The 2010-2011 bowl season ended in dramatic fashion last night with the BCS National Championship on Auburn’s 22-19 win over Oregon. As we look back, we can take a few things away as sports bettors to keep in mind for next year.
First off, the state of Florida had arguably its best overall college football postseason showing ever and Florida and Florida State weren’t even in BCS bowls. The only teams that didn’t win a bowl game was Florida Atlantic, which wasn’t bowl eligible, and Miami, which was beaten by Notre Dame. It started with a victory for Florida International in the Little Caesars Bowl and ended with a New Year’s Day win for Florida in the Outback Bowl. Three Florida teams won on New Year’s Eve. South Florida held off a late Clemson surge for a 31-26 Meineke Car Care Bowl win. Central Florida picked up its first ever bowl victory with a 10-6 win over Georgia in the Liberty Bowl. And, Florida State beat South Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The state of Florida went 4-1-1 ATS and 5-1 SU in bowl games this year.
We were also reminded that the SEC West dominates the SEC East. The East had five bowl representatives this year. The only winner was Florida over Penn State, and it barely covered the spread thanks to a late interception. The rest of the SEC East went 0-4 SU and ATS, including some New Year’s Eve upsets. The SEC West reigned supreme. Auburn beat Oregon in the BCS Championship, but that wasn’t even the most notable victory. Mississippi State and Alabama had the two largest margins of victory of all bowl games, winning by 38 and 42, respectively, on New Year’s Day. And, LSU beat a strong Texas A&M 41-24 in the Cotton Bowl. The only SEC West loser was Arkansas, who came up short against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.
The last point we should take away from this bowl season is that the mid majors belonged here this year. Texas Christian, who finished second in the USA Today poll, beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Nevada beat Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. UCF took down Georgia in the Liberty Bowl. Mid major teams that were ranked in the Top 25 went 3-0 SU and 2-1 ATS against major conference teams. Now if we could only get a +1 going and people might stop complaining about the BCS system.