JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
The Big Ten Conference went into this bowl season looking for redemption, looking to repair their national reputation.
Fairly or unfairly, the league has been maligned over the past two years. I will admit to throwing a few stones myself back in the summer and in September, when I wondered if the league was the fourth or fifth best in the nation.
After seeing a few bowl games play out this week, the mission to repair the league’s reputation has been a success.
First, let me say that I am not huge on saying ‘since our league X this in bowl games, it means we are Y’. I have never placed a great degree of value in that stuff, but I am certainly in the minority, as most national pundits are swayed by the head to head matchups between teams from different leagues in bowl games.
I don’t think that bowl performance is necessarily a proper representation of what a team did during the season. The 2002 Hawkeyes come to mind.
Again, I am in the minority on this thinking.
So since the rest of the college football nation is going to draw conclusions based off of bowl results, I will jump in here and go along with them.
The Big Ten has gotten over.
Let’s start with the Champs Sports Bowl, the game between #15 Miami and #25 Wisconsin. The Badgers won that game 20-14 in a contest that was not nearly that close. Wisconsin pounded out 430 yards of offense to just 249 for Miami. The Badgers held the ball for 39:15 compared to 20:45 for the Canes.
Then, lets move on to the Capital One Bowl, played on one of the worst fields I have ever seen for a football game. The #13 Nittany Lions of Penn State beat #12 LSU. They had nearly 100 more yards of offense, they had 21 first downs to LSU’s 9, they converted 7-19 third downs to just 3-12 for LSU and they held the ball for 38:21 to just 21:39 for LSU. They also had just two penalties to 10 for LSU. PSU had numerous chances to blow the game open, but settled for field goals instead of touchdowns. The game really wasn’t that close.
Then the Grandaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl. #8 Ohio State beat #7 Oregon 26-17. Ohio State outgained the vaunted Oregon offense 419-260. OSU had 26 first downs to Oregon’s 12. OSU converted 11-21 third downs to just 2-11 for Oregon. Ohio State held the ball for 41:47 to just 18:23 for the Ducks.
In those three games, the Big Ten averaged over 39 minutes of time of possession, and that is three games where each Big Ten team was the underdog in Vegas going into the game.
Yes, Northwestern lost to Auburn in the Outback, but neither team was ranked and Northwestern isn’t going to garner much attention from the national pundits, win or lose, against an Auburn team that came into the game with seven wins and Northwestern was sitting there with eight.
HOWEVER, Northwestern put up 625 yards of offense against Auburn, had 33 first down and completed 47 passes on 78 attempts, had just three penalties to 12 for Auburn and ran a mind blowing 115 plays! They also had the ball for 34:11 to 25:49.
Folks, this has been a banner year for Big Ten teams in bowl games, to date. Since the nation is going to weigh these outcomes heavily, the Big Ten comes up as a Big Winner.
Two more games remain; Michigan State vs Texas Tech in the ‘Our Pre-Bowl Drama Has Been Worse than Yours’ Alamo Bowl and Iowa vs Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
While I don’t expect much from Michigan State, nor does the rest of the nation, if the Hawkeyes can close things out with a win, the Big Ten will have delivered a near flawless bowl season.
Even if Iowa loses, which is not something we want to see around these parts, the win by Ohio State is going to carry the most weight on this front.
AND OH BY THE WAY...
I am normally not one for comparative scores and performances in college football. While I think there are some things that can be gleaned, it’s not a scientific comparison.
When Iowa played AT Ohio State, it started a redshirt freshman quarterback who was making the first start of his career, and had only played two and a half quarters of football at the college level prior to that game. Iowa put up 300 yards of total offense and 16 first downs at The Shoe. Oregon, with Jeremiah Masoli under center, a player that will be on next year’s Heisman Watch, and an offense that took names in the Pac 10, managed just 12 first downs and 260 yards. Oh yeah, Iowa had just one running back available in that game, and the Hawks scored the same number of offensive points (17) as the Ducks did on a neutral field with five weeks to prepare for the game.
Yes, the Big Ten is better than I thought it was this year...and this sort of momentum is going to mean quite a bit for the league as it relates to preseason rankings next year.
Ohio State is going to be ranked in the preseason Top Five next year, and Iowa will flirt with a preseason Top Ten ranking. Wisconsin will be a preseason Top 15 team, and Penn State will be in the Top 20, although that might be a stretch to expect them to finish there.
The Big Ten will also be the only league in the nation to have four teams with 10 or more wins. Wisconsin is 10-3, Ohio State and Penn State are 11-2. The Hawks are 10-2; we’ll see where they finish up on Tuesday.
