The Bowl Challenge Cup was created by ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 in 2002

2002 in sports

2002 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Stephan Eberharter, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Michaela Dorfmeister, Austria-American football:...

 as a competition among the conferences in the NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

's Division I-A, now called the Football Bowl Subdivision, to see which one was the best in the college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 bowl games that take place. The competition has been used as a gauge to compare which conference has done the best in the post-season bowl matchups.

Originally sponsored by Cooper Tire, ESPN no longer has a sponsor for the Bowl Challenge Cup. However, the network has continued to post the standings during college bowl games on ESPN and the Cup makes regular appearances during the bowl

Bowl game

In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...

 season.

Conferences competing

The eleven Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) conferences that compete in the Bowl Challenge Cup are:

• Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
  Atlantic Coast Conference
  The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
  
  
• Big East Conference
  Big East Conference
  The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
  
  
• Big Ten Conference
  Big Ten Conference
  The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
  
  
• Big 12 Conference
  Big 12 Conference
  The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
  
  
• Conference USA (C-USA)
  Conference USA
  Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...
  
  
• Mid-American Conference (MAC)
  Mid-American Conference
  The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...
  
  
• Mountain West Conference (MWC)
  Mountain West Conference
  The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...
  
  
• Pacific-12 Conference (Pac-12)
• Southeastern Conference (SEC)
  Southeastern Conference
  The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
  
  
• Sun Belt Conference
  Sun Belt Conference
  The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of Division I football competition . The Sun Belt has member institutions...
  
  
• Western Athletic Conference (WAC)
  Western Athletic Conference
  The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
  
  

Qualifications

In order to qualify to win the trophy, a conference has to have the highest winning percentage with a minimum of three teams from that conference. The Sun Belt Conference has only two guaranteed bowl slots, the New Orleans Bowl

New Orleans Bowl

The New Orleans Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played annually at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana since 2001. The game was sponsored by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from 2002 to 2004 and was officially called the Wyndham New...

 and the GoDaddy.com Bowl and holds contingency picks with the St. Petersburg, Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, BBVA Compass and Independence Bowl

Independence Bowl

The Independence Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, so named because it was inaugurated in the United States bicentennial year, 1976....

s, thus needs one other conference to be unable to fulfill their bowl obligations in order to qualify for the Cup.

Results

Bowl Challenge Cup Champions
Bowl Season	Conference	Record	%
2002–03	Big Ten	5–2	0.714
2003–04 2003–04 NCAA football bowl games The 2003-04 NCAA college football bowl season was a series of 28 post-season games played in December 2003 and January 2004 for Division I-A football teams and their all-stars...	ACC	5–1	0.833
2004–05	Mountain West	2–1	0.667
2005–06	Big 12 and ACC (Tied)	5–3	0.625
2006–07	Big East	5–0	1.000
2007–08	Mountain West	4–1	0.800
2008–09	Pacific-10	5–0	1.000
2009–10 2009–10 NCAA football bowl games The 2009–10 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision College Football Post-Season followed the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It comprises 34 team-competitive bowl games, and three all-star games. The games began play on December 19, 2009 and included the 2010 BCS National Championship...	Mountain West	4–1	0.800
2010–11 2010–11 NCAA football bowl games The 2010–11 NCAA football bowl games concluded the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season and included 35 team-competitive bowl games and four all-star games. The games began play with three bowls on December 18, 2010 and included the 2011 BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona...	Mountain West	4–1	0.800

Number of Bowl Challenge Cup Championships
Conference	Times	Most Recent
Mountain West	4	2010–11 2010–11 NCAA football bowl games The 2010–11 NCAA football bowl games concluded the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season and included 35 team-competitive bowl games and four all-star games. The games began play with three bowls on December 18, 2010 and included the 2011 BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona...
Atlantic Coast	1½	2005–06(1)
Big Ten	1	2002–03
Big East	1	2006–07
Pacific-12	1	2008–09
Big 12	½	2005–06(1)
Conference USA	0
Mid-American	0
Southeastern	0
Sun Belt	0
Western Athletic	0

⁽¹⁾ - Tied for 2005-06 championship.