2011/2012 College Bowl Games: A look at conference performance thus far

Before the bowls started, I wrote up what records Vegas and my computer expected each conference to have as a way of judging performance once the games were complete.  As I wrote then, if a conference has a great record, that doesn't necessarily mean it is a great conference if they were all games they should have won.  Similarly if a conference has a poor record, the matchups could again mean they aren't that bad.

Below is the original table I posted updated with the results through 12/30 plus the Texas A&M/Northwestern game showing the actual records thus far in the last column.  This table will be kept up to date here.

Conference	Vegas	Computer	Most Likely	Thru 12/30
SEC	7-0	7-0	5-2	1-0
Big-12	6-2	7-1	6-2	5-1
Sun Belt	2-1	1-2	1-2	1-1
Mtn West	3-2	3-2	3-2	2-3
ACC	4-4	2-6	3-5	2-2
Independents	1-1	1-1	1-1	1-1
MAC	2-3	4-1	3-2	3-1
C-USA	2-3	3-2	3-2	2-1
Big-East	2-3	1-4	2-3	1-1
WAC	1-2	1-2	1-2	0-3
B1G	3-6	1-9	4-6	1-2
Pac-12	1-6	3-4	3-4	0-3

No major surprises with most conference at or around what was expected.

The WAC is finished and they went 0-3 rather than the expected 1-2, Utah State losing the 1 point game to Ohio U.  The Mountain West is also finished and they too went a game under expected, 2-3 rather than 3-2.  Both of these conferences doing slightly worse than expected confirms they are among the weaker conferences.

Since there are still a bunch of key games to play, particularly for the big conferences, it is too early to make any real statements there, but the Big-12 is right on target with 2 games to go, the Big-12 has a bunch of games to go but early is on target, and the Pac-12 needs some help to get on target.

More later.