The Big Ten is Taking Some Heat

The demise of the Big Ten in bowl games is nothing new. This year the conference has put up a record of 1-5, with only heavy underdog Ohio State left to play Texas tonight. Some stats in the Trib sum it up pretty well.

The Big Ten's drought has reached nearly biblical proportions. Or so it seems. The league is 1-5 this bowl season, 9-19 over the last four years and has lost five consecutive Bowl Championship Series games.

Performances from Big Ten teams have ranged from slightly respectable to downright embarrassing thus far in the bowl season. Iowa has the lone win against South Carolina, and Northwestern brought Missouri to the brink. Even Penn State made a nice comeback against USC and had a chance to cut the lead to seven late. Wisconsin and Minnesota were blown out by mediocre opponents and Michigan State did nothing good against Georgia, despite the Bulldogs' best efforts to give the game to the Spartans.

So a loss by Ohio State tonight pretty much makes it rock bottom for the Big Ten, one would think. However, as fun as it is to pile on the Big Ten, some national media and fans should consider a couple of things.

Every conference has some down years. Remember when the Big 12 was simply a bunch of bad teams hoping to keep it close against Nebraska? Or when the SEC Championship games were nearly unwatchable, when teams like Arkansas would sneak in without beating anyone all season? The Pac-10 isn't immune either. Pre-Carroll, USC was awful for a while and the conference didn't have many elite teams stepping up to take their place.

Also, keep in mind that nearly every bowl game a Big Ten team plays in is a road game. This season wasn't even a bad year for this and there are a couple perfect examples. Michigan State had to play Georgia in the Citrus Bowl, which is a hell of a trip for Spartan fans and a nice drive for the other 90% of the people that were in attendance. And there is always the classic Rose Bowl match-up between a Big Ten team and USC, where the Trojans have to travel 12 miles.

Last season the Big Ten played "away" games in the Citrus, Outback, Rose, Alamo, and even the National Championship against LSU in New Orleans. Even in the Motor City Bowl, there were more CMU fans than Purdue fans.

Anyway, road games shouldn't make you 9-19 in four seasons, so the Big Ten has some work to do, but for those that think they should be left out of the Rose Bowl, I wish to fight you.

Bowling with the Big Ten

The Big Ten squeaked two teams into BCS games this year, mostly due to how awful the Big East and ACC were, and with an assist to the bowl committee for the Fiesta Bowl screwing over Boise State a bit. The two BCS berths make 19 total appearances by Big Ten teams, more than any other conference in the 11-year history of the puzzling system. Overall, the Big Ten will send seven teams to bowl games, here's a look at the match-ups:

Champ Sports Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Florida State, Dec. 27

Wisconsin will return to Florida for the fifth straight season when they take on the Seminoles in the Champ Sports Bowl. This is the first game for the Big Ten and might be the conference's best shot at a win. It also carries on the tradition of the Big Ten playing what are essentially road games in the bowl season.

Alamo Bowl: Northwestern vs. Missouri, Dec. 29

The Wildcats will go down to Big 12 country to take on Mizzou in the Alamo Bowl. Tough draw here for Northwestern, but they've come up big all year when people have counted them out. Northwestern will be looking get its first bowl win since 1949. Now is as good a time as any to get your first bowl win on color television.

Insight Bowl: Minnesota vs. Kansas, Dec. 31

What a turnaround for Minnesota, going from winning only one game last season, to a bowl game this season. Another turnaround happened in the middle of Minnesota's season though. The Gophers went from the top of the Big Ten to four straight losses, including a 55-0 loss to end the season. Kansas and quarterback Todd Reesing did not live up to expectations this season, but should hand Minnesota its fifth straight loss.

Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. South Carolina, Jan. 1

Here is the other good chance for the Big Ten to win. Iowa has won five of six to end the season and will take on Steve Spurrier and South Carolina. The Gamecocks have beaten virtually no one this year and finished off their season with two lopsided losses. Iowa has taken down teams like Florida and LSU in the last five seasons in New Year's Day bowl games, so a win against South Carolina is not out of the question.

