Bowl Challenge Cup
| Awarded for | Best college football bowl record among Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences. |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | ESPN |
| History | |
| First award | 2002–03 |
| Most wins | Mountain West (4) |
| Most recent | Big Ten |
The Bowl Challenge Cup was created by ESPN in 2002[1] as a competition among the conferences in the NCAA's Division I-A, now called the Football Bowl Subdivision, to see which one was the best in the college football bowl games that take place. The competition has been used as a gauge to compare which conference has done the best in the post-season bowl matchups. ESPN also occasionally refers to it as the "Bowl Cup Challenge" when promoting it.[2]
Originally sponsored by Cooper Tire,[3] ESPN went several years without a sponsor for the Bowl Challenge Cup. However, the network has continued to post the standings during college bowl games on ESPN and the Cup makes regular appearances during the bowl season. During the 2015–16 bowl games and 2016–17 bowl games, Progressive was the sponsor for the trophy.
Conferences competing
The ten Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) conferences that compete in the Bowl Challenge Cup are:
- American Athletic Conference (formerly the Big East Conference)
- Atlantic Coast Conference
- Big Ten Conference
- Big 12 Conference
- Conference USA
- Mid-American Conference
- Mountain West Conference
- Pac-12 Conference
- Southeastern Conference
- Sun Belt Conference
The Western Athletic Conference also competed for the Bowl Challenge Cup until it discontinued sponsoring football following the 2012 season.
Qualifications
In order to qualify to win the trophy, a conference has to have the highest winning percentage with a minimum of three teams from that conference.
Results
| Bowl Challenge Cup champions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowl season | Conference | Record | Win % | ||||||
| 2002–03 | Big Ten | 5–2[4] | .714 | ||||||
| 2003–04 | ACC | 5–1[5] | .833 | ||||||
| 2004–05 | Mountain West | 2–1[5] | .667 | ||||||
| 2005–06 | Big 12 and ACC (tied) | 5–3[5] | .625 | ||||||
| 2006–07 | Big East | 5–0[5] | 1.000 | ||||||
| 2007–08 | Mountain West | 4–1[1] | .800 | ||||||
| 2008–09 | Pacific-10 | 5–0[6] | 1.000 | ||||||
| 2009–10 | Mountain West | 4–1[1] | .800 | ||||||
| 2010–11 | Mountain West | 4–1[7] | .800 | ||||||
| 2011–12 | C-USA and MAC (tied) | 4–1 | .800 | ||||||
| 2012–13 | Conference USA | 4–1 | .800 | ||||||
| 2013–14 | SEC | 7–3 | .700 | ||||||
| 2014–15 | Conference USA | 4–1 | .800 | ||||||
| 2015–16 | SEC | 9–2 | .818 | ||||||
| 2016–17 | ACC | 9–3 | .750 | ||||||
| 2017–18 | Big Ten | 7-1 | .875 | ||||||
| Number of Bowl Challenge Cup championships | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference | Times | Championships | ||||||
| Mountain West | 4 | 2004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11 | ||||||
| Conference USA (C-USA) | 3 | 2011–12(2), 2012–13, 2014–15 | ||||||
| Atlantic Coast (ACC) | 3 | 2003–04, 2005–06(1), 2016–17 | ||||||
| Big Ten | 2 | 2002–03, 2017-18 | ||||||
| Southeastern (SEC) | 2 | 2013–14, 2015–16 | ||||||
| Big 12 | 1 | 2005–06(1) | ||||||
| American (Big East to 2013) | 1 | 2006–07 | ||||||
| Mid-American (MAC) | 1 | 2011–12(2) | ||||||
| Pac-12 (Pacific-10 to 2010) | 1 | 2008–09 | ||||||
| Sun Belt | 0 | |||||||
| ^(1) Tied for 2005–06 championship ^(2) Tied for 2011–12 championship | ||||||||
References
- ^ a b c Mountain West Posts Top Bowl Win Percentage Among FBS Subdivision Conferences
- ^ http://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/18274312/espn-football-power-index-predicts-which-conference-win-bowl-season
- ^ "Cooper Tire's Ultimate Bowl Tour Invites Football Fans to Go for the Big Score" (Press release). PR Newswire. August 1, 2004. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
- ^ Bowl Challenge Cup 2002-03
- ^ a b c d 2007 Bowl Challenge Cup standings
- ^ 2008 Bowl Challenge Cup Standings
- ^ Mountain West wins Bowl Challenge Cup