The Southeastern Conference didn't dazzle in bowl games this past season, going 5-5 against the pointspread, but the league remained the runaway leader in beating the number in postseason play since 2006.
SEC teams are 24-12 against spread the past four postseasons, easily the best record among Bowl Championship Series teams.
The Mountain West went 4-1 this past postseason, the best record of any league. The MWC improved its four-year record against the number to 11-8.
Then there is the Mid-American Conference, which is a dismal 3-14.
No team covered the spread this past season like Connecticut. The Huskies were 10-2 against the number, and if you include their victory as an underdog against South Carolina in the Papajohns.com Bowl, the Huskies finished 11-2.
Connecticut's strong record against the spread should come as no surprise. The Huskies beat the spread 55.8% of the time from 2000-08. The leader during that span was Boise State at 63%, and the Broncos were 9-5 against the number this past season.
San Jose State was only 2-10 against the spread, worst among Division I-A teams.
The straight-up records of each conference for the past four postseasons are after the jump. Click a chart for an enlarged view.
So even though the ACC gets bashed it looks like the Big Ten is the worst performing league in the bowls. Surprisingly the Big East going 16-6 is quite good. Interesting.
Posted by: InTheBleachers | January 20, 2010 at 03:43 AM
Not to completely detract from the Big East--I, too, am surprised they have a .700+ bowl winning percentage--but can't much of that be attributed to their abysmal bowl package? They've got an automatic BCS bid, the Gator Bowl, and then a bunch of junk against MAC-level teams, right? Considering the SEC put teams into two BCS games in each of the years listed above, and considering they play the best of the Big 12 and Big 10 in the Cotton, Capital One, and Outback bowls, their record becomes even more remarkable.
Posted by: Manuel | January 20, 2010 at 06:59 AM