Big Ten Bowl Season

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DL65

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The Big Ten's won-loss record last year was horrendous. This year's matchups, however, seem much more favorable. For that reason, I look for the Big Ten to end up with a 5-2 record this year.

My selections:

Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin pulls the upset and defeats Miami.

Insight Bowl: Minnesota defeats the Cyclones.

Outback Bowl: Auburn defeats Northwestern. (The law of averages favors the Wildcats, however. They haven't won a bowl game since their return to bowl season in the mid-90s. Their last bowl victory occurred in the Rose Bowl in the late 1940s.)

Capital One Bowl: Penn State's defense halts LSU.

Rose Bowl: The Buckeyes win in a close one over the Oregon Ducks. (What a difference a year makes. Last year, the Pac-10 enjoyed a great won-loss record; this year, however, they struggle.)

Alamo Bowl: Texas Tech wins big over the Spartans. (This game could get ugly!)

Orange Bowl: Iowa over Georgia Tech. (Iowa, under Kirk Ferentz, has enjoyed great success in the post season. Norm Parker's troops will continue to play sound defense.)

Bowl games can be hard to predict because of the long lay off between games, suspensions, and sometimes disinterest by some players and teams, etc. Thus far, there's been a lot of upsets with sound beatings.

Again, I expect (and hope) the Big Ten enjoys a successful bowl season and regains some of its lost luster.

Go Gophers!!
 

I posted a thread on this a few weeks ago, but here were my thoughts on the B10 bowl season.

I already mentioned that I'm a B10 homer and UW homer, so my initial quick take on these games was

-I think OSU has the defense to figure out Oregon. I'm not so sure they have the offense to put up a big number, but Oregon's defense is fairly average. OSU obviously would like to get the recent BCS monkey off their back, and with a month+ to work on the offense, I think Ohio State wins.

-I really like what Paul Johnson has done with Georgia Tech, and like the option offense he runs there. I was impressed with Iowa all season. Not sure if or when Stanzi is coming back, but I like Kirk Ferentz figuring out Georgia Tech's option attack. It will be a great game, but Iowa has found ways to win good bowl games recently and I like them in this game.

-The Cap One match up doesnt really do much for me. I haven't been overly impressed by Penn State at any point of the season, but like LSU even less. I think Les Miles is a dolt, and that clock management which ended in a spike with 1 second on the clock to start the play was a complete embarrassment. I'll take Penn State.

-Northwestern beats Auburn. Northwestern has the better defense and I like Kafka and the offense.

-UW has been very good against the run all season long, so I think Miami will be pretty one dimensional through the air, which could be a bad thing with the inconsistent secondary the Badgers have. UW handled an at times potent Hawaii passing game Saturday night which could be a good sign. The offense will score points against Miami, if the O-line can give Tolzien time.
I hate when the media constantly plays the speed vs. power card in regards to the B10, but in this game it looks to be the case. Clay is the real deal. I'm a homer and I'm taking Wisconsin.

-Sounds like things are crazy around East Lansing with the suspensions and State's defense wasn't good to begin with. Tech should light the Spartans up. Texas Tech wins.

-Gopher D has been pretty solid all year long, but the same cannot be said about the offense. I'm not a webber hater because I thought he was very good his frosh and soph years, but boy he looks lost in the fisch offense. I don't know if Gray can hit his targets, but he is an athlete and maybe, just maybe Brew will give him a full series or two and he can do something positive. I dont think Iowa State will do much against the gopher D, and see Minnesota winning this one.

So, one complete Big Ten and UW homer's take is that the B10 goes 6-1. There is chance we go 0-7 and most likely we go 3-4 or 4-3, but I got us at 6-1.
 

I'm a BT homer when it comes to OOC and bowl games. I'm even pulling for the BADgers and PIGeyes. I think 5-2 is realistic and hope we get it done.
 

wow, that is some optimism! i am far more pessimistic.

i have no idea how the insight bowl is going to go. minnesota is just too darn bi-polar this year.

iowa looked like it was looking for a reason to crap the bed all season. i certainly was not impressed with them. they have had a while to prepare for the option, though.

there is no reason to believe that wisconsin will beat miami. wiscy had a cakewalk of a schedule this year and i really don't think they are any where near as good as miami. they could be, but how would you be able to tell? their three best victories were close games to cal state university fresno, michigan state and minnesota. color me unimpressed. miami, however has some nice W's on their record.

i am an auburn fan, born and raised, but i like NU over auburn. it will be a very good game no matter which way it goes.

