The Pac-12 Conference didn't put a team in the College Football Playoff last season and was one loss away from throwing a gutter ball when it went bowling.
A 1-8 record in bowl games was the worst ever for a Power Five conference, breaking the Big Ten's 1-6 mark of futility from 2008. Utah's 30-14 victory over West Virginia in the Heart of Dallas Bowl prevented a shutout considering that UCLA, USC, Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon all lost their bowl games.
Several coaches said a conference's bowl record was not a good measure of its relative strength.