Listed below is the major football conference with the best record against nonconference opponents for each season. Because the toughness of different conferences' nonconference opponents can vary, sometimes widely, the conference with the best record isn't necessarily the best conference. In such cases, I list my choice for best conference in parentheses, and I discuss each such case in detail after the list. Bear in mind that this is an ongoing process, and so far I have only looked closely at these seasons going back to 1951. I will add more such cases as I continue to work backward in time.
Here are some notes on some conference names/acronyms that may look unfamiliar to you:Over time I will be adding to this list as I work backward through the years, looking more closely at each season. Currently I have finished looking at seasons back to 1951.
COVID-19 drastically reduced the number of nonconference games this season, with some conferences playing them only in their bowl games. The Big 12 had the best record against nonconference opponents, their .786 winning percentage (11-3) edging out the SEC's .778 (7-2). However, the SEC played far more top 25 opponents. 7 of their 9 nonconference opponents finished ranked in the top 25, and they went 5-2 against them. Those are simply incredible numbers. Never have we seen a conference play 78% of its nonconference games against ranked opponents, or even close to that, and unless another pandemic strikes, we shall never see the like again. The Big 12, meanwhile, played just 4 nonconference opponents who finished ranked, in 14 games, and they went 2-2 against them. That's a very large difference in strength of opponents faced, dwarfing the slight difference in winning percentage between the 2 conferences.
The Big 12 was a terrific 5-0 in their bowl games, while the SEC "only" went 7-2, but the SEC's effort delivered far more impressive results, including 4-6 Kentucky beating #24 North Carolina State, 3-7 Mississippi State topping #20 Tulsa, and 4-5 Mississippi shocking #7 Indiana (AP ratings going into the bowl games).
The Big 12 edged the SEC for best record, 39-18 (.684) to 37-19 (.661), but the SEC was hugely better in their bowl games, 6-2 to 2-6, and because of that the SEC also delivered a better record against winning teams and against top 25 teams. The SEC played 3 more winning teams and 1 more ranked team than the Big 12 did, while playing 1 less nonconference game overall, so the SEC faced a slightly tougher overall schedule than the Big 12 did.
Same story as 2003. The Big 12 edged the SEC for best record, 36-10 (.783) to 34-10 (.773), but the SEC was better in their bowl games, 5-3 to 3-5, and the SEC was also better against winning teams and against top 25 teams. But this time, there was a dramatic difference in the number of nonconference opponents each faced that finished ranked in the fixed AP poll top 25. The Big 12 played 4 such teams, going 1-3 against them, while the SEC played 12 rated opponents, in 2 fewer games overall, and the SEC went a remarkable 7-5 against those teams. Fully one third of the nonconference opponents the SEC played finished ranked, an extremely high number, and certainly far beyond what the Big 12 faced.
Once again, it is the Big 12 showing the best overall record thanks to playing weaker schedules. This time, the Big 12 edged out the Big 10, 33-12 (.733) to 30-12 (.714), but the Big 10 was far better in their bowl games, 5-0 to 3-4, and the Big 10 also forged a better record against winning teams and against top 25 teams. The difference against ranked teams was again dramatic, as the Big 10 went 6-4 against teams that finished ranked in the fixed AP poll, the Big 12 a pathetic 0-7! The Big 10 faced 3 more winning opponents and 3 more ranked opponents in 3 fewer games overall.
The SEC bested the Big 10 in winning percentage .744 (30-10-1) to .705 (27-11-1), but the Big 10 played tougher schedules, and when you factor that in, the Big 10 had the better season. Against teams that qualified for bowl games (.500 or better in regular season), the Big 10 posted the better winning percentage, .577 (15-11) to .553 (10-8-1), and against all other teams, the Big 10 also did better, .962 (12-0-1) to .909 (20-2). The Big 10 also went 4-1 in bowl games, the SEC 3-2.
Same story as 1994, but this time it was the PAC 10 playing tougher schedules than the SEC played. The SEC bested the PAC 10 in winning percentage .763 (30-9-1) to .722 (26-10), but against teams that qualified for bowl games (.500 or better in regular season), the PAC 10 produced the better winning percentage, .500 (10-10) to .438 (7-9), and against all other teams, the PAC 10 also did better, posting a perfect 16-0 record, the SEC just a tie away from perfect at 23-0-1. The PAC 10 also went 3-1 in bowl games, the SEC 2-2.
Much like 1993, the SEC had the best record, but the PAC 10 played tougher schedules, and this time the schedule difference was enormous. The SEC was 40-15-2 (.719), while the PAC 10 went 25-11 (.694), but the SEC played 29 bowl qualifiers (.500 or better in regular season) in 57 games, while the PAC 10 played 28 in 36 games. So 50.9% of SEC nonconference opponents qualified for bowl games, compared to 77.8% for the PAC 10. If the SEC had played the same percentage of strong opponents in nonconference play as the PAC 10 did, they would have played 15 more bowl qualifiers, and given that the SEC went just 15-13-1 against bowl qualifiers this season, that would have likely meant 7 more losses for the SEC, and that would have left them nowhere near the PAC 10 in overall winning percentage.
