In the last two years, the Big East's best card to play in the annual NCAA conference rankings has been a strong record and bowl games. That took a bit of a hit this season, but the Big East still finished with a 4-2 record in its bowl games, with a 2-2 mark in games against BCS conference opponents.

The conference lost its two bowl games against ranked opponents, with Pittsburgh falling to Oregon State and league champ Cincinnati struggling against Virginia Tech. Overall, the ACC and especially the Big 10 have fared much worse in bowls, with 4-6 and 1-5 records, respectively.

The Pac-10 finished a perfect 5-0 in bowls, including a 4-0 mark against BCS opponents. The SEC is next-best, with a 5-2 mark (4-1 vs. BCS) heading into Thursday's national championship game. The Big 12 is 3-2 with Texas and Oklahoma still waiting to play.

Non-BCS schools went 1-4 against BCS opponents, with the only win coming from Utah's showing against Alabama. Conference USA and the Mountain West both had 3-2 records in bowl games, significantly better than the WAC (1-4) and the MAC (0-4). More to come ...