Written by Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior WriterWe know this for sure: seven teams will go bowling, as Purdue and Michigan State punched their tickets with wins on Saturday to join Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, Northwestern and Minnesota. That means the Big Ten won’t be able to fill its eighth and final bowl spot in the Little Caesar’s Bowl. If Ohio State and Penn State weren’t on probation, the Big Ten bowl ranks would swell to nine. The Big Ten set a league record with 10 bowl teams last season.
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And the Big Ten won’t have two BCS teams for the first time since the 2005 season. Speaking of the BCS, I have Nebraska going to the Rose Bowl. I sure hope Stanford beats UCLA in the Pac-12 title game so we don’t get a rematch from earlier this season of the Cornhuskers vs. the Bruins in Pasadena. UCLA won that, 36-30, and torched Nebraska for 653 yards back on Sept. 8.
The Huskers played Miami (Fla.) in the Rose Bowl for the BCS title after the 2001 season.
Here’s a look at my latest incarnation before I head to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game.
| BOWL GAME | MATCHUP | TOM’S PROJECTIONS |
| Little Caesars Pizza Bowl Wed., Dec. 26 @ 7:30 p.m. ET |
Big Ten No. 8 vs. MAC | Northern Illinois vs. Non-Big Ten team |
| Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas Fri. Dec. 28 @ 9 p.m. ET |
Big Ten No. 6 vs. Big 12 | West Virginia vs. Minnesota |
| Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl Sat., Dec. 29 @ 10:15 p.m. ET |
Big Ten Nos. 4-5 vs. Big 12 | TCU vs. Michigan State |
| Heart of Dallas Bowl Tue., Jan. 1 @ noon ET |
Big Ten No. 7 vs. Big 12 | Iowa State vs. Purdue |
| TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl Tue., Jan. 1 @ noon ET |
Big Ten Nos. 4-5 vs. SEC | Mississippi State vs. Wisconsin |
| Outback Bowl Tue., Jan. 1 @ 1 p.m. ET |
Big Ten No. 3 vs. SEC | South Carolina vs. Northwestern |
| Capital One Bowl Tue., Jan. 1 @ 1 p.m. ET |
Big Ten No. 2 vs. SEC | Georgia vs. Michigan |
| Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio Tue., Jan. 1 @ 5 p.m. ET |
Big Ten No. 1 vs. Pac-12 | Stanford vs. Nebraska |
Here’s my list from last week.
| About Tom Dienhart | BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men’s basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section. |
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Is the big ten going to win a bowl game?
Maybe a couple but a lot of the B1G teams appear to be overmatched again this year. West Virginia and TCU play fast and score quickly on offense but defense is ???. The B1G teams struggled to get to a bowl game. Georgia is in the title SEC game and Michigan can play OK but not well against Big Teams this year. Other games might be competitive. Still too early for the official matchups with the title games coming up this weekend. But I lean towards Doug. I think there might be some good games and you just never know after five weeks or so to prepare for one game.
Maybe one? I don’t see any chance at any more than that. I don’t even know who it would be. You figure the law of averages gives at least one win to the conference. It certainly won’t be pretty.
Would love to see a Husker/Stanford rematch in the Rose Bowl, Nebraskans have been looking for revenge for their first Rose Bowl loss, which was to Satnford in the 1941 Rose Bowl game. It’s a long time to wait to get even.
I think MSU and NEB have the best chances, but still, not pretty, and maybe we’ll all be pleasantly surprised.
Call me crazy, but I actually like the B1G’s odds if these matchups happen.
I was glad Stanford beat UCLA to shut Oregon out of the Title game and the Rose Bowl. With ND in the championship game with the SEC Champion most likely, Oregon has to look for the at Large bid and Kansas State and Oklahoma are fighting for the Big 12 bid and the other will also be looking for At Large BCS along with SEC teams. going to be interesting to see how the games go this weekend to determine the BCS games and where the rest go to play. Lots of 1 loss teams available.
Georgia would win that game by 30!
I see a Wisky win there, no more
I’m a Purdue grad (EE ’61), but I think that the Big Ten has a good chance of losing every game that you have projected and probably not even cover but a couple of them (I’m guessing they will be dogs in all). Wisconsin/MSU is the only close call.
These are just projection matchups will see how close they are when Bowl invites are out. Keep in mind folks college football is pretty evenly match and I believe the Big Ten 7 Bowl teams have a good chance of winning. That’s why you let the games play out. It should be interesting and fun to watch. Tom maybe Rank the Bowl Teams ?
I could see nebraska and wisconsin winning. No others
wow, Michigan fell all the way down to the outback bowl, sorry Tom, a long way from your rose bowl, or fiesta bowl, or cap one bowl predictions…..
Thanks for reading, Doug. Just a reminder for you and everyone else here: You can email Tom directly here, and contact him on Twitter (@BTNTomDienhart), too. Thanks again!