Michigan state will probably get beat handily.

PSU didn't impress me in any of their big games, and LSU in the south? not going to be happy valley-esque.

i have a feeling oregon's 2.6 sacks-per-game is going to make pryor look really bad.

i have a feeling it is going to get worse before it gets better.
 

I know their D is solid, but I don't see Ohio State slowing down Masoli and the Ducks, nor do I see them scoring many points against them. 31-14 Ducks.

The hogeyes will win a low scoring affair with a 4th quarter comeback, 17-14

Becky never wins when I want them to in any sport, so naturally they will get crushed, similar to last year's game against Florida State, 41-24

Penn St. and LSU is kind of a hard one to call, both are good, and for the sake of B10 optimism I'll take Paterno over Miles 24-20

Auburn won't be able to handle Kafka. He won't rush for 200 yards, but he will pass for 300 and lead them to a 35-31 victory

Michigan State will get obliterated. 49-21

And most importantly, God's team will find a way to score some points, and then shut down the Iowa State offense. I think our boys win it 24-14.

I think 4-3 is pretty realistic. 5-2 or 6-1 are possible, but I don't see that happening.
 


Champs: Probably the hardest one to pick - Miami, I think Harris' thumb will be a nonissue
Insight: Gophers. I think they will have just enough offense, and the D will score a TD.
Outback: Northwestern. Give Hankwitz a month and he will figure a way to slow Auburn down.
Cap One: Penn St. Les Miles will make a stupid decision. As bad as RichRod has been at Michigan, the Wolverines are lucky Miles said no.
Rose: OSU. I love their D with a lot of prep.
Alamo: Texas Tech. A no brainer.
Orange: Iowa. See Nothwestern but fill in Parker for Hankwitz.

Big Ten 5-2
 

If the Badgers force the Canes to throw a lot Jacory Harris is a turnover machine. His performance will go a long way to determining the victor.
 

bigtenchamps1899 said:
wow, that is some optimism! i am far more pessimistic.

there is no reason to believe that wisconsin will beat miami. wiscy had a cakewalk of a schedule this year and i really don't think they are any where near as good as miami. they could be, but how would you be able to tell? their three best victories were close games to cal state university fresno, michigan state and minnesota. color me unimpressed. miami, however has some nice W's on their record.
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NIU, Fresno, Wofford, and Hawaii isn't murderer's row, but its a better schedule than Penn State and a lot of other BCS teams. There is a lot of reasons to believe that wisconsin will beat miami, you just chose to not believe them. Thats fine. I'm not guaranteeing victory, but I think UW sure as hell has a chance to beat the Canes. UM is a 3 point favorite in South Florida, I say thats pretty much a pick em. And ESPN Insider predicts UW to win, so there has to be some reason to think wisconsin will beat miami.
 

Let me put it this way: I'll be extremely happy if the B10 goes 3-4 this year. OSU is good, but even with a great defense, it will be a struggle to keep pace with Oregon's offense. Iowa is overrated, and should not be a BCS team. The rest of the Big Ten gets screwed because they are playing superior opponents due to Iowa being a BCS team. The only game I see favoring the Big Ten is the ISU - Minn match-up. I am expecting about a 2-5 record. Of course, given my record in College Bowl Pick 'Em, you should just take the opposite of my picks.
 



hyaluronic, I got to ask why you think Iowa is overrated?

Im only asking because they beat Wisky on the road, PSU on the road, Michigan St. on the road, A arizona team that finished 2nd in the pac ten, and isu(your bowl opponent) 35-3 in Ames. They played tOSU in columbus to OT in a "big ten championship" elimination game. In that game Iowa was playing with a freshmen rb and a frosh qb making his first ever start. Iowa only plays about 12 basic plays and the other team knows it..... and they still usually win. Iowa was never healthy on offense all season and was already down to their 3rd string rb before the season began(lost jhampton and jbrinson). If you are basing it off the minny game, i agree Iowa did not look great but they lost the big ten just the week before. your d-coordinator actually had an awesome game plan. iowas oline blocked great against tosu and Vandenburg lit it up. You guys threw the whole d at him and given his inexperience, it worked very well.

