Bowl standings: Look which conference leads

Conference standings in bowl games are always fun and often revealing. I put a lot of stock in them for this reason. It’s the best we’ve got. There are so few interconference matchups, data on the comparisons of the league is limited. Then the bowls give us a bevy of games that we can’t get in September.

Beating Middle Tennessee and North Texas and Eastern Michigan pad records. They do not pad resumes. Beating LSU and Michigan and TCU do pad resumes.

So now that we’re past New Year’s Day, let’s check out the standings. First, the major conferences:

1. ACC 4-2: Virginia Tech beat Rutgers, Florida State beat Northern Illinois, Clemson beat LSU and Georgia Tech beat Southern Cal. North Carolina State lost to Vanderbilt and Duke lost to Cincinnati. Games left:

2. Big East 2-1: Cincinnati beat Duke and Syracuse beat West Virginia. Rutgers lost to Virginia Tech. Games left: Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi.

3. SEC 3-2: Georgia beat Nebraska, South Carolina beat Michigan and Vanderbilt beat N.C. State. LSU lost to Clemson and Mississippi State lost to Northwestern. Games left: Alabama vs. Notre Dame, Ole Miss vs. Pitt, Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma and Florida vs. Louisville.

4. Big 12 4-3: Baylor beat UCLA, OSU beat Purdue, Texas beat Oregon State and Texas Tech beat Minnesota. West Virginia lost to Syracuse, Iowa State lost to Tulsa and TCU lost to Michigan State. Games left: Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M and Kansas State vs. Oregon.

5. Pac-12 3-4: Arizona State beat Navy, Stanford beat Wisconsin and Arizona beat Nevada. Washington lost to Boise State, Oregon State lost to Texas, USC lost to Georgia Tech and UCLA lost to Baylor. Two of the Pac-12 wins came against non-major conference teams. Games left: Oregon vs. Kansas State.

6. Big Ten 2-5: Northwestern beat Mississippi State and Michigan State beat TCU. Nebraska lost to Georgia, Purdue lost to OSU, Michigan lost to South Carolina, Wisconsin lost to Stanford and Minnesota lost to Texas Tech.

Now, the minor conferences:

1. Western Athletic 2-0: San Jose State beat Bowling Green and Utah State beat Toledo.

2. Conference USA 4-1: Tulsa beat Iowa State, Central Florida beat Ball State, Rice beat Air Force and SMU beat Fresno State. East Carolina lost to Louisiana-Lafayette.

3. Mid-American 2-4: Central Michigan beat Western Kentucky and Ohio beat Louisiana-Monroe. Northern Illinois lost to Florida State, Ball State lost to UCF, Toledo lost to Utah State and Bowling Green lost to San Jose State. Games left: Kent State vs. Arkansas State.