The Big Ten is likely to have 10 bowl-eligible teams
We've heard all year that the Big Ten is "down." If you measure conferences based on the number of teams they have in the top 10, that might be true, but if you instead evaluate them based on how balanced they are, the league is actually doing quite well. There are nine bowl-eligible teams in the league right now, which is already unprecedented in league history and Purdue needs only to beat hapless Indiana next week to make it ten.
A big part of the reason why there are no Big Ten teams in the top 10 is that the league is cannibalizing itself. Michigan, MSU, Wisconsin, Nebraska, PSU and Illinois went a combined 22-2 out of conference, but now all of them have at least two losses overall. But I digress. Here are the league's tie-ins:
#1 - Rose
#2 - Capital One
#3 - Outback
#4 - Gator
#5 - Insight
#6 - Meineke
#7 - Ticket City
#8 - Pizza
Now here are the bowl-eligible teams:
PSU - 9-2 (6-1)
MSU - 9-2 (6-1)
Wisconsin - 9-2 (5-2)
Michigan - 9-2 (5-2)
Nebraska - 8-3 (4-3)
Iowa - 7-4 (4-3)
OSU - 6-5 (3-4)
Northwestern - 6-5 (3-4)
Illinois - 6-5 (2-5)
Purdue* 5-6 (3-4) (*needs one more win)
If we assume Purdue beats IU to finish 6-6, who will go where? Will one Big Ten team get shut out of the postseason, even if we put two teams in the BCS? And how will teams be ranked when there are two divisions?
November 20th, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^
November 20th, 2011 at 4:31 PM ^
and nobody even freaking noticed, lol
November 20th, 2011 at 12:00 PM ^
I think what hurts the most is that without that Iowa loss, we might be in the hunt for a National Title :/
November 20th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
really. and how insane is that!? this team that we've got right now i think would blow wisconsin or penn state out of the water in the b10 championship game.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^
Not Wisconsin. They are a good team. Lost two heartbreakers on road.
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<br>Neutral field would be a good game but I would give badgers the edge.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:24 PM ^
Our defense is insane.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^
While the improvement has been undeniable, and the last two games gave been very impressive, the last two games have been against offenses with a lot of issues. Illinois is inept and Nebraska is limited in the passing game.
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<br>The four most balanced teams we have played (MSU, Iowa, northwestern and ND,) have given us some problems. Granted we won two of them, but the latter two teams aren't nearly as good against stopping the run as Wisconsin would be.
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<br>I love UM, but I don't think it is rational to say we would destroy the badgers. Just too balanced in my opinion.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:46 PM ^
Our offense isn't ready to slug it out with physical teams yet, and the defense isn't at the level where they can win the game on their own just yet.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^
we wouldn't because we still wouldn't even be going to the B1G CG. We would be much more of a shoe-in for a BCS bowl, but not a National Champtionship game, unfortunately
November 20th, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^
If I'm not mistaken, a team doesn't have to win its conference to play in the MNC game. It all has to do with your resume and BCS ranking. And among the teams with one loss, ours to a top-10 team on the road wouldn't have looked too shabby.
In another universe where Kirk Ferentz is still Kirk Ferentz, I think we'd be ranked in the top 5, ready to take a spot in the top 2 if things fall right this weekend. C'est la vie.
November 20th, 2011 at 1:54 PM ^
November 20th, 2011 at 12:19 PM ^
Yeah, but if we're being honest, the ND game was closer to being a loss than Iowa was to being a win. All in all I think our record is about where it should be.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:01 PM ^
Is it Insight then Gator this year, or the other way around? That flips yearly.
Rose- PSU
Fiesta- Michigan
Capital One- Wisconsin
Outback- Nebraska
Gator- MSU
Insight- Iowa
Meinecke- OSU
Ticket City- Northwestern
Pizza- Illinois
Random unfilled bowl slot- Purdue
November 20th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
And Michigan State goes to the gator, I don't want to think about those hopeless couches in East Lansing.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
I'm not sure how MSU falls to the Gator Bowl after losing the championship game.
But I like it.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^
They would have nine wins, so a team with eight can pass them, the Capital One isn't going to want them again and they'd get passed over by a bigger fanbase in Nebraska and also by Wisconsin because...fuck them, that's why.