Ricky Stanzi will be back for the game and iowa will be healthy for the first time all year for the bowl. Second half the season iowa was without allBT guard Dace Richardson, the #3 and #4 Wrs, Stanzi(last 3 games), had to rely on two gimpy freshmen rbs, and had a LT recovering from a serious thyroid condition that drained his stamina for much of the season. All on offense. We never could gain consistency with the constant replacements.

I myself am rooting for the gophers this year myself. I'm not on the ledge like the media is about the big ten being bad, but it would be nice to shove some success in peoples faces. Its gotten quite ridiculous.
 

Iowa is a good overall team with a great defense. I think it's a great combo to be a solid top fifteen team, but not so good beyond that. And we saw that. They were solid agains mediocre teams like Minnesota and struggled against the elite.

Overrated? I guess it depends on how you rate them in the first place. Tenth in the nation, no. Only third in the B10 if you ask me.
 

herkyhawkeye said:
hyaluronic, I got to ask why you think Iowa is overrated?

Im only asking because they beat Wisky on the road, PSU on the road, Michigan St. on the road, A arizona team that finished 2nd in the pac ten, and isu(your bowl opponent) 35-3 in Ames. They played tOSU in columbus to OT in a "big ten championship" elimination game. In that game Iowa was playing with a freshmen rb and a frosh qb making his first ever start. Iowa only plays about 12 basic plays and the other team knows it..... and they still usually win. Iowa was never healthy on offense all season and was already down to their 3rd string rb before the season began(lost jhampton and jbrinson). If you are basing it off the minny game, i agree Iowa did not look great but they lost the big ten just the week before. your d-coordinator actually had an awesome game plan. iowas oline blocked great against tosu and Vandenburg lit it up. You guys threw the whole d at him and given his inexperience, it worked very well.

Ricky Stanzi will be back for the game and iowa will be healthy for the first time all year for the bowl. Second half the season iowa was without allBT guard Dace Richardson, the #3 and #4 Wrs, Stanzi(last 3 games), had to rely on two gimpy freshmen rbs, and had a LT recovering from a serious thyroid condition that drained his stamina for much of the season. All on offense. We never could gain consistency with the constant replacements.

I myself am rooting for the gophers this year myself. I'm not on the ledge like the media is about the big ten being bad, but it would be nice to shove some success in peoples faces. Its gotten quite ridiculous.
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First off, I certainly hope the Big Ten runs the table and we can shove crow in everyone's face. I just do not think this is the year it will happen. I cannot say I will be whole-heartedly rooting for Iowa, but I may substitute "Go Big Ten" screams for "Who Hates Iowa" chants. Two things admit some bias in my analysis: 1.) You are our rival school; and 2.) You were quite possibly the worst 9-0 BCS conference team of all time and I branded you overrated. Throughout that run it seemed like you were always on the precipice of losing a game - you didn't really command complete respect.

Anyways - Here's how I look at your schedule:

N. Iowa - You won by a point, by blocking two FGs.

@ Iowa St - Big win against a future bowl team from a BCS conference. Then again, what did ISU do against quality opponents this year, aside from their own fluke win against Nebraska? They basically played the easiest schedule in the Big 12 and barely became bowl eligible.

Arizona - Good win at home, more impressive in hindsight. Then again, Arizona only won two Pac-10 games by more than one possession. Their season could have easily gone another direction.

@ Penn St - Impressive win on the road, but it took a strong fourth quarter for Iowa to get the win. On a neutral field, I think Penn St wins that game three out of five times. (side note, I do think Iowa is the third best team in the Big 10)

Ark St - Win by three. Really? I can't say too much, but my team isn't playing in a BCS game, either.

Mich - Win by two. Another close game at home to a subpar opponent. I'm not inspired.

@ Wisc - Tied going into the 4th quarter. Quality win against #4 Big 10 team on the road.

@ MSU - Trailing going into 4th quarter. Yet another tight game, but a quality win nonetheless. At this point, I was thinking I might be wrong about you.

