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In the first bowl season in the College Football Playoff era, with six Pac-12 bowl games down, including five victories, the Conference of Champions is dominating bowl season. Oregon destroyed previously unbeaten Florida State, Stanford manhandled Maryland, USC outlasted Nebraska, Arizona State out-Deviled Duke, and the Utes blasted Colorado State. The only thing in the way of a perfect bowl record for the Pac 12 was Arizona's disappointing New Year's Day loss to Boise State of the Mountain West Conference.
Here is how the Pac 12 and the rest of the conferences are looking so far in the bowl standings:
| Conference | Current Record | Number of Bowls |
| Pac-12 | 5-1 | 8 (UCLA and Washington left) |
| SEC | 5-5 | 12 |
| B1G | 4-4 | 10 |
| ACC | 4-7 | 12 |
| BIG XII | 1-4 | 7 |
| American | 2-2 | 5 |
| MAC | 1-3 | 5 |
| Mountain West | 3-4 | 7 |
| Conference USA | 4-1 | 5 |
| Sun Belt | 1-1 | 3 |
| Independent | 2-1 | 3 |
One interesting aspect of this post season is the widening gap between so-called P5 and G5 schools. The Power 5 conferences are involved in 49 bowl games. The Group of 5 conferences are involved in 25 bowl games, with three independent schools taking up additional bowl spots. Last season, there were 11 bowl games with P5 vs G5 match-ups. This season there are only five bowl games paring P5 vs G5. One was, of course, the Utes' 45-10 demolition of the Colorado State Rams, and another was Arizona's 38-30 loss to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. So with fewer games between the two divisions of the FBS, we'll see less of the "David vs Goliath" match-ups in bowl games in the coming years.
If UCLA and Washington can hold up their end of the bargain, the Pac-12 will finish bowl season 7-1 with only the national title game to be played. An 8-1 record, including an Oregon championship win, would be an outstanding showing for the Conference of Champions, easily up-ending the SEC as the best conference in college football.