November 20th, 2011 at 4:19 PM ^
if they beat NW on Saturday.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^
We're being projected to the Sugar against Houston by CBS and SBN. Which, winnable lolz.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:01 PM ^
Theres no way any bowl would take a 6-6 MAC team over a 6-6 B1G team (because of the viewers and money involved), so I don't see how any of our teams would get shut out of a bowl.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
Beat ohio is all that's on my mind right now. But to the OP,
All I care about is Michigan. Everyone else this bowl season in the B1G can get their ass kicked for all I care.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:24 PM ^
A lot of people are assuming a win vs OSU. I like Michigans chances, I do. But, they have s very good defense and Braxton will be tougher than Martinez, I think.
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<br>Let's beat OSU, then worry about our BCS game.
November 20th, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^
You do realize they are 6-5, right?
November 20th, 2011 at 1:50 PM ^
That means they are gonna totally lay down for us.
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<br>You realize the last 6 win OSU team that came to Ann Arbor beat Michigan when the Rose Bowl was in the line?
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<br>Just because we have had a solid year doesn't mean we can take wins for granted against any big ten team. Especially Ohio.
November 20th, 2011 at 6:14 PM ^
Run, run, run, and it's like that until they hit 3rd and long where there's a 50% chance that they run it again. Their leading receiver has 12 catches on the year. Nebraska's offense is much scarier than OSU's.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
I say Wisco beats PSU next week in Camp Randall, so they take the division. At a neutral site, they beat MSU by 10. Then they go to the Rose Bowl. MSU goes to Capital One. Out of Michigan and PSU, one goes to BCS at-large (probably Michigan for Denard and quality of travel), then the other goes to Outback. After that, it's down the line. Winner of Nebraska/Iowa to Gator, loser to Insight, OSU to Meinecke, Northwestern to Ticket City, and Purdue to Pizza. Illinois gets jumped for its losing streak and Purdue gets picked for its win over OSU.
Only thing in here that could be variable is OSU, who travels well, so they might jump ahead of the loser of the Iowa/Nebraska game and go to Insight. Unlikely for a 6-6 (3-5) team, but possible.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:14 PM ^
There's no way OSU would jump Nebraska. Nebraska's fanbase also travels very well "as we saw yesterday", they will have a better record, and beat them head to head. It's possible they could jump Iowa if they end up losing, which is likely.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^
Yeah, I'm favoring Nebraska in that game, which is why I put it that way.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:35 PM ^
If I recall correctly 6-6 teams cannot be picked before 7-5 teams. Its an NCAA rule. I could be wrong though.
If I am correct the only way OSU can make the Meinecke bowl is if The Big Ten gets an at large in the BCS and Illinois and Northwestern both lose there last game.
If The BIg Ten does not get a 2nd team in the BCS and Illinois and Northwestern both win Ohio State would have 8 teams with better records and would not be going to a Big Ten bowl, and if there was enough 7-5 teams they could be left out altogether.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^
I don't think the NCAA has any rule about that. The Big Ten does have a rule that a team can't be picked ahead of another team that is two wins ahead of them. Being one win behind is okay. A 6-6 team can be picked over a 7-5 team, but not over an 8-4 team.
November 20th, 2011 at 3:07 PM ^
Beginning in 2006 the NCAA did prevent 6-6 teams from going bowling if there were teams with better records available. However, the rule was eliminated for the 2010 season. See here for the introduction of the rule. I think Temple stayed home with an 8-4 record last year.
November 20th, 2011 at 5:00 PM ^
As of today, there are 65 bowl-eligible teams per ESPN's site, but one just took themselves out of contention (Miami YTM). 37 cannot become bowl-eligible. 18 are still in the hunt. 70 total spots available.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
I hope OSU goes to whatever crappy bowl they end up with this year and then gets a bowl ban for next season announced before signing day.
November 20th, 2011 at 3:25 PM ^
So here's a thought on what OSU might do if they get beat by Michigan this Saturday:
Self-Impose a bowl ban on themselves for this year and tearfully forgo whatever crap bowl they might get invited to in the hopes they can dodge a bigger bullet from the NCAA by showing their "contriteness". That would be entirely consistent with their previous self-imposed penalty strategy.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^
... but the truth is we're all Bowl eligible is because we all play easy non-conference schedules and have 2 EXREMELY awful teams in our conference. Alabama, Miami, and Notre Dame are the only "decent' teams we played in non-conference and we collectively went 1-3 against them (ND split against us and MSU).
