match-ups.

But, all in all, when looking at all the stats on this page (and we cover them all) -- we surely have settled that the SEC is clearly the top college football bowl conference. Right?

To compare the head to head records (in all games) of the SEC vs the major college football conferences (and the Ivy League), check out:

SEC vs Big Ten Football

SEC vs Big 12 Football

SEC vs ACC Football

SEC vs Big East Football

SEC vs Pac-10 Football

SEC vs Ivy League Football

Here's an interesting list of all the bowl games that have had national champs play in them over the years. Of course, since 1999, it's always been the BCS Championship Game. But, before that it could have been Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Orange, Fiesta -- even one out of the Holiday Bowl (BYU) and Florida Citrus (Georgia Tech). Check it out at National Championship Bowls History.

Read our 2010 College Football Conference Predictions.

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What Other Visitors Have Said

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Nebraska 1994-1995
What about the Florida beating that Nebraska put on? No #1 team has ever been beaten by 30+ points. Best team ever was Nebraska '94 - '95 and best conference ...

Why not include the Ivy League in these stats?
Since so much thought and history has been brought in, why not point out that no teams have even come close to the Ivy league schools in the way of national ...

Giving the SEC their props
I'm a Big East fan, but I must admit that the SEC
is by far the best conference. It's not even
close. I think the Big East is now 16-6 in
the last ...

MWC Rules
As of today the MWC is 25-15 in bowl games for a 62.5% winnning percentage. You say the SEC "dominates" when it is only 2% ahead in your chart. Liars ...

Your Facts are WRONG
First of all the ACC was 4-6 last year not 2-6 and if you add these numbers up using simple math that even an sec fan should be able to understand you ...

Bowl Game Bias
Hey nice article. It's a bit too much doting on the SEC but that's ok. I have two points I'd like to bring up.

#1 when comparing conferences I think ...

notice the MWC was left off of the charts
"How about SEC vs Other Conferences in bowl match-ups -- using current conference affiliation? Here you go:"

notice the MWC was left off of the charts....

King of the Mountain West
Cranial rectal sydrome, explains why you cannot see what is obvious. Exclude college football's best conference The Mountain West so you can call yourselves ...

PAC 10 more than Worthy
I have been having this debate for over 20 years.. PAC-10 or SEC.. where do I begin...

Let's start with the almighty SEC (chuckles). Why does a Conference ...

When did college football become a "conference" thing?
I was under the impression that when you liked a team, you liked that team? Its one thing to say, "my team didn't make the big bowl game, but I like this ...

Congrats! but misleading
Just like the Big 10, the Pac-10 would only allow the champion to play in the Rose bowl. Everyone else had to stay home. This is why the Pac-10 bowl appearances ...

Schedule More Regular Season Games Between the Major Conferences
I do not think it's fair to knock conferences based on these stats - especially the PAC 10, Big Ten, and Big East based on the location of the majority ...

All-Time Bowl Record -- Consistent Numbers
When calculating conference numbers, you are only counting games when teams are a member of a conference. To calculate bowls, you are counting a total ...

SEC Academics...pathetic!
How about we handicap the winning percentages by the number of students that would be eligible to be admitted in a big ten school...

Oh, that's right,...

THE Big Ten
I am a 35 year fan of, and probably very biased toward my school, U of M, and the Big Ten conference.

I have relished the argument surrounding the best ...

Great site
I am a Big Ten-OSU fan. Of course I take exception with many of your opinions....but you have made your case well. Two things that would help the Big ...

Bowl Restrictions in the Big 10 before the 1980s
You might also realize that well into the 1970s the Big 10 did not allow more than one team to go to a bowl game each year. The only bowl a Big 10 team ...

No Northern Bowl Games
One great disadvantage the Big Ten has in bowl games is the fact that they have to come to the south or out west to play the bowl games. This basically ...

Bowl stats skewed because SEC has Geography Advantage
I think you are out of date here. The PAC 10 is 4-2. You can brag if you like but the SEC is skewed by the fact that they 1)they have more teams, 2) Are ...

Big East Football Should Be Taken Seriously
You guys must have failed logic 101.

How could you include the Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College wins with the ACC prior to them joining that ...

2009-2010 Conference Bowl Records so far (as of Dec 30, 2009): Big East Conference
Just wanted to point out that the Big East Conference is actually 2-0 thus far in the 2009/2010 Bowl Schedule.
Rutgers & Pitt both won.
WVU, Cincinatti,...

It's all Good!
I LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL, OK I am a Ohio State Buckeye fan, hard not to be growing up just a few miles from campus.

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Stats, Facts and Rubbish
Mountain West teams are 60 wins 67 losses 4 ties if all bowl appearances are counted. More bowl appearances just mean that "bad" SEC teams are allowed ...

Only Count January Bowl Games
With all the extra Bowl games, look at bowl games in January only. It's not the best cut of good and bad Bowls, but it's simple and makes a realistic ...

Account for home games?
9 Bowls established for SEC teams (8 in the Southeast) makes the SEC the conference with most (home) bowl games. Of course it has more wins than any other ...