Fairly or unfairly, the league has been maligned over the past two years. I will admit to throwing a few stones myself back in the summer and in September, when I wondered if the league was the fourth or fifth best in the nation.
After seeing a few bowl games play out this week, the mission to repair the league’s reputation has been a success.
First, let me say that I am not huge on saying ‘since our league X this in bowl games, it means we are Y’. I have never placed a great degree of value in that stuff, but I am certainly in the minority, as most national pundits are swayed by the head to head matchups between teams from different leagues in bowl games.
I don’t think that bowl performance is necessarily a proper representation of what a team did during the season. The 2002 Hawkeyes come to mind.
Again, I am in the minority on this thinking.
So since the rest of the college football nation is going to draw conclusions based off of bowl results, I will jump in here and go along with them.
The Big Ten has gotten over.
Let’s start with the Champs Sports Bowl, the game between #15 Miami and #25 Wisconsin. The Badgers won that game 20-14 in a contest that was not nearly that close. Wisconsin pounded out 430 yards of offense to just 249 for Miami. The Badgers held the ball for 39:15 compared to 20:45 for the Canes.
Then, lets move on to the Capital One Bowl, played on one of the worst fields I have ever seen for a football game. The #13 Nittany Lions of Penn State beat #12 LSU. They had nearly 100 more yards of offense, they had 21 first downs to LSU’s 9, they converted 7-19 third downs to just 3-12 for LSU and they held the ball for 38:21 to just 21:39 for LSU. They also had just two penalties to 10 for LSU. PSU had numerous chances to blow the game open, but settled for field goals instead of touchdowns. The game really wasn’t that close.
Then the Grandaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl. #8 Ohio State beat #7 Oregon 26-17. Ohio State outgained the vaunted Oregon offense 419-260. OSU had 26 first downs to Oregon’s 12. OSU converted 11-21 third downs to just 2-11 for Oregon. Ohio State held the ball for 41:47 to just 18:23 for the Ducks.
In those three games, the Big Ten averaged over 39 minutes of time of possession, and that is three games where each Big Ten team was the underdog in Vegas going into the game.
Yes, Northwestern lost to Auburn in the Outback, but neither team was ranked and Northwestern isn’t going to garner much attention from the national pundits, win or lose, against an Auburn team that came into the game with seven wins and Northwestern was sitting there with eight.
HOWEVER, Northwestern put up 625 yards of offense against Auburn, had 33 first down and completed 47 passes on 78 attempts, had just three penalties to 12 for Auburn and ran a mind blowing 115 plays! They also had the ball for 34:11 to 25:49.
Folks, this has been a banner year for Big Ten teams in bowl games, to date. Since the nation is going to weigh these outcomes heavily, the Big Ten comes up as a Big Winner.
Two more games remain; Michigan State vs Texas Tech in the ‘Our Pre-Bowl Drama Has Been Worse than Yours’ Alamo Bowl and Iowa vs Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
While I don’t expect much from Michigan State, nor does the rest of the nation, if the Hawkeyes can close things out with a win, the Big Ten will have delivered a near flawless bowl season.
Even if Iowa loses, which is not something we want to see around these parts, the win by Ohio State is going to carry the most weight on this front.
AND OH BY THE WAY...
I am normally not one for comparative scores and performances in college football. While I think there are some things that can be gleaned, it’s not a scientific comparison.
When Iowa played AT Ohio State, it started a redshirt freshman quarterback who was making the first start of his career, and had only played two and a half quarters of football at the college level prior to that game. Iowa put up 300 yards of total offense and 16 first downs at The Shoe. Oregon, with Jeremiah Masoli under center, a player that will be on next year’s Heisman Watch, and an offense that took names in the Pac 10, managed just 12 first downs and 260 yards. Oh yeah, Iowa had just one running back available in that game, and the Hawks scored the same number of offensive points (17) as the Ducks did on a neutral field with five weeks to prepare for the game.
Yes, the Big Ten is better than I thought it was this year...and this sort of momentum is going to mean quite a bit for the league as it relates to preseason rankings next year.
Ohio State is going to be ranked in the preseason Top Five next year, and Iowa will flirt with a preseason Top Ten ranking. Wisconsin will be a preseason Top 15 team, and Penn State will be in the Top 20, although that might be a stretch to expect them to finish there.
The Big Ten will also be the only league in the nation to have four teams with 10 or more wins. Wisconsin is 10-3, Ohio State and Penn State are 11-2. The Hawks are 10-2; we’ll see where they finish up on Tuesday.