Not optimistic about the B1G bowl record this year.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
This can be said about any conference. Someone has to finish last . Since Minnesota and IU are in separate divisions, many teams didn't get to play both of them, anyway.
And everyone plays a few creampuffs out of conference.
November 20th, 2011 at 1:21 PM ^
... a few of these teams (namely Purdue, Illinois, OSU, and Northwestern) are getting in because they have a .500 record, not because they are solid deserving teams.If all the favorites win next week, this would be the bottom of the conference standings:
LEGENDS
Northwestern 6-6 (3-5)
Minnesota 2-10 (1-7)
LEADERS
Purdue 6-6 (4-4)
Illinois 7-5 (3-5)
OSU 6-6 (3-5)
Indiana 1-11 (0-8)
Do you think ANY of these teams DESERVE to be in a bowl game?
November 20th, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^
But again - this can be said of every conference. Every league has teams like this. There are a ton of crappy bowl games.
November 20th, 2011 at 5:09 PM ^
any bowl game, is some kind of special privilege. 70/120 of the FCS teams go to bowl games. You only have to be in the 43rd percentile or better to make the grade. Yes, there are better bowl games and lesser ones. But, considering the bowls did not have enough eligible teams to fill all the slots last year until the final week of the season, when .500 is all you need, says that, yes, crappy .500 teams in the B1G that travel well have done enough to earn a Ticket to a bowl.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
Everyone is saying if we get the at-large, we go to the Sugar. Why not the Orange or the Fiesta? Both those bowls take at-larges right?
November 20th, 2011 at 1:02 PM ^
November 20th, 2011 at 12:56 PM ^
If they do make it to the BCS please be Orange so I can have a chance to go. Living in Ga I love all the Fla bowl tie ins the B1G has.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^
....at least in my opinion, that the Big Ten doesn't have teams which are elite on a national level (give Hoke time, right?), we're no slouch. We do have four teams - Michigan included - with 9-2 records right now. It's a competitive conference, if nothing else, and I think it can only get better if we stay on this track.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:21 PM ^
It's pretty ironic since this isn't exactly a great year for the Big 10.
In recent years, I remember many 6-5 teams that weren't invited to bowl games. But today, there's so many bowl games (with awful names) that we just might get 10 teams in.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
That is going to be so hilarious if we beat tOSU and MSU loses to PSU or Whiskey and we jump them in the bowl standings. I'm gonna go to EL and watch the carnage.
November 20th, 2011 at 12:34 PM ^
Number 9 in our win column literally surprised me. Haven't seen that in a while. Hoke for coach of the year?
November 20th, 2011 at 1:14 PM ^
Not a bad case, what other teams might have made a case for their coach? UVA, Kansas State?
November 20th, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^
I read an article this morning that Fiesta Bowl reps were in Ann Arbor yesterday... Here's the link http://annarbor.com/sports/um-football/michigan-football-teams-thumping-of-nebraska-shows-its-peaking-at-right-time/
November 20th, 2011 at 12:44 PM ^
Wisconsin to the Rose, Michigan State to the Capital One. With a win over Ohio, Michigan goes to the BCS because the Big 12 just ate itself. If we don't go to the BCS, we'll go to the Cap One, and MSU to the Outback. The Outback would rather have anyone but PSU, especially because PSU went there last year, so they take the Iowa-Nebraska winner. PSU to the Gator, Nebraska-Iowa loser to the Insight.com. Illinois, at 7-5, goes to the Meinecke, leaving Ohio, NW, and Purdue all at 6-6. The Ticketcity Bowl gets Ohio (sparing them the indignity of an Ohio vs. Ohio (NTO) matchup in Detroit), and the Pizza Pizza bowl takes Northwestern over Purdue because NW has a name player in Persa, and Purdue is Purdue. Having exhausted all of the B1G bowl tie-ins, Purdue will end up replacing a Pac-12 team in one of their tie-ins, since the Pac-12 will have two BCS teams and can't send USC to a bowl. So I think Purdue goes to the New Mexico Bowl.
November 20th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^
I don't think so.
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