Capital One Bowl: Michigan State vs. Georgia, Jan. 1

Oh boy, this could be ugly. We have a Georgia team that was #1 to start the season and suffered through a disappointing year, culminating with a loss to Georgia Tech in their last game. Give them a month off to think about things and get ready for a bowl game. Add in the fact that Stafford and Moreno will want to show off for the pro scouts and Georgia becomes a team no one wants to see in a bowl game. Michigan State is not the team the Big Ten wants to send to match up, but there they are. The Spartans played well against Cal to start the year, but were blown out by the only other two good teams they played all year. It doesn't look good for MSU, but there is usually at least one big upset for the Big Ten recently, so maybe this one. Never know. Right? No.

Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC, Jan. 1

This game doesn't look favorable for the Big Ten either. Ohio State already went out to Southern California and got spanked this year, now it might be Penn State's turn. But hey, the Nittany Lions blew out Oregon State this year and the Beavers gave USC its only loss, so there is hope! Not much though. USC will be looking to make a statement that their crappy loss wasn't much different than Florida's crappy loss and maybe they deserved a little more consideration to play in the championship game. Penn State will be looking to make a similar statement, but I think they'd be thrilled with a 3-2 win.

Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Texas, Jan. 5

Ohio State and Texas are toward opposite ends of the BCS spectrum. Texas is feeling the wrath of the system because their win against Oklahoma was played in October and not November, while Ohio State underacheived and coasted through their schedule beating bad teams, only to be welcomed to the BCS party with open arms over Boise State. This makes four straight BCS bowls for the Buckeyes, but the task will be tall against an angry Texas team holding out hope for a split national title. The formula will be the same for Ohio State as it has been all season, hope that the defense can keep it close and rely on Chris Wells for the offense. A win for the Bucks could take some sting out of what was a down year for the Big Ten.

Did Iowa Really Help the Big Ten?

Before Iowa's game with Penn State and while it was playing out, I was going back and forth on the issue of what was best for the Big Ten. At first I thought it would be great for Penn State to run the table and make the National Championship, putting a Big Ten team in for the third straight year. Then I kept hearing how embarrassing it would be to lose three years straight, and while I realize the Nittany Lions could pull the upset, this would probably be the case.

The last two years sucked while everyone was bashing on the conference, with Ohio State and Michigan losing big bowl games two years ago and Ohio State and Illinois getting stomped last year. Sure, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan have eased the pain a bit with postseason wins over the SEC the last two years, but another loss would be unbearable. Especially since the past two years most of the hate has been directed at the Buckeyes, which is fine with me.

So Iowa won and the Big Ten was eliminated from the National Championship picture. But did this really give the conference a chance at postseason success?

It seems like knocking everyone down a peg in the bowl games would give all the teams a better shot at winning, but based on BCS rules and the ugly football being played in the Big East and ACC, things may shake out exactly the same. Since only two teams from each conference can make it to the BCS, we're probably looking at an SEC/Big 12 BCS Championship game, so each of those conferences get one more team. Then you take the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, and Pac Ten champs and you have two spots left. Unless Oregon State wins out and wins the Pac Ten, they don't get a team other than USC, while the ACC and Big East have almost no chance to get an at-large. That leaves three teams going for two spots: Boise State, Utah, and Ohio State.

Bosie State should win out and Utah has a tough game against BYU to end the year. Even if both teams run the table, I think Ohio State gets an at-large berth. The Buckeye fans travel as well as any in the country (they all drive semis) and will be a bigger draw for any of the bowls than Utah or Boise State.

So really, if Ohio State gets an at-large bid nothing changes. Penn State would go to the Rose Bowl, with Ohio State playing a major conference opponent like Texas, Oklahoma, or Alabama in a BCS bowl. Michigan State would go to the Capital One Bowl and draw someone like LSU or Georgia. Slaughter.

This all leads to the conclusion that Ohio State needs to drop a game in the last two weeks. Your play Illinois.