The Big Ten is having a renaissance, all things considered. Last year, the conference's champion doubled as the national champion. The league even went 4-2 in January's bowl games/playoff games.
Even the SEC's Jerry Springer—Paul Finebaum—anointed the Big Ten as the best conference in college football this season.
Can this stretch of good play continue into the bowl season? Last year's bowl season is arguably where the league salvaged its reputation. It will have to work a bit harder to keep that reputation sterling in this bowl season. Given the dearth of bowl-eligible teams, two of the conference's ten bowl teams have 5-7 records.
Big Ten teams are still favored in five of the 10 bowl games, though the Big Ten underdogs are facing long odds. Only USC (-3) is favored by less than 6.5 points among the opposition teams for the Big Ten.
What follows is a brief preview of each of the nine other Big Ten bowl games, excluding Ohio State's clash with Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl for comprehensive coverage down the road here at Eleven Warriors.
Cotton Bowl: Michigan State vs. Alabama
Michigan State is the Big Ten's representative in the College Football Playoff this season. It will try for a B1G repeat this season, contrary to all expectations about the playoff outcomes when the format was first announced a few years ago.
Alabama is favored by 9.5 points in this contest. It has the Heisman winner, the Maxwell winner, the Doak Walker winner, and the Walter Camp award, and that's just one player. Ryan Kelly, Alabama's center, also won the Rimington Trophy this month.
Alabama's ground game (i.e. Derrick Henry) versus Michigan State's run defense will be the matchup most discussed before the game starts. Michigan State has the country's No. 7 rush defense while Derrick Henry has rushed for at least 140 yards in every game against FBS competition (i.e. excluding the 68 yards against Charleston Southern) since the middle of October. He has four games of 200 yards or more in that span as well.
Henry is typically more a sledgehammer later in the game when the opposing defense is running out of steam (see: the Iron Bowl). The matchup that should most concern Michigan State fans is its secondary against Alabama's receivers. Calvin Ridley is a Freshman All-American and should have the kind of career that Amari Cooper had in Tuscaloosa. Michigan State's secondary had issues in the regular season, largely with injuries.
Stranger things have happened—indeed, I feared Alabama would maul Ohio State in last season's Sugar Bowl. Still, Michigan State faces long odds in Arlington against the Crimson Tide.
Rose Bowl: Iowa vs. Stanford
Big Ten West champion Iowa will appear in its first Rose Bowl since Washington smashed it to pieces in 1991 (i.e. the 1990 season). It will try for its first win in this bowl game since 1959.
Christian McCaffrey was too much for USC to handle. Can Iowa slow him down? (Matt Cohen/Icon Sportswire)
In other words, the Hawkeyes had three Rose Bowl appearances since the 1958 season, all under program legend Hayden Fry. Iowa lost 28-0 to Washington in 1982, 45-28 to UCLA in 1986, and 46-34 to Washington in 1991. That's three losses by a combined 57 points. If not for a furious fourth-quarter rally in 1991, that deficit in its three Rose Bowl losses could be as large as 70 points.
It will face comparably long odds against the Pac-12 champion Cardinal. Stanford is a 6.5-point favorite against Iowa.
Iowa defied all season expectations just to make it to this game. What will it do with an offense as dynamic and occasionally explosive as Stanford's offense? The Hawkeyes are a top-20 defense, but it hasn't really seen a player like Christian McCaffrey yet. The tenth-ranked Iowa defense will be put to the test.
The best comparison for Iowa on Stanford's schedule might be Washington (No. 29 rush defense; No. 28 total defense). Incidentally, Stanford avoided the top two rush defenses in its own conference (Arizona State, and Utah). Against Washington, the Cardinal still amassed 31 points and 478 yards of offense. McCaffrey had 109 yards on 23 carries and complemented it with 112 receiving yards.
TaxSlayer Bowl: Penn State vs. Georgia
Among all the Big Ten bowl games, this... this is definitely one of them.
It's hard to find a superlative for this game. Penn State's defense was fantastic and Carl Nassib is cleaning house on the award circuit. However, Penn State's offense was so visibly bad in so many high-profile games that it's easy to forget Northwestern's offense actually had a worse year. James Franklin felt compelled to fire its offensive coordinator and replace him with Fordham's head coach. An up-tempo, 75-plays-a-game offense will come to Happy Valley soon.
Remember when Georgia was going to win the SEC East? And probably the SEC against—remember this team—Auburn? That seems so long ago. Georgia finished 9-3 but the athletic department felt compelled to clean house. It fired Mark Richt, who is now Miami's head coach. Jeremy Pruitt, a stellar defensive coordinator, will replace Kirby Smart (who replaced Mark Richt) as Alabama's defensive coordinator. Georgia feels listless at the moment, waiting for Alabama's season to end so its new era can start.
Georgia is a seven-point favorite this game, but I feel inclined to take Penn State this contest.
Outback Bowl: Northwestern vs. Tennessee
Northwestern will compete for its 11th win this season. That would constitute the most wins ever in a Northwestern football season.
