Big Ten Performance in the Sugar Bowl
Thought I'd take some time while working nights to see how the Big Ten has done in the Sugar Bowl, historically.
I included Nebraska, Penn State, and Notre Dame, despite not being Big 10 when they played in the bowl (or in ND's case they're still not).
The Big 10 (plus Nebraska, PSU, and ND) is 6-10 all-time in the Sugar Bowl. In their victories, they won by an average of 10 points. Notre Dame (’73, ’92), Nebraska (’85, ’87), and Ohio (’99, ’11 [according to some this game never actually happened]) all have won two apiece.
In their 10 losses, they lost by an average of 15 points. Penn State leads the way with three losses (’72, ’75, ’79) while Ohio (’78, ’98) and Notre Dame (’81, ’07) each have two. Michigan (’84), Nebraska (’67), and Illinois (’02) each have one.
Virginia Tech, meanwhile, has played in three Sugar Bowls (’95, ’00, ’05), losing all but one ('95--thanks btjabrone). They lost by an average margin of approximately 2 points a game.
This probably won’t tell us anything, but I was interested to see how our conference has performed thus far, and how VT has fared.
*All data and image taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Bowl
December 7th, 2011 at 4:41 AM ^
Virginia Tech won the 1995 Sugar Bowl against against Texas 28-10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Sugar_Bowl_(December)
They lost in 2000 to to FSU, 46-29. They also lost to Auburn in 2005, 16-13.
That makes their average margin of defeat less than 2 pts. That should go up a lot when we play them though.
December 7th, 2011 at 4:49 AM ^
Sleep deprivation is a bitch. Will change in OP.
December 7th, 2011 at 5:59 AM ^
...but because Ohio did vacate their bowl win in January, I believe that technically it is in fact 5-10 per the NCAA records, but as the game was unwisely not pre-empted for anything more interesting, like "Plan 9 From Outer Space" with director's commentary (via Ouija board, as Ed Wood is dead), it was played and "won" by Ohio.
December 7th, 2011 at 6:03 AM ^
But, for the sake of looking at the whole body of work, I decided to keep them in.
December 7th, 2011 at 6:07 AM ^
They did, for a final time, get to show the nation what a highly-paid college team could do.
December 7th, 2011 at 6:08 AM ^
And might I say, they were one of the best semi-pro teams I have ever seen.
December 7th, 2011 at 1:56 PM ^
Cam Newton disagrees.
December 7th, 2011 at 8:47 AM ^
Ed Wood rocks!
December 7th, 2011 at 7:46 AM ^
All that matters is this game....Let's get it done team 132.......GO BLUE !!!
December 7th, 2011 at 10:30 AM ^
If Spartan Bob hadn't screwed us over in 2001, we would have been the team facing LSU in the Sugar Bowl instead of Illinois. But I'm sure it would have turned out much like our game against Fat Fulmer's Tennessee Vols in the Citrus Bowl anyway.
Weird squad that was. It was the only time during the Carr years where we looked worse and worse as the season went on.
December 7th, 2011 at 10:32 AM ^
OP thank you for being my internet.