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Top College Football Bowl Conference



This page is about which conference is the top college football bowl conference -- all-time. But what about the college football conference bowl record in the most recent 2007-2008 bowl season?

Here you go:

  1. SEC: 7-2


  2. Pac-10: 4-2


  3. Big 12: 5-3


  4. Big East: 3-2


  5. Big Ten: 3-5


  6. ACC: 2-6


  7. WAC: 1-3


  8. *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).


  9. 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.


Ok, now back to the historical analysis (updated through the 2007-2008 bowl season).


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 did in the year; 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).


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 2007-2008) 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 340 184 147 9 .554
Pac-10 188 98 88 2 .527
Big Ten 202 96 105 1 .478
ACC 158 79 77 2 .506
Big 8 127 63 63 1 .500
Southwest 151 63 80 8 .444
Big 12 85 41 44 0 .482
Big East 70 38 32 0 .543
WAC 96 41 54 1 .432



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 358 182 164 12 .525
Pac-10 203 105 95 3 .525
Big Ten 231 113 115 3 .496
ACC 275 142 128 5 .525
Big 12 311 148 159 4 .482
Big East 102 48 52 2 .480
WAC 62 33 27 2 .548



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!


How about 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 29 13 0 .690
Big Ten 33 20 0 .623
Big 12 13 9 0 .591
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 41 27 2 .600
Big Ten 37 25 0 .597
Big 12 39 48 3 .450
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:









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What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

All-Time Bowl Record -- Consistent Numbers  starstarstarstarstar
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 ...

THE Big Ten  starstarstarstarstar
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  starstarstarstarstar
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  starstarstarstarstar
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  starstarstarstarstar
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 ...

Big East Football Should Be Taken Seriously  starstarstarstarstar
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 ...

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

It's all Good, Loved watching the ...

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 ...

Bowl stats skewed because SEC has Geography Advantage  Not rated yet
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 ...

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 ...

SEC Academics...pathetic!  Not rated yet
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,...

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."


EDITOR'S NOTE: I ...




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