Wisconsin wins as expected . Big 10 is just better than any other conf top to bottom . It has become what the SEC used to be . Pac 10 probably finishes with one bowl win as expected .
The previous record was set in 2008 when Big Ten teams went 1-6. That year Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan State all suffered losses in their bowl games while Iowa was the only team to walk away victorious.
This year the Pac-12 saw Oregon, UCLA, Arizona, Stanford, Washington State, Arizona State, USC and Washington all lose and the Utes be the only team to pick up a win. Stanford, Washington State, USC and Washington were all ranked in the top 20 in the final College Football Playoff rankings and fell to other ranked opponents.
The Pac-12 was outscored by a combined 87 points in the nine games with Washington State's 25-point loss to Michigan State being the most lopsided of the defeats. Stanford and Arizona lost by two and three points respectively and Arizona State, UCLA and USC lost by 21, 18 and 17 points respectively.
Pac12 sent 9 teams to bowl games. Eight lost. only Utah was able to win. Record for a Power 5 conference.
https://www.si.com/college-football/2017/12/30/pac-12-worst-ever-bowl-season-power-5-conference
Looks like poor ol' Oyarde did the right thing taking the Undefeated team to cover the spread . Auburn trails by 14 with 6 minutes to play .
One of the great love affairs in college football history comes to an end Monday when an amazing group of players and an incredible staff of coaches come together for one final game as the unbeaten 12th-ranked UCF Knights take on No. 7 Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
The torrid love affair started two years ago when Frost and his staff took over a winless and grinless team with a broken spirit and bereft of hope. Longtime former coach George O’Leary’s final season turned into such a mess that O’Leary retired early and left the wayward team to a group of bickering assistants who were pointing fingers and fighting among themselves. The result was an 0-12 season and a locker room that was fractured and dysfunctional.
“We were a team that didn’t care about each other,” Griffin remembers. “It wasn’t a team at all; it was a bunch of different groups and a bunch of different individuals who were worried about themselves. And it wasn’t just the players who were divided; it was the coaches and the players and everybody.”
The game is important for many reasons — past, present and future. A UCF victory would make this team the first one in school history to finish unbeaten. It would also serve notice to the College Football Playoff Committee, which snubbed the Knights for much of this season and ranked multiple two- and three-loss Power 5 teams ahead of them. If the Knights beat SEC powerhouse Auburn, it would catapult them into the playoff conversation heading into next season.
The magnitude of the game and the dedication to the players is why Frost insisted on coaching this team in a bowl game even though he accepted the Nebraska job a month ago. There were some naysayers who believed Frost wouldn’t be fully committed to coaching UCF while also trying to recruit for Nebraska. They thought he would just be a figurehead coach, showing up at UCF practices periodically whenever convenient while offensive coordinator Troy Walters ran the team on a day-to-day basis.
Frost quickly dispelled that notion on the first day of bowl practice when, even though he was battling the flu, he held a news conference, ran UCF’s practice, jumped on a private jet, flew to California on a Nebraska recruiting visit, flew overnight back to Orlando, landed at 6 a.m. and ran UCF’s second practice … while vomiting on the sideline.
“Our whole staff’s No. 1 priority has been and always will be the players we’re coaching,” says Frost, who didn’t miss a single bowl practice. “That’s why we’re in this business. We feel the right thing to do is to be 100 percent committed and dialed in to helping these young guys win this bowl game.”
One last game.
One last flame.
One more chance.
One more dance.
“It’s going to be hard to say goodbye,” Griffin says.
It always is when the love is so strong and the ties are so binding.
One team, one family.
One last time.
UCF are NCAA Football champions .
They weren't even Top Ten in the final poll (ranked #12 despite being the only undefeated team in the country- AP did have them #10). Beating Auburn shows they were legit.
Unfortunately small schools usually don't have the financial resources to keep people around when they do achieve success like this.