Ice Cube would be incredibly disappointed with the Big Ten Conference and their bowl games today. The conference was featured heavily on New Year's Day. . .out of six bowl games that were played on Saturday, five of them featured teams from the Big Ten. It could have been an opportunity for the conference to silence their doubters.
↵Instead, it gave those doubters all the ammunition they could have hoped for and more.
↵Wisconsin losing to TCU by two points was the icing on the cake. . .the tail kickings for the Big Ten started early and continued all day long. To recap the Big Ten's day. . .
↵-Ticketcity Bowl - Northwestern trailed Texas Tech by 22 points early in the third quarter. The Wildcats put together a furious rally, but still fell short, 45-38.
-Outback Bowl - I believe that Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin was just intercepted again. He threw five of them today, including a pick-six to seal the Nittany Lions' 37-24 loss to the Florida Gators.
-Capital One Bowl - Michigan State. . .you know, the Big Ten co-champions. . .was trailing 49-0 in the fourth quarter to Alabama, and only a garbage time touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins prevented the shutout as Sparty got throttled by the Crimson Tide, 49-7.
-Gator Bowl - In what could very well be Rich Rodriguez's last game in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter in Tampa. Then they gave up 42 unanswered points to lose 52-14, the worst bowl game loss in Michigan history. And, you know, they've been playing football at Michigan for a long time.
The Big Ten is currently 2-5 in their seven bowl games thus far, and there's still one game for the conference left to play when Ohio State takes on Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl in a few days. The only two teams in the conference with bowl victories so far are Iowa and Illinois.
↵So, obviously the key to success in the Big Ten as far as bowls are concerned is obvious. . .lose to the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the regular season, and you'll win your bowl game. Beat Minnesota during the year, and you're toast. Sorry in advance, Ohio State.