Cause they stink so much:
Tramel: Bowl standings dominated by SEC
By Berry Tramel
email
I got a great email from a guy last night. Said he was tired of all the SEC bowl hype. Said of course the SEC wins a bunch of bowl games; theyre always playing underdogs.
I wrote him back and said theres a reason the SEC is always playing underdogs. Theyre favored to beat everybody.
And in related news, the Big 12 stinks.
What else to say after Baylors 52-42 loss to Central Florida. The Sooners scored 12 on Baylor; UCF scored 40 more than that. Doesnt make you feel good about the Sugar Bowl tonight.
Anyway, most of the bowl results are in, and here are the records for the conferences:
1. SEC 5-1: The SEC still has Alabama, Auburn and Vanderbilt (against Houston) to play. But again, the SEC has been impressive.
2. Pac-12 6-3: If Stanford had won the Rose Bowl, the Pac-12 would have at least had a chance to claim best bowl season. But not now.
3. American 2-2: Yep, the beleaguered old Big East has two good wins * *Central Florida, plus Louisvilles rout of Miami. And even the Americans losses werent awful. Rutgers played Notre Dame tough, and Cincinnati at least came back some on North Carolina.
4. Big 12 2-2: If Baylor had won, the Big 12 would be looking halfway decent. Now, the Big 12 has to rely on OU and OSU against SEC foes in tough situations. OU vs. Alabama, OSU in a bowl (Cotton) that the Big 12 never wins.
5. Big Ten 2-4: The Big Ten would be a disaster without Michigan States Rose Bowl win. As it is now, the Orange Bowl (Clemson-Ohio State) could be referendum on who gets the edge on the ACC/Big Ten debate.
6. ACC 3-6: If the ACC sweeps its final two bowls (Clemson-Ohio State, Florida State-Auburn), its a decent show. If it gets swept, its a disaster. And Ill say this. Same as Baylors loss doesnt make you feel good about OUs and OSUs chances, the ACCs 3-6 bowl record doesnt make you feel good about Florida States chances against Auburn.
7. Independents 2-1: Notre Dame and Navy won, Brigham Young lost.
8. Mountain West 3-3: ColoradoStates comeback against Washington got the Mounties off to a great start. But they fizzled from there.
9. Conference USA 3-3: Marshalls victory over Maryland was the crowning achievement.
10. Sun Belt 1-0: The Sun Belt still has Arkansas State alive. How did the Sun Belt get only two bowl teams? Only Western Kentucky was passed over with a winning record.
11. Mid-American 0-4: Total flop, though Ball State remains alive, against Arkansas State.
Now, another way to measure is to count only games against fellow BCS-conference schools. That eliminates some of the padding, which goes to the heart of the email writer at the top of this post.
Here are the standings if you count only games against fellow major conference schools:
1. SEC 4-1: SEC could finish with a flourish.
2. Pac-12 3-2: Pac had four games against Mountain West/BYU foes.
3. American 2-2: Good showing, but now Louisville is leaving.
4. Big 12 2-2: The Big 12 locks seemed to be a Baylor win and a Texas Tech loss.
5. Big Ten 3-3: The Big Ten went 2-2 on New Years Day; not too many years will it do better than that.
6. ACC 2-5: The ACCs wins are over Minnesota and Cincinnati, who are not to be confused with the Vikings and the Bengals.
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