Bowl season has just about come to an end. Long live bowl season.
The Big 12, AAC and Mountain West were the unofficial conference winners, going a combined 11-5 with each winning 66% of its games.
The Big Ten saved its bowl season with Ohio State's 48-45 win over Utah. It left the Pac-12 winless in five bowl tries.
The SEC made up for its poor start with two more wins Saturday to finish 5-6, though Ole Miss dropped the Sugar Bowl to Baylor. And it put both teams in the national title game.
We tracked conference bowl performance both straight-up and against the spread (via Bet Labs).
2021 Bowl Records by Conference
| Conference | Straight-Up | ATS |
|---|---|---|
| Conference USA | 3-5 | 4-4 |
| MAC | 3-5 | 4-4 |
| AAC | 3-1 | 3-1 |
| Independent | 2-2 | 1-3 |
| Mountain West | 5-1 | 4-2 |
| Sun Belt | 3-1 | 2-2 |
| Pac-12 | 0-5 | 1-4 |
| Big Ten | 6-4 | 5-4-1 |
| Big 12 | 5-2 | 5-2 |
| SEC | 5-7 | 5-6-1 |
| ACC | 2-4 | 2-4 |
Results for Favorites/Underdogs
| Straight-Up | ATS | |
|---|---|---|
| Favorites | 27-10 | 21-15-1 |
| Underdogs | 10-27 | 15-21-1 |
| Overs/Unders | 18-19 | N/A |
Results for Every Bowl Game
| Game | Cover |
|---|---|
| Middle Tennessee 31, Toledo 24 | MTSU +9 |
| Coastal Carolina 47, Northern Illinois 41 | NIU +11.5 |
| Western Kentucky 59, Appalachian State 38 | WKU +2 |
| Fresno State 31, UTEP 24 | UTEP +12.5 |
| UAB 31, BYU 28 | UAB +5.5 |
| Liberty 56, Eastern Michigan 20 | Liberty -9.5 |
| Utah State 24, Oregon State 13 | USU +7.5 |
| ULL 36, Marshall 21 | ULL -4.5 |
| Tulsa 30, Old Dominion 17 | Tulsa -8.5 |
| Wyoming 52, Kent State 38 | WYO -3.5 |
| SDSU 38, UTSA 24 | SDSU -2.5 |
| Army 24, Missouri 22 | Mizzou +7 |
| Miami Ohio 27, North Texas 14 | MOH -1.5 |
| UFC 29, Florida 17 | UCF +7 |
| Georgia State 51, Ball State 20 | GSU -5.5 |
| Western Michigan 52, Nevada 25 | WMU -7 |
| Houston 17, Auburn 13 | Houston -1.5 |
| Air Force 31, Louisville 28 | AF -1.5 |
| Texas Tech 34, Miss. State 7 | TTU +10 |
| Minnesota 18, WVU 6 | Minn. -5.5 |
| Maryland 54, Va. Tech 10 | MD -4.5 |
| Clemson 20, Iowa State 13 | Clem -1.5 |
| Oklahoma 47, Oregon 32 | Okla. -7 |
| South Carolina 38, UNC 21 | SC +13 |
| Purdue 48, Tennessee 45 | Purdue +8.5 |
| Michigan State 31, Pitt 21 | MSU -3.5 |
| Wisconsin 20, Arizona State 13 | ASU +7.5 |
| Wake Forest 38, Rutgers 10 | WF -17.5 |
| Central Michigan 24, Wash. State 21 | CMU +6.5 |
| Alabama 27, Cincinnati 6 | Bama -13 |
| Georgia 34, Michigan 11 | UGA -7.5 |
| Arkansas 24, Penn State 10 | Ark -3 |
| Kentucky 20, Iowa 17 | UK -3 |
| Oklahoma State 37, Notre Dame 35 | OKST -1 |
| Ohio State 48, Utah 45 | Utah +4 |
| Baylor 21, Ole Miss 7 | Baylor +1 |
| Kansas State 42, LSU 20 | KSU -9.5 |
Bowl Performance Since 2005
Records entering 2021 bowl season.
Against the Spread
The SEC had been the best conference in the country against the spread entering this bowl season, returning bettors 9.2% on their investment across every game.
The MAC has always been a popular fade in bowl season, and for good reason. They're just 31-45-4 against the spread since 2005.
| Conference | ATS Record | ROI |
|---|---|---|
| SEC | 88-70-1 | 9.2% |
| MWC | 49-40-0 | 6.8% |
| Independent | 23-17-0 | 10.9% |
| Big East | 23-18-1 | 9% |
| Big Ten | 66-63-1 | -0.2% |
| Sun Belt | 27-26-2 | -0.8% |
| CUSA | 52-50-1 | -1.3% |
| WAC | 13-15-1 | -10.7% |
| ACC | 72-71-3 | -2.2% |
| American Athletic | 22-31-0 | -18.6% |
| Pac-12 | 50-59-0 | -10.6% |
| Big 12 | 53-64-0 | -11.7% |
| MAC | 31-45-4 | -19.7% |
Straight-Up Results
Using moneyline results gives us another look into conference performance. Again, the MAC has been a complete disaster — just 10 of 56 underdogs have won outright and favorites are 13-11.
The Sun Belt has actually been the best for bettors (of any active conference anyway — RIP Big East Football).
The Big 12 has been much better straight-up than against the spread, but is buoyed by a pair of huge upsets — Oklahoma (+613) over Alabama in the 2014 Sugar Bowl; Texas Tech (+644) over Arizona State that same year; and, Texas (+440) over an unmotivated Georgia team in 2019.
| Conference | Straight-Up | ROI |
|---|---|---|
| SEC | 101-58-0 | 11.7% |
| Big 12 | 61-56-0 | 12.7% |
| Sun Belt | 33-22-0 | 26.8% |
| MWC | 51-38-0 | 15.4% |
| Big East | 27-15-0 | 28.8% |
| Conference USA | 50-53-0 | 6% |
| Independent | 22-18-0 | 14.2% |
| Big Ten | 57-73-0 | -1.4% |
| WAC | 12-17-0 | -18.5% |
| AAC | 20-33-0 | -22.5% |
| ACC | 64-82-0 | -11.6% |
| Pac-12 | 55-54-0 | -17.5% |
| MAC | 23-57-0 | -40.7% |