Indiana - You were trailing by ten. In the fourth quarter. Against Indiana. At home. I re-realize your team is the worst undefeated BCS conference team this late into the season.

Northwestern - Tough game for you guys, but if you were that good, you would've beaten NW. NW was lucky to go 5-3 in conference. I would put them at #7 in the conference, slightly above Purdue.

@ OSU - Tough loss, trailing going into second half.

Minn - Dominated our offense, and the game was never in doubt.

Here's what I respect about the Hawkeye team: their resilience and ability to get the job done when it counts. Time after time you did that this year. However, the fact you had to show so much resilience shows that you were not that dominant in the first place. You had one Big 10 game where the outcome was never in doubt, and that was against us, and you only won by twelve, and you played us when our offense was as lethal as a Nerf gun. I'm sorry, but I expect a BCS bowl-caliber team to beat us by more, especially if they are at home.
 

I'm eating my crow as we speak.

I did change my prediction to Iowa in Bowl Pick 'em after watching the B10's performance leading up to this game. Overall, I ended up predicting five of the seven B10 games correctly.
 



I grossly underestimated the Big 10 this bowl season...I'm happy for our good showing. maybe this will finally hush the Big 10 inferiority crap for awhile.
 

I badly underestimated the Big Ten's bowl performance. I do think the poor weather/field conditions did help the Big Ten in their games in Florida as Auburn and Miami's speed advantages were negated. That said, it was an impressive performance from the conference all the way around with one glaring exception. It disgusts me that the Gophers were the only Big Ten team to badly underachieve in the Bowl season.
 

EG#9 said:
I do think the poor weather/field conditions did help the Big Ten in their games in Florida as Auburn and Miami's speed advantages were negated.
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That's if you believe Miami had a speed advantage. You guys should be tired of this stereotype also. The speed advantage is so overblown. Wisconsin has plenty of speed. The speed of the front seven was on full display that night. The UW TEs absolutely were too athletic for Miami LBs OR safties. How could you have not noticed that?

Wisconsin has lined up with Southern schools for years now at bowl time. The next time speed is a factor will be the first time, no matter what ESPN says. Alvarez's last game...against #7 Auburn....Wisconsin absolutely ran by them. The next season, against #6 Arkansas (with Run DMC and Felix Jones)....speed was not a factor. The next year against Tennessee....non factor. Last season vs. FSU.....again, not a factor. And against Miami it certainly wasn't a factor.
 

Badger_inohiovalley said:
That's if you believe Miami had a speed advantage. You guys should be tired of this stereotype also. The speed advantage is so overblown. Wisconsin has plenty of speed. The speed of the front seven was on full display that night. The UW TEs absolutely were too athletic for Miami LBs OR safties. How could you have not noticed that?

Wisconsin has lined up with Southern schools for years now at bowl time. The next time speed is a factor will be the first time, no matter what ESPN says. Alvarez's last game...against #7 Auburn....Wisconsin absolutely ran by them. The next season, against #6 Arkansas (with Run DMC and Felix Jones)....speed was not a factor. The next year against Tennessee....non factor. Last season vs. FSU.....again, not a factor. And against Miami it certainly wasn't a factor.
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I agree with this 100%, and can think of plenty of other recent bowl examples with other Big 10 teams where it has also been true. I do not subscribe to that ESPN fed speed crap. If there is a difference, it is being made up in other areas considering how the Big 10 has done against SEC schools over the past 10+ years... even up to slightly better than that.
 

I used to keep track, but the Big Ten is around 15-17 against the SEC in bowl games in the last 12 or so years. Not too dominating. Adding in FSU and Miami (clearly in the SEC type of talent pool), I'd guess it's over .500 with the UW and OSU wins over Miami, and the Penn State win over FSU a few years ago (UW lost to FSU last season).
 

Gophers507 said:
I grossly underestimated the Big 10 this bowl season...
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same here. i was not impressed with the way the big 10 played all year, but it goes to show the whole 'big ten is down' conspiracy on ESPN is just that. if the big ten had the same showing as the ACC and pac ten (or even the sec for that matter) we would be hearing about how bad the big 10 is right now.

the university of chicago maroons even had a winning season this year! on the 40th anniversary of the return of football to campus, no less.
 

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