Bowl Season Means Put Up or Shut Up

bleedsmaroonandgold

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All season long, we have talked about the B1G being underrated, and I think the conference has been. However, the only way to prove it is on the field, and I hope that the conference gets it done (or at least goes 6-1, with Wisconsin getting trounced). If we lay an egg in the bowl games, we won't have much room to complain that we are underrated.
 

I think that we should have a good showing looking at the matchups. Probably 5-2 or 4-3.
 

Head-to-head bowl records mean little when teams aren't slotted according to what they did on the field.
 

Head-to-head bowl records mean little when teams aren't slotted according to what they did on the field.

I agree to some extent, and I am on-record in some other threads ranting about the nonsense of that system. However, with all of the garbage out of conference schedules our conference puts together, this is our best chance to show what we can do against top level competition from other conferences. To put it more succintly, its not a perfect barometer for comparing conferences, but its best barometer we have.

I still think the matchups we got provide some fair comparisons of the strength of our conferencse.

Minnesota-Syracuse: .500 B1G team vs. .500 ACC team, should show which conference has the stronger middle of the pack
Michigan-K State: 5-3 Big 12 team vs. 3-5 B1G team, if B1G team with a losing record beats a Big 12 team with a winning record, that's good for us
Nebraska vs. Georgia: 5-3 B1G vs. 5-3 SEC, pretty fair matchup to compare winning teams with the same record in each conference
Wisconsin vs. South Carolina: 6-2 B1G vs. 6-2 SEC, see above
Iowa vs. LSU: 5-3 B1G vs. 5-3 SEC, see both of the above
Stanford vs. Michigan State: our champ vs. the Pac 12's, great matchup
Ohio State vs. Clemson: our runner-up vs. the ACC team with the second best conference record (not the runner-up because they were in the champ's division

Looking at those matchups, I think we have an incredibly fair matchup for comparisons. For the ACC, we get to see our #2 against their #2 and our .500 vs. their .500. Should show us who has the stronger top-end teams and the stronger depth. For the Pac-12, whose best is better? The Big 12 is the one conference we get hosed against, having to watch a losing B1G team take on a winning Big 12 team.

However, the big one is the SEC matchup. We play 3 games against that conferences. All of the teams were winning teams in their respective conference. In fact, all of the matchups feature two teams with the same conference record. I really think that is a great barometer for comparing our two conferences.
 

Unranked BCS Iowa playing #16 LSU, Unranked Nebraska playing #22 Georgia, #19 Wisconsin playing #9 S. Carolina. MSU vs Stanford is #4 VS #5. Ohio St the only big ten team playing a bit lower ranked team in Clemson, #7 to #12.

Big ten regularily gets higher bowls than their record/ranking would've deemed right because its politics/$ and the big ten travels really well, has some huge schools with large fanbases.
 


Bleeds and March Madness good points. One point in the Iowa matchup is that LSU lost their QB in their final game. I will be cheering for all B1G teams (yes even Iowa and Wisconsin).

The four non conference losses that really hurt the B1G's national perception this year were:
1. MSU losing to ND
2. Nebraska losing to UCLA (not close)
3. Wisconsin losing to ASU
4. Iowa losing to N Illinois
 

Unranked BCS Iowa playing #16 LSU, Unranked Nebraska playing #22 Georgia, #19 Wisconsin playing #9 S. Carolina. MSU vs Stanford is #4 VS #5. Ohio St the only big ten team playing a bit lower ranked team in Clemson, #7 to #12.

Big ten regularily gets higher bowls than their record/ranking would've deemed right because its politics/$ and the big ten travels really well, has some huge schools with large fanbases.

But the rankings are inherently biased by the perception. 5-3 LSU and 5-3 Georgia are ranked 16 and 22 in part because of the perception that the SEC is a much tougher conference than the B1G (where 5-3 Iowa and 5-3 Nebraska are unranked). If LSU and Georgia thump Iowa and Nebraska, then that shows it is true that being 5-3 in the SEC means a lot more than being 5-3 in the B1G. As it stands right now, it is our 3rd, 4th, and 5th place team against the SEC's 4th, 5th, and 6th place team.
 

But the rankings are inherently biased by the perception. 5-3 LSU and 5-3 Georgia are ranked 16 and 22 in part because of the perception that the SEC is a much tougher conference than the B1G (where 5-3 Iowa and 5-3 Nebraska are unranked). If LSU and Georgia thump Iowa and Nebraska, then that shows it is true that being 5-3 in the SEC means a lot more than being 5-3 in the B1G. As it stands right now, it is our 3rd, 4th, and 5th place team against the SEC's 4th, 5th, and 6th place team.

Exactly, people on this board can't have it both ways. People love to talk about how the SEC is overrated because they're rated highly non-conference based on reputation, then they keep their rankings high through the season by beating up on other overrated SEC teams. But then, come bowl season, all of a sudden it's not a fair fight because their rankings are higher. If you think that the SEC is overrated, that shouldn't worry you at all.
 

Exactly, people on this board can't have it both ways. People love to talk about how the SEC is overrated because they're rated highly non-conference based on reputation, then they keep their rankings high through the season by beating up on other overrated SEC teams. But then, come bowl season, all of a sudden it's not a fair fight because their rankings are higher. If you think that the SEC is overrated, that shouldn't worry you at all.

It doesn't. Many of the losses to SEC schools in the past 5-6 years have been very close games, with 2011 being the lone embarrassing performance by all Big Ten teams playing SEC foes except OSU beating Arkansas (barely, with help from the refs). Most years have seen the Big Ten win at least 1 with one of the 2 losses being extremely close.

This year, the way Iowa & Wisconsin are playing I could easily see winning 2 of the 3 SEC matchups. An OSU + MN win would bring the total to 4, with potentially MSU helping out. If MSU were to win and Nebraska lose, that would make for a 3-1 record on NYD, with OSU winning a later BCS bowl. That would make for a very big statement for the Big Ten.
 



Bowl Season Means Put Up or Shut Up

Put out and shut up?
 





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