Auburn’s Michael Dyer (5) is tackled short of the goal line by Oregon’s Eddie Pleasant (11) during the second half of the BCS National Championship NCAA college football game Monday in Glendale, Ariz. Auburn won 22-19. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)The Southeastern Conference did not overwhelm the college football world in bowl games the past few weeks, going 5-5, but the league has reason to boast yet another year. Auburn’s 22-19 win over Oregon in Monday night’s BCS championship game extended the SEC’s record to five consecutive national titles, and the league went 3-0 on New Year’s Day, long a standard for couch-potato judges.
Three of the league’s bowl losses occurred at the bottom of the SEC tie-in ladder — in the Music City, Liberty and BBVA Compass bowls.
The SEC is 41-24 in bowl games since 2003 and has not suffered a losing postseason mark in any of those years. The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 compiled losing bowl records within the past month, while the Pac-10 had a losing mark in 2009.
Now that the 35 bowls have come and gone, here is one view of the best and worst that they offered:
WORST START — Six of the seven bowls before Christmas were decided by three touchdowns or more, not that we can name any of them. The only one with relative appeal was the Las Vegas Bowl, which didn’t take long to dull as Boise State triumphed 26-3 over a Utah team that had more penalties (10) than first downs (eight).