This is one of only 3 years the ACC has posted the best record against nonconference opponents, but sadly, they were slightly behind the SWC for 1979 when you factor in strength of opponents faced. The ACC went .675 (26-12-2), the SWC .661 (20-10-1), but against teams that qualified for bowl games (.500 or better in regular season), the SWC had the slightly better winning percentage, .525 (10-9-1) to .523 (11-10-1), and against all other teams, the SWC also did better, going .909 (10-1) to the ACC's .861 (15-2-1). The SWC also went 2-2 in bowl games, the ACC 1-2.
This contest between the two conferences for best of 1979 really came down to one game, the Peach Bowl, where Baylor bested Clemson 24-18. Had Clemson won that game, the ACC would have had the better record against strong opponents and in bowl games.
1977 was a very close horse race for best conference amongst the SWC, SEC, and PAC 8. The SWC finished with the best record against nonconference opponents, by a very small margin, while the PAC 8 did the best in the fixed AP poll top 25, placing 6 of its teams in those rankings. The SEC, meanwhile, appeared to have a down year, with only 2 ranked teams, and only 4 of its 10 teams even posting a winning record! Nonetheless, my choice for best conference performance of 1977 would be the SEC. This came as a surprise to me when I was looking at this year closely.
Again, the SWC had the best overall winning percentage, coming in at .613 (19-12), while the SEC was .610 (30-19-1) and the PAC 8 was .600 (21-14). However, against teams that qualified for bowl games (.500 or better in regular season), the SEC was the best, going .431 (12-16-1), the SWC at .353 (6-11) and the PAC 8 at .375 (6-10). 58% of the SEC's nonconference opponents qualified for bowl games, compared to 55% for the SWC and 46% for the PAC 8. For these reasons, I would go with the SEC as best conference of 1977. Still, it should be noted that the SWC did the best against losing teams, going 13-1 to the SEC's 18-3 and the PAC's 15-4.
The Big 8 displays the best record against nonconference opponents for 1967, going .635 (16-9-1), the PAC 8 at .613 (19-12), but the PAC 8 played massively tougher schedules, facing 12 top 25 teams (fixed poll) in 31 games, compared to 4 in 26 games for the Big 8. The PAC 8 also played 6 more bowl qualifiers (.500 or better in regular season) than the Big 8 did, and the PAC 8 went .444 (8-10) against bowl qualifiers, while the Big 8 went.333 (4-8).
The PAC 8 had the best record against nonconference opponents, going .698 (28-11-4) to the SEC's .685 (31-14-1), but the SEC's schedules were tougher, and by just enough for me to give the crown for best conference of 1965 to the SEC. 63% of the SEC's nonconference opponents qualified for bowl games (.500 or better in regular season), 56% for the PAC, and 33% of the SEC's nonconference opponents finished ranked in the fixed AP poll top 25 for 1965, 28% for the PAC. The SEC went .638 (18-10-1) against bowl qualifiers, the PAC .604 (13-8-3), and the SEC went 9-5-1 against ranked teams, the PAC 5-5-2.
The SEC went .725 (28-10-2) to best the Big 10's .688 (16-7-1), but this season the difference in schedule strength borders on the ridiculous, as the SEC had a serious cupcake addiction back in these days. The Big 10 faced 14 bowl qualifiers (.500 or better in regular season) in 24 games (58%), while the SEC faced the same number in 40 games (35%). That is a huge disparity, but the difference in schedules goes beyond that, because in addition, while all 24 of the Big 10's nonconference opponents were unquestionably major college football teams, the SEC played 9 games against minor teams, all of which are not in the FBS today. Those opponents were Furman, Tampa, George Washington, Detroit, Samford, and 2 games each against Richmond and Tennessee-Chattanooga. And one of those games was actually a loss, Vanderbilt going down to Furman!
If you remove those 9 games against minor programs from the SEC's schedules, their record becomes 20-9-2, dropping their percentage to .677 and below the Big 10's .688. And if you remove those games, the Big 10 still would have played a higher percentage of its games against bowl qualifiers. And the Big 10 went 8-6 against bowl qualifiers, the SEC 5-7-2.
This is pretty much the same story as 1963, with the SEC feasting on even more cupcakes. The SEC went .786 (33-9) and the Big 10 went .740 (18-6-1), but this season the SEC played 14 games against opponents that I would consider to be the equivalent of lower-division teams for 1958. Those teams were the Citadel, Furman, Trinity (Texas), Xavier (Ohio), Hawaii, 3 games against Memphis, and 2 games each against Tennessee-Chattanooga, Arkansas State, and Hardin-Simmons. And one of those games was again a loss, Tennessee getting embarrassed by Tennessee-Chattanooga. Remove those 14 games for the SEC and their record becomes 20-8, dropping their winning percentage to .714 and below the Big 10's .740.
The Big 10 also went .700 (10-4-1) against bowl qualifiers (.500 or better in regular season), the SEC .611 (11-7), and the Big 10 went 5-1-1 against teams that finished ranked in the fixed AP poll for 1958, the SEC just 2-5.