College football fans are a weird breed. They will cheer on their teams and mock rivals in their conferences until their heart’s content. However, when it comes to bowl season, there are conference bragging rights at stake. We have all heard the “SEC! SEC! SEC!” or “ACC! ACC! ACC!” chants that come with a big bowl win over a rival conference. Proving their conference is among the elite is important and a win for a regular season rival in the postseason can feel as good a win for their own team (I’m allowed to use hyperbole occasionally). So let us take a look at the results from this year’s bowl games and see which conferences have earned those bragging rights and which conference can sit with its tail between its legs for one more year.
Bowl teams per conference
Let us begin by breaking down how many bowl teams each conference had in bowl games in the 2022/23 season:
- SEC – 11
- ACC – 9
- Big Ten – 9
- Big 12 – 8
- Pac-12 – 7
- American – 7
- Sun Belt – 7
- Mountain West -7
- MAC – 6
- C-USA – 6
- Independent – 5
The usual suspects occupy the top spots with the Power Five conferences dominating. The SEC led the way with 11 teams in bowl games, while the ACC and Big Ten sent nine teams each to compete for a bowl. With eight and seven teams the Big 12 and Pac-12 respectively round out the Power Five conferences. Early season upset kings, the Sun Belt sent seven teams, while five independent teams also went bowling.
Bowl record by win percentage
| CONFERENCE | RECORD | WINNING PERCENTAGE |
| MAC | 4-2 | 66.70% |
| INDEPENDENT | 3-2 | 60.00% |
| AMERICAN | 4-3 | 57.10% |
| ACC | 5-4 | 55.60% |
| BIG TEN | 5-4 | 55.50% |
| SEC | 6-5 | 54.50% |
| C-USA | 3-3 | 50.00% |
| MOUNTAIN WEST | 3-4 | 42.90% |
| PAC-12 | 3-4 | 42.90% |
| SUN BELT | 3-4 | 42.90% |
| BIG 12 | 2-6 | 33.30% |
The MAC were the most successful conference this bowl season by winning percentage. They won four of their six games with wins for Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Buffalo, and Ohio. Independent teams also fared well, winning at a 60 percent clip. That included wins for the likes of Notre Dame and BYU.
THE TCU HORNED FROGS ARE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND! 🐸🏆 pic.twitter.com/vOkvqKLz9g
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) January 1, 2023
With a 33 percent record, the Big 12 was the worst performing conference in bowl season. However, they will have a team in the College Football Playoff National Championship when TCU takes on Georgia.
The conference with the most wins was the SEC. However, they also had the most teams competing in bowl games.
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