one thing i was interested in is relative positioning of the bowl teams within their conferences. i.e. top level MAC team vs. mediocre SEC team (mediocre in relation to other SEC teams),
i looked at bowl games since and including 2013 (randomly picked year... not ancient history, reasonable sample size.
Top teams within conference,
> 79% all-in winning percentage,
Big 12 36% ATS
Pac 12 38%
MAC and MWC 20% each.
AAC 67%
USA 100% (these last 2 = small sample size)...
mediocre teams within conference (<65% WP)
SEC 13-5 72% ATS... been a tiny loser the last 2 years. was perfect for 4 years before that.
since and including 2004 (data mining, but it was 50% for a few years beforehand), "winning % <55%" = 92-62 (60%) ATS.... hasn't had a major losing year back and including 2001.
conference USA teams with winning % above 79% are 100% ATS in bowl games since 2012........ USA doesn't have many excellent teams, hence not that many teams with that WP.. and the USA teams have changed alot over time.......... i think i was clear on my parameters.