2023/24 College Football (CFB) Bowl Games - How Did the Power 5/4 Finish?

[Jon Joseph]

The irony continues. In its last season (sorry, Pac-2) the Pac-12 at 5-3 comes in at the top of the P5 conferences with the best bowl record. 41 bowl games in the books with one left to play Monday night in Houston when two 2024 B1G teams play for the title.

 

I appreciate the righteous comments OBD members have made about the importance or lack thereof, of bowl games; especially, in this age of opt outs. However, with few impactful out-of-conference (OOC) games played every year, bowl results will be pumped by conferences with the better records and dinged by the losing conferences as being meaningless. In this day and age of the ESPN/FOX, SEC/B1G fight for CFB Power 2 hegemony (the SEC is admittedly ahead, by quite a bit) It Just Means More to come ahead of the SEC. Especially to the ESPN and FOX marketing reps. 

 

Below are the P4 2023/24 bowl results. And the adjusted results for 2024 conference realignment. 

 

ACC - 5-6/ 5-8 with Cal and No. 24 SMU losses. A bitter end to the regular season carried on into the post-season with 3 of the ACC's ranked teams going down. No. 22 Clemson did defeat NR Kentucky in a great bowl game with 42 points scored in the 4th quarter! Clemson rebounded from 4-4 to finish 9-4 and will likely be favored to win the ACC in 2024/25. But that opener vs. Georgia in Atlanta? 

 

B12- 5-4/ 6-5 - Arizona made the B12 Commish and B12 fans happy with its defeat of off to the SEC Oklahoma. And after being blown out by Texas in the B12 champ game it was nice for the B12 to see Oklahoma State take down Texas A+M. The 'New B12' results diminished only by underdog Northwestern defeating Utah in Las Vegas. 

 

SEC - 5-4/5-6 - Two B1G wins by No. 9 Missouri and No. 11 Ole Miss, were offset by both of the Alabama schools going down and newbies Oklahoma and Texas going 0-2. By SEC standards this was not a good post-season; especially, with no SEC team playing for the 2023/24 Championship. Pawalll!

 

But with its recruiting prowess, it's history, it's administrative and fan support and yes, with continuing to play 8 conference games, I expect the SS SEC will be back at full steam as early as next season. In many respects for SEC fans it's a shame that Nick again took down Kirby. Georgia could quite easily have been 2023/24's best and most complete team.

 

B1G - 5-4 - 9-4 - How sweet it is when the four new friends bring bowl victories along with? SWEET! 41 bowl games in the books and the final Final 4 game will have the 'New B1G' finishing 10-5 in the post-season with a championship in tow. The 1st playoff title to be won by a team that played 9 conference games. And if UW wins, the first BCS/Playoff title to be won by a team without a Blue Chip Roster. 

 

A new B1G adventure awaits OREGON, UCLA, USC and UW. I can't wait and I think it is going to be great!

 

To whet your 2024/25 appetitie, how about these OOC games?

 

Clemson vs. Georgia in Atlanta/ Texas at Michigan/ Notre Dame at Texas A+M/ FSU at Notre Dame/ Florida at FSU/ Miami at Florida/ UCF at Florida/ Alabama at Wisconsin/ Houston at Oklahoma/ USC vs. LSU in Las Vegas/ UCLA at LSU (the Saturday before playing Oregon in the 1st B1G game for both) and, how about OREGON at Oregon State! (Hmmm?)

 

In 2024/25, I expect we will see a number of B1G/SEC match-ups in the first season a Real Playoff. What took so long?

[Solar]

On 1/3/2024 at 11:12 AM, Jon Joseph said:

The irony continues. In its last season (sorry, Pac-2) the Pac-12 at 5-3 comes in at the top of the P5 conferences with the best bowl record. 41 bowl games in the books with one left to play Monday night in Houston when two 2024 B1G teams play for the title.

 

I appreciate the righteous comments OBD members have made about the importance or lack thereof, of bowl games; especially, in this age of opt outs. However, with few impactful out-of-conference (OOC) games played every year, bowl results will be pumped by conferences with the better records and dinged by the losing conferences as being meaningless. In this day and age of the ESPN/FOX, SEC/B1G fight for CFB Power 2 hegemony (the SEC is admittedly ahead, by quite a bit) It Just Means More to come ahead of the SEC. Especially to the ESPN and FOX marketing reps. 

 

Below are the P4 2023/24 bowl results. And the adjusted results for 2024 conference realignment. 

 

ACC - 5-6/ 5-8 with Cal and No. 24 SMU losses. A bitter end to the regular season carried on into the post-season with 3 of the ACC's ranked teams going down. No. 22 Clemson did defeat NR Kentucky in a great bowl game with 42 points scored in the 4th quarter! Clemson rebounded from 4-4 to finish 9-4 and will likely be favored to win the ACC in 2024/25. But that opener vs. Georgia in Atlanta? 

 

B12- 5-4/ 6-5 - Arizona made the B12 Commish and B12 fans happy with its defeat of off to the SEC Oklahoma. And after being blown out by Texas in the B12 champ game it was nice for the B12 to see Oklahoma State take down Texas A+M. The 'New B12' results diminished only by underdog Northwestern defeating Utah in Las Vegas. 

 

SEC - 5-4/5-6 - Two B1G wins by No. 9 Missouri and No. 11 Ole Miss, were offset by both of the Alabama schools going down and newbies Oklahoma and Texas going 0-2. By SEC standards this was not a good post-season; especially, with no SEC team playing for the 2023/24 Championship. Pawalll!

 

But with its recruiting prowess, it's history, it's administrative and fan support and yes, with continuing to play 8 conference games, I expect the SS SEC will be back at full steam as early as next season. In many respects for SEC fans it's a shame that Nick again took down Kirby. Georgia could quite easily have been 2023/24's best and most complete team.

 

B1G - 5-4 - 9-4 - How sweet it is when the four new friends bring bowl victories along with? SWEET! 41 bowl games in the books and the final Final 4 game will have the 'New B1G' finishing 10-5 in the post-season with a championship in tow. The 1st playoff title to be won by a team that played 9 conference games. And if UW wins, the first BCS/Playoff title to be won by a team without a Blue Chip Roster. 

 

A new B1G adventure awaits OREGON, UCLA, USC and UW. I can't wait and I think it is going to be great!

 

To whet your 2024/25 appetitie, how about these OOC games?

 

Clemson vs. Georgia in Atlanta/ Texas at Michigan/ Notre Dame at Texas A+M/ FSU at Notre Dame/ Florida at FSU/ Miami at Florida/ UCF at Florida/ Alabama at Wisconsin/ Houston at Oklahoma/ USC vs. LSU in Las Vegas/ UCLA at LSU (the Saturday before playing Oregon in the 1st B1G game for both) and, how about OREGON at Oregon State! (Hmmm?)

 

In 2024/25, I expect we will see a number of B1G/SEC match-ups in the first season a Real Playoff. What took so long?

Next year will be a good year seeing B1G and SEC powers travel outside their comfort zone.

[Charles Fischer]

If we'd had a 12 team playoff this year...I cannot help but wonder how many of these teams Oregon would have beat.