Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, September 24, 2012
Four weeks are in the books, but the bowl picture remains a work-in-progress-as usual To review: The Big Ten has tie-ins with eight bowls-but it has only 10 bowl-eligible schools, as Penn State and Ohio State are on NCAA and banned from the postseason in 2012.
Once again, the Big Ten did little to improve its stock on Saturday, notching no impressive wins while seeing Michigan lose to Notre Dame in the biggest game of the weekend. Also, Iowa was stunned at home by Central Michigan and Illinois got hammered at home by Louisiana Tech.
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Despite all of that, I think the Big Ten still will be able to fill all of its bowl spots-but that could change. And, it still could get two teams in the BCS. History says it?s likely to happen, as the Big Ten has had two teams in the BCS 11 times in the 14-year history of the system.
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Here is my fifth look at where your school may be bowling over the holidays:
| BOWL GAME | DATE | OTHER CONFERENCE | DIENHART'S PROJECTIONS |
| Little Caesars Pizza | Dec. 26 | MAC | Ohio vs. Illinois |
| Meineke Car Care | Dec. 28 | Big 12 | Oklahoma State vs. Minnesota |
| Buffalo Wild Wings | Dec. 29 | Big 12 | Oklahoma vs. Purdue |
| TicketCity | Jan. 1 | C-USA | Central Florida vs. Iowa |
| Capital One | Jan. 1 | SEC | Georgia vs. Michigan |
| Outback | Jan. 1 | SEC | Florida vs. Nebraska |
| Gator | Jan. 1 | SEC | South Carolina vs. Northwestern |
| Fiesta | Jan. 3 | BCS | Texas vs. Wisconsin |
| Rose | Jan. 1 | BCS | Oregon vs. Michigan State |
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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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