The Big Ten goes bowling

[hagarwood]

The Big Ten will play in 10 bowl games (tOSU can get us an eleventh). How good do you think this conference really is? They are favored in only 4 games and even if the Buckeyes beat Clemson they will likely be underdogs in the Championship game. Here's the list with favorites listed 1st.
Md. vs BC
Wash. St vs Mn.
Pitt vs Northwestern
Utah vs Indiana
Tenn. vs Nebraska
Mich. vs Fla. St.
tOsu vs Clemson
Florida vs Iowa
Wisconsin vs Western Mich.
USC vs, Penn St.
So how many games does the big Ten win? If one of Md.,Indiana, Minnesota, or Penn St. can win I think 7 and 3 sounds about right.

 

[Fryowa]

You can't really measure the strength of a conference by the number of bowl game invites. It simply doesn't mean anything to make a bowl anymore since you get in with a .500 record. 30 years ago? Yeah I'd say you could maybe use that as a measuring stick. In the era of the Foster Farms Bowl, nope. That's part of the reason why the big talk in the NCAA right now is players sitting out of bowl games. They're handed out like candy and don't mean anything.

 

[ssckelley]

I think Pedo State, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Northwestern are all going to get rolled. Wisconsin will slaughter WMU but the rest are toss ups.

 

[99topdawg]

For the 27th consecutive year, ESPN says we're going to lose them all.

 

[HawkGold]

For the 27th consecutive year, ESPN says we're going to lose them all.

MD/BC - Who knows and who cares. Guess... MD
Wash. St vs Mn - Blowout one way or another. Wash ST.

Utah/IN - Utah, but maybe....
Nebby - TN = 2 pretenders. Nebby
Mich/FSU - M struggled some against speed. No real QB. FSU
OSU/Clemson - Toss up - Not high on OSU. Clemson not that good. OSU.
FL/Iowa - Iowa
Wisky/WMU - WMU
USC/PSU - PSU

Big = 5 wins.

 

[NCHawker]

L Md. vs BC - Push / BC
L Wash. St vs Mn. Washington State
L Pitt vs Northwestern Pitt
L Utah vs Indiana Utah
L Tenn. vs Nebraska Tennessee
W Mich. vs Fla. St. Michigan
W tOsu vs Clemson OSU
W Florida vs Iowa Iowa
W Wisconsin vs Western Mich. Wisconsin
L USC vs, Penn St. USC

4-6

 

[99topdawg]

Here's a look at conferences historically in bowls. Not trying to say anything about the Big Ten, etc. but ran across this and thought I'd share.

Bowls by conferences and teams

 

[uihawk82]

You can't really measure the strength of a conference by the number of bowl game invites. It simply doesn't mean anything to make a bowl anymore since you get in with a .500 record. 30 years ago? Yeah I'd say you could maybe use that as a measuring stick. In the era of the Foster Farms Bowl, nope. That's part of the reason why the big talk in the NCAA right now is players sitting out of bowl games. They're handed out like candy and don't mean anything.

Not only is the above true but it all these games makes it so the Big 10 was almost always playing up in competition. Iowa in many years under KF is 4th or 5th in the big rankings but playing a 2nd or 3rd place team in the bowls.

Back to back Insight bowls against a ranked Missou team and a OU team with a better record. Same with many Big 10 Teams. The Big 10 had great bowl slots to field because of their TV viewership and the numbers of fans that traveled. So Big teams that finished 5th in the standings were playing in tough bowl games. So a 4-4 records was tough to get.

 

[NCHawker]

January 2nd is this. Wall to wall B1G

 

[judzeehawk]

Kittens,turtles,fuskers and goofers will get smushed. The rest ?