Pac 10 Bowl record...Not impressive
I applaud the Pac-10 for an undefeated bowl season. However, most of their bowl games were before Dec. 31. That means that the quality of opponent they ...

SEC is not dominant
You are not on the right track dude. It doesn't matter how many wins you have, it matters how often you pull out wins over losses.

For instance, a ...

Need SEC vs PAC 10 Bowl Match-Ups
as a NOTRE DAME FAN (tear) and PAC 10 follower, i would like to say that this is an excellent site and appreciate the time you put into the page with statistics....

SEC Rules -- Even in Buckeye Country Not rated yet
I live in the heart of "Buckeye Country" but have been an avid SEC fan (Tennessee and Ole Miss) for years.

Every time January rolls around and these ...

SEC Not rated yet
IF the Sec is filled with good teams how well did ole miss hold that #5 ranking this year? haha

and if colt mccoy was in the game for texas they would ...

Compare Top Teams of Conferences and SEC Wins Not rated yet

CONCERNING COLLEGE FOOTBALL CONFERENCE RANKINGS:

WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT WHEN YOU HAVE SO MANY TEAMS REPRESENTING YOUR CONFERENCE IN BOWL GAMES, IT ...

Most of SEC (Florida/Alabama) play VERY WEAK NON-Conf teams Not rated yet
SEC stats: 10 of 12 > 0.500 overall, 3 of 12 > 0.500 in conference (8 crappy teams in conference, 6 with 3 wins or less means 5-6 standouts, see matches ...

Give me the spread Stats Not rated yet
Great Stats, just wondering how conferance did when they compared to covering the spread?

good effort, but some suggestions Not rated yet
Nice job pulling together the numbers.

1. Some of those winning percentages seem way too close to draw the strong conclusions you're making. I suspect ...

Kudos to the SEC Not rated yet
I hand it to the SEC. More than any other conference, the SEC knows how to work the Bowl system.

They play a powder-puff schedule during the regular ...

SEC dominant? Not rated yet
The BCS system is skewed to the big boy conferences and there is no bigger boy than the SEC. Wyoming who finished near the bottom of the MWC in 08-09 ...

Big 12 ahead of SEC this season Not rated yet
Why do you put SEC ahead of Big 12 being that SEC is 5-4 and Big 12 is 4-3. Do your math!

Editor's reply: 9 bowl games is more than 7

Husker fan Not rated yet
Good site, I wish that the big 12 got to count the big 8 stats in their column, but for some weird reason the big 12 doesn't recognize the big 8 as their ...

MWC FOOTBALL!! Not rated yet
I love that the MWC is a so called mid major.. It is marketed as David vrs Golliath when we match up against a BCS school. It is really unfair for the ...

big 8 and big 12 are the same, historically Not rated yet
"The only conference the SEC has lost more bowl games than won against is the Big-8 which doesn't exist any more."

it is a notable cop-out when you ...

Stevolibido Not rated yet
If the following statement from above is true, "the Big Ten only allowed one team to play in a bowl game up until 1976. The Big Ten Champ played in the ...

bowl games have become nonsense Not rated yet
Bowls used to be meaningful when there were half as many as there are now. And, the BCS is a joke. I couldn't care less about all the bowls today -- including ...

More bowl Games Not rated yet
I think there should be 64 bowl games per year. Everyone plays someone. What a treat to see all the teams play. I'm a College Football Jumkie and can't ...

Scott Not rated yet
Wouldn't it be nice to have the Pac-10s bowl schedule each year? If the SEC had the Pac-10s schedule we would never lose.

Big East Has Held Own In Recent Bowl Games Not rated yet
I live in upstate NY and agree that the SEC from top to bottom is the best conference in college Football. I also believe that the Big East conference ...

AUWALKON1995 Not rated yet
THIS IS WHY THE POWERS THAT BE DO NOT WANT A PLAYOFF BECAUSE IF IT WERE 8 TEAMS 4-5 WOULD PROBABLY BE SEC. IF 16 TEAMS, 8-9 WOULD BE SEC. I GET SO TIRED ...

OSUFAN Not rated yet
heres a link everyone should check out for some more facts about the best conference.

http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/120609aac.html
...

Big Ten Has Some Hilarious Wins Over SEC In Bowls Not rated yet
WOW GOOGLE THE BOWL RESULTS FROM 2002 ON. YES OHIO STATE, MY SCHOOL, HAS STRUGGLED BUT THERE ARE SOME HILARIOUS WINS THAT THE BIG TEN GOT OVER THE SEC....

Ohio State is the Best All-Around Sports School Not rated yet
Ohio State is obviously the best all-around school for athletics. In this decade alone they've been to 3 football championships, winning one (you can't ...

Pac-10 Football Having Good Year; It Needs It! Not rated yet
I heard a lot of horns blowing last night about the great pac 10 being the best college football conference. I salute them for having a good year throughout ...

Pac 10 Best Not rated yet
Your statistics are a bit skewed. The overall performance record for Pac-10 is a bit limited because the Pac-10 limited itself to the Rose Bowl only for ...

