Bowl Challenge Cup
The Bowl Challenge Cup is a competition among NCAA college football conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly called Division I-A, based on win-loss records in the bowl games that take place annually during December and January. The winner is the conference that has the highest winning percentage, among conferences with a minimum of three teams appearing in bowl games.
| Bowl Challenge Cup | |
|---|---|
| Given 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 | SEC (2019–20) |
The Challenge was created in 2002 by ESPN,[1] who 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; since the 2015–16 bowl season, Progressive has been the sponsor.
Participants
The ten Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) conferences that compete in the Bowl Challenge Cup are:
- Atlantic Coast Conference
- Big Ten Conference
- Big 12 Conference
- Pac-12 Conference
- Southeastern Conference
- American Athletic Conference
- Conference USA
- Mid-American Conference
- Mountain West Conference
- Sun Belt Conference
Former conferences that competed in the Bowl Challenge Cup were:
- Big East Conference, which reorganized as the American Athletic Conference
- Western Athletic Conference, until it discontinued sponsoring football following the 2012 season
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 | ACC and Big 12 (tied) | 5–3[5] | .625 | ||||||
| 2006–07 | Big East | 5–0[5] | 1.000 | ||||||
| 2007–08 | Mountain West | 4–1[1] | .800 | ||||||
| 2008–09 | Pac-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 | ||||||
| 2018–19 | Conference USA | 4–2 | .667 | ||||||
| 2019–20 | SEC | 8–2 | .800 | ||||||
| Number of Bowl Challenge Cup championships | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference | Times | Championships | ||||||
| Mountain West | 4 | 2004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11 | ||||||
| Conference USA (C-USA) | 31⁄2 | 2011–12(2), 2012–13, 2014–15, 2018–19 | ||||||
| Southeastern (SEC) | 3 | 2013–14, 2015–16, 2019–20 | ||||||
| Atlantic Coast (ACC) | 21⁄2 | 2003–04, 2005–06(1), 2016–17 | ||||||
| Big Ten | 2 | 2002–03, 2017–18 | ||||||
| American (Big East to 2013) | 1 | 2006–07 | ||||||
| Pac-12 (Pacific-10 to 2010) | 1 | 2008–09 | ||||||
| Mid-American (MAC) | 1⁄2 | 2011–12(2) | ||||||
| Big 12 | 1⁄2 | 2005–06(1) | ||||||
| Sun Belt | 0 | |||||||
| ^(1) Tied for 2005–06 championship ^(2) Tied for 2011–12 championship | ||||||||
References
- 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
- 2007 Bowl Challenge Cup standings
- 2008 Bowl Challenge Cup Standings
- Mountain West wins Bowl Challenge Cup