Who's Choking, Who's Smoking

The biggest losers thus far in the postseason? It's the Big Ten and Conference USA. Combined, the conferences are winless in seven games. Missouri and Virginia Tech had notable collapses, but nothing can top Minnesota's choke job. The Golden Gophers had a 31-point lead in the third quarter against Texas Tech and ended up losing, 44-41, in overtime. The big winners? The Southeastern and Mountain West are a combined 6-2. The breakdown:

BCS Conferences
Conference........Bowl Record
Atlantic Coast.....3-2
Big East............2-0
Big Ten.............0-3
Big 12..............3-3
Pac-10..............2-3
Southeastern.......3-1

Non-BCS Conferences
Conference.........Bowl Record
Conference USA.....0-4
Mid-American.......1-1
Mountain West......3-1
Sun Belt..............1-1
Western Athletic....2-0
Independents........0-1

But as everybody knows, the real record is kept in Las Vegas. So here is a look at how the conferences stand against the point spread:

BCS Conferences
Conference........ATS
Atlantic Coast.....2-3
Big East............2-0
Big Ten............2-1
Big 12..............2-4
Pac-10.............1-4
Southeastern......3-1

Non-BCS Conferences
Conference.........ATS
Conference USA....0-4
Mid-American......1-1
Mountain West.....3-1
Sun Belt.............1-1
Western Athletic...2-0
Independents.......1-0