Big Ten is Ruler of the College Football Universe Not rated yet
You've picked a statistic that you knew going in would support your bias. Why not choose, for instance, the third game of the season, and see which conference ...

SHAME on the SEC!!!! Not rated yet
I noticed the SEC has been in more bowl games than the Pac 10 overall. I figured out why, if you look at the SEC out of conference opponents vs the Pac ...

One Give: SEC Fans Best Not rated yet
As a Pac-10 Fan, I will give the SEC one best (not conference strength!)

The Fans of the SEC are, not probably, but, the best in the Country. Players ...

PAC-10: Toughest Conference In the Nation! Not rated yet
http://www.collegegameballs.com/2009/05/20/2009-out-of-conference-schedule-strength-by-conference-and-team/

http://www.kiva.net/~jsagarin/sports/cfsend....

This is a great SEC Stats Site Not rated yet
Wow! I can't believe I finally found all these stats! I have been looking for 2 seasons about this very subject.

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wyo cowboy Not rated yet
2008 = head to head...Mountain West 2 - SEC 0
Nothing more to add

What about CUSA? Not rated yet
What about Conference USA...although a newer conference, they do well against most conferences in bowl games. --So Miss Fan - Bob

***300by250-...

Great Site Not rated yet
Finally someone who puts it in numbers, and the numbers don't lie. Naturally the Big 10 and ACC fans aren't very happy...because the numbers say their ...

Fair Enough (from a BE fan). Not rated yet
Hard to argue most of the facts, the SEC is the dominant football conference, much like the BE owns college basketball now (sorry ACC, but 2 teams [Duke ...

This is sooooo funny.. Not rated yet
I'm not a SEC HATER, but I do believe SEC fans are a little dilluted when talking about thier conferance. This person that put up this site is pretty ...

Undecided on Who's the Best! Not rated yet
Until each team in each conference plays each time in all of the other conferences, there is no way to determine the best team. The argument that I get ...

Time Frames and Conference Members in Bowl Win Comparison Not rated yet
I think your total bowl win comparison between the SEC and ACC are a little out of comparison. Please put in time frames and what teams composed the conferences ...

By Your Count -- Michigan is #1 All-Time Not rated yet
Just an observation.

I noticed most of the points you are making are based solely off wins and losses and records vs. and such.

***300by250-...

Educated Insight Not rated yet
I very much appreciate your educated and well researched look into this information.

I am a Big 10 guy, and more importantly an Ohio State guy. Its ...

Buckeye for life Not rated yet
This site is amazing. As a Florida resident, I have reluctantly admitted time and again that SEC is a better overall conference. What can I do? Our ...

Big 10 is simply weak Not rated yet
I live in Ohio State land yet I'm an Oklahoma fan. Take if from this outsider...your conference is simply weak. OSU is 0-for-9 against SEC teams in bowl ...

Head To Head Bowl Record Not rated yet
Cool site with a bias towards the SEC but still has a lot of good info. I'm a big ten fan but I love all college football.

It seems a little strange ...

Couple of things Not rated yet
I like how Arkansas and South Carolina joined the SEC relatively recently (1992) but, FSU joined the ACC very recently (also 1992). Also, the ACC used ...

LSU and Matt Flynn win!!! Not rated yet
"LSU quarterback Matt Flynn passed for four touchdowns as second-ranked LSU (12-2) won its second national title in five seasons."
Way to go Matt Flynn ...

Stat Sources Skewed Against SEC Not rated yet
There is an error in the win percentage calculation.

The SEC calculation is taking the 13 ties as half wins giving 6.5 wins while the ACC calculation ...

Mountain West Conference Football 2007 Bowl Record Not rated yet
You conveniently forgot the Mountain West Conference at 4-1. While you may argue that it is a lesser conference they have certainly provided teams as ...

Genius -- Forgot Mountain West Not rated yet
Ummm.... I think you forgot about the Mountain West?? they went .800 in the 2008 bowl season...? You can't just choose to ignore conferences that outperformed ...

Mountain West Conference Football Bowl Record Not rated yet
Hey elitist SEC ****

The Mountain West Conference is 4-1 in bowl games, best in the country this year. Can't wait for BYU to beat an SEC team in the ...

big12backer Not rated yet
Great site!

While I have a tremendous amount of respect for the SEC, it's not yet true that the SEC "has already clinched the top conference bowl record ...

Including Penn State Boosts Big Ten Numbers Not rated yet
Please note that the Big Ten would have a significantly worse winning percentage without the addition of Penn State. The Nittany Lions are No. 3 in the ...

your numbers are skewed Not rated yet
since the ACC and SEC have not been around for the same number of years it seems silly to compare overall bowl wins. a confrence with schools with older ...

Nonbeliever Not rated yet
the percentage that you calculated is not the win %. What u calculated was the non-losing %. To calculate the win% you cannot exclude the ties as non-...

Another good job on Top College Football Bowl Conference page Not rated yet

"But the Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College wins while they were in the Big East should be credited to the Big East."

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