Its competition is Tennessee, a hard-luck team from a bad division for college football (the SEC East). Still, it's tradition to inflate the SEC before the bowl games. The 8-4 Volunteers are actually an 8.5-point favorite this game. Only Alabama is favored more against Michigan State among the Big Ten bowl games.
If that seems unusual, consider that Tennessee has caught fire down the stretch. The Volunteers started 2015 with a 3-4 record but won its final five games.
Meanwhile, Northwestern may not have got a whole lot better since its big upset over Stanford to begin the season. Northwestern can't meaningfully move the ball or score points. The Wildcats have the 115th-best offense in college football.
Northwestern's defense will be key to keeping the Wildcats in this game. Pat Fitzgerald's unit is the 11th-best in the country this season in yards per game.
Citrus Bowl: Michigan vs. Florida
This Citrus Bowl just feels "right". The 9-3 Wolverines will try for a ten-win season in Harbaugh's debut year against the SEC East champion Gators.
Michigan is a four-point favorite in large part because Florida's offense is terrible. It was okay with Will Grier, but regressed under Treon Harris. Only Florida International is worse than the Gators on offense among the FBS schools in the Sunshine State. Florida's offense averages just 294 yards a game and just 13 points a game since November.
Florida will lean heavily on its defense (sixth-best in the country). So will Michigan, for that matter. Michigan has the country's No. 4 total defense and the country's No. 71 total offense. Its the second worst offense among FBS schools in the Mitten, ahead of just traditional cellar-dweller Eastern Michigan.
| Season | Opponent | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Illinois | 55-3 | |
| 1998 | Purdue | 27-17 | Pigskin Classic IX |
| 2000 | Penn State | 29-5 | Kickoff Classic |
| 2002 | Iowa | 38-17 | 2003 Orange Bowl |
| 2003 | Michigan | 28-14 | 2004 Rose Bowl |
| 2006 | Nebraska | 28-10 | Nebraska was still Big-XII |
| 2006 | Michigan | 32-18 | 2007 Rose Bowl |
| 2007 | Nebraska | 49-31 | Nebraska was still Big-XII |
| 2007 | Illinois | 49-17 | 2008 Rose Bowl |
| 2008 | Ohio State | 35-3 | |
| 2008 | Penn State | 38-24 | 2009 Rose Bowl |
| 2009 | Ohio State | 18-15 | |
| 2010 | Minnesota | 32-21 | |
| 2011 | Minnesota | 19-17 | |
| 2014 | Nebraska | 45-42 | 2014 Holiday Bowl |
Holiday Bowl: Wisconsin vs. USC
Want a rooting interest this Big Ten bowl season? Consider adopting Wisconsin.
Let me explain. USC last lost to a team currently in the Big Ten to start the 1996 season. Penn State beat USC 24-7 in the 1996 Kickoff Classic in the old Giants Stadium. This table shows the list of Big Ten bodies that USC has buried since.
USC will look for its 16th-straight win over a team currently in the Big Ten and its ninth different team in that 19-year stretch.
The Trojans are a three-point favorite. That's not necessarily a superlative for USC, more an indictment on where Wisconsin is this year. Last year, Wisconsin had the best non-triple-option rushing attack, averaging 320 yards per game on the ground. This year, Wisconsin is averaging just 148 rushing yards a game, 97th-best in the country.
Quick Lane Bowl: Minnesota vs. Central Michigan
Tracy Claeys took the reins from Jerry Kill midstream and did what he could on short notice. Minnesota finished the year 5-7 but will play in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit because there are too many damn bowls and not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill them.
Central Michigan is 7-5 this season and even scored a home upset over annual MAC power Northern Illinois. Still, the Chippewas are six-point underdogs to the Gophers. It's hard to find many statistics to support that contention from Vegas. Central Michigan is better than Minnesota in most of the basic statistics.
Minnesota is looking for its first bowl win since 2004.
Foster Farms Bowl: Nebraska vs. UCLA
Mike Riley went 5-7 with the Cornhuskers in his first year in Lincoln. The Huskers are in a bowl game because there are too many damn bowls and not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill them.
UCLA is a 6.5-point favorite this game, which feels kind of generous. Nebraska concedes over 400 yards on defense a game and UCLA averages 472 yards on offense with its Freshman All-American phenom at quarterback.
Feel free to gloat on Twitter if I'm wrong, but UCLA will likely hand Nebraska's hat to it.
Pinstripe Bowl: Indiana vs. Duke
Pending an enthusiastic horde of Iowa fans striping the "Granddaddy of them All" (and they might), this bowl game might have the most spectator value of any of the Big Ten bowl games. Two "basketball schools" playing December football in a baseball stadium? Sure. Sign me up!
Indiana is a 2.5-point favorite in this game for a variety of reasons. Despite having an all-star safety like Jeremy Cash, the Blue Devils have regressed in each of the last two seasons since winning the ACC Coastal in 2013. Further, it just lost its offensive coordinator to East Carolina. Scottie Montgomery is the Pirates' new head coach.
Further, Indiana's offense is scary and will put points on defenses no matter who they are. Indiana hung a combined 68 points against the two best defenses on its schedule (Michigan and Ohio State).
