The Bowl Challenge Cup is a competition among NCAA college football conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly called Division I-A, based on win–loss records in the bowl games that take place annually during December and January. The winner is the conference that has the highest winning percentage, among conferences with a minimum of three teams appearing in bowl games.
The Challenge was created in 2002 by ESPN, who also occasionally refers to it as the "Bowl Cup Challenge" when promoting it. Originally sponsored by Cooper Tire, ESPN went several years without a sponsor; since the 2015–16 bowl season, Progressive has been the sponsor.
Participants The ten Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) conferences that compete in the Bowl Challenge Cup are:
Power conferences Atlantic Coast Conference Big Ten Conference Big 12 Conference Southeastern Conference
Other conferences American Conference Conference USA Mid-American Conference Mountain West Conference Pac-12 Conference Sun Belt Conference
Since the 2024 season, the Pac-12 has lacked a sufficient number of teams to meet the minimum number of bowl games required for Bowl Challenge Cup honors.
Former conferences that competed in the Bowl Challenge Cup were: Big East Conference, which reorganized as the American Athletic Conference (now known as the American Conference) after the 2012 season Western Athletic Conference, which has not sponsored football in FBS since the 2012 season
Results
+ Bowl Challenge Cup championsBowl seasonConference Win %Ref. 2002–03 Big Ten 2003–04 ACC 2004–05 Mountain West 2005–06 ACC Big 12 2006–07 Big East 2007–08 Mountain West 2008–09 Pacific-10 2009–10 Mountain West 2010–11 Mountain West 2011–12 Conference USA MAC 2012–13 Conference USA 2013–14 SEC 2014–15 Conference USA 2015–16 SEC 2016–17 ACC 2017–18 Big Ten 2018–19 Conference USA 2019–20 SEC 2020–21 Big 12 2021–22 Mountain West 2022–23 MAC 2023–24 Big Ten 2024–25 American 2025–26 Big Ten
+ Number of Bowl Challenge Cup championshipsConferenceTimesChampionshipsMountain West52004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2021–22Big Ten42002–03, 2017–18, 2023–24, 2025–26Conference USA (C-USA)2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2018–19Southeastern (SEC)32013–14, 2015–16, 2019–20Atlantic Coast (ACC)2003–04, 2005–06, 2016–17American (Big East to 2013)22006–07, 2024–25Big 122005–06, 2020–21Mid-American (MAC)2011–12, 2022–23Pac-12 (Pacific-10 to 2010)12008–09Sun Belt0 Italics designate a shared title (tie).
References
External links Bowl Challenge Cup trophy via Shutterstock