Which conference will finish with the best record?
Greetings, BBN!
Conference championships have come and gone, the CFP field has been selected, bowl bids have been given out, Christmas is around the corner, and all that is left is to reward all teams 6-6 or better with bowls all around the country to represent their conference in a postseason opportunity.
Oh, and of course, crown one of 12 special teams as the 2024 national champions.
There are many more conferences out there than just the SEC and Big Ten, and several of them will have a chance to shine this holiday season. While those leagues and the ACC are going to battle with 12+ teams, quantity does not always outweigh quality.
Case in point: the ACC is 0-3 so far, mostly due to the CFP 1st round. Plenty of football left to be played, though.
Let’s take a look at the standings so far on the night of December 22nd:
College Football Bowl Season Standings
Notes:
- Only two independents and one “Pac-12 minus 10 equals 2” team are bowling this postseason, suggesting their final record won’t be very strong. One of them, however, namely the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, are currently three wins away from the national championship after Friday night’s 1st round win over Indiana in South Bend.
- Of the Big Ten’s 12 postseason teams, four of them found their way into the CFP bracket. Three of them are in the quarterfinals—making up 37.5% of the remaining field. One is guaranteed to reach the semifinals after the Ohio State-Oregon Rose Bowl.
- So many of Marshall’s players entered the transfer portal that they had to be replaced in the Independence Bowl by 5-7 Louisiana Tech. Would’ve been funny to see four or five Marshall players, a couple of trainers and coaches, the mascot, and some random fans take the field instead, but with the opponent representing the might of our nation’s military, they probably made the right choice handing the bid off to another team.
- Miami-OH and Colorado State are playing for the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, Iowa State, and Miami are facing off in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, and South Carolina and Illinois are in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. These are causing me to ask a lot of questions? Will they pour a Gatorade jug of Cheez-Its and citruses on the winning coach? Will they pour a jug of Pop-Tarts? Will Snoop Dogg be on the trophy, and will he get a Gatorade bath too?