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We started season with 41 bowl games scheduled. A few days before the announcement of the matchups, another bowl was added so all the eligible teams and Hawaii (6-7) could have a place to play. Hawaii ended up dropping out of the Hawaii Bowl at the last minute due to COVID-19. That became the first of five total bowl games that were canceled entirely because of roster issues due to a combination of coronavirus, injuries, opt-outs and transfers.
The Sun Bowl and Arizona Bowl each lost a team within a day of each other, so the two remaining teams played in the Sun Bowl, while the Arizona Bowl was canceled. The Gator Bowl also found a replacement for Texas A&M after it had to drop out. Rutgers called its team back from a holiday break and replaced the Aggies in the game against Wake Forest. The Scarlet Knights ended up being the only team below .500 to play in a bowl game.
I always say that there is no worse way to judge conferences that bowl games because of all the roster/coaching staff turmoil that can happen between the regular season and the postseason. Also, there are often long layoffs. You just never know what you are going to get from any given team in a bowl game.
With that said, here is how the conference performed in this year’s postseason.
Here is a breakdown of how each conference performed and what was expected based on the odds for each bowl game.
Mountain West
5-1
The Mountain West is the champion of bowl season. Nevada was the only team to lose, falling to Western Michigan in the…
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