Bowl Challenge Cup

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.

Bowl Challenge Cup

Awarded for	Best college football bowl record among Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences
Country	United States
Presented by	ESPN
History
First award	2002–03
Most wins	Mountain West (5)
Most recent	The American (2024–25)

The Challenge was created in 2002 by ESPN,^[1] who also occasionally refers to it as the "Bowl Cup Challenge" when promoting it.^[2] Originally sponsored by Cooper Tire,^[3] 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 Five Atlantic Coast Conference Big Ten Conference Big 12 Conference Pac-12 Conference† Southeastern Conference

Group of Five American Athletic Conference Conference USA Mid-American Conference Mountain West Conference Sun Belt Conference

† As of the 2024 season, the Pac-12 lacks 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 after the 2012 season
• Western Athletic Conference, which has not sponsored football in FBS since the 2012 season

Results

Bowl Challenge Cup champions Bowl season Conference W L Win % Ref. 2002–03 Big Ten 5 2 .714 [4] 2003–04 ACC 5 1 .833 2004–05 Mountain West 2 1 .667 [1] 2005–06 ACC 5 3 .625 Big 12 5 3 .625 2006–07 Big East 5 0 1.000 2007–08 Mountain West 4 1 .800 [5] 2008–09 Pacific-10 5 0 1.000 [6] 2009–10 Mountain West 4 1 .800 [7] 2010–11 Mountain West 4 1 .800 [8] 2011–12 Conference USA 4 1 .800 MAC 4 1 .800 2012–13 Conference USA 4 1 .800 2013–14 SEC 7 3 .700 2014–15 Conference USA 4 1 .800 2015–16 SEC 9 2 .818 2016–17 ACC 9 3 .750 [9] 2017–18 Big Ten 7 1 .875 2018–19 Conference USA 4 2 .667 2019–20 SEC 8 2 .800 2020–21 Big 12 5 0 1.000 [10] 2021–22 Mountain West 5 1 .833 [11] 2022–23 MAC 4 2 .667 [12] 2023–24 Big Ten 6 4 .600 [13][14] 2024–25 American 6 2 .750 [15]

Number of Bowl Challenge Cup championships Conference Times Championships Mountain West 5 2004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2021–22 Conference USA (C-USA) 3+1⁄2 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2018–19 Big Ten 3 2002–03, 2017–18, 2023–24 Southeastern (SEC) 3 2013–14, 2015–16, 2019–20 Atlantic Coast (ACC) 2+1⁄2 2003–04, 2005–06, 2016–17 American (Big East to 2013) 2 2006–07, 2024–25 Big 12 1+1⁄2 2005–06, 2020–21 Mid-American (MAC) 1+1⁄2 2011–12, 2022–23 Pac-12 (Pacific-10 to 2010) 1 2008–09 Sun Belt 0   Italics designate a shared title (tie).