I'm looking at the B1G bowl schedule and I don't even see a game in which the B1G team will be favored, let alone win.  Ouch!

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Stanford
Capital One Bowl: Nebraska vs. Georgia
Outback Bowl: Michigan vs. South Carolina
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan State vs. TCU
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State

I could see UW, UM, NW and MSU winning. I wouldn't put money on it though.

Maybe MSU but you're right, I wouldn't put any money on it.

i will guarantee a northwestern win.

miss state is terrible.

Has the Big 10 ever gone 0-fer in bowl season? This definately seems like a year it could happen, mainly because the absence of OSU and PSU bumps some guys up. Still, upsets do happen. I think the Spartans are a little better than their record might indicate. I wouldn't be shocked to see them pull out a win against TCU.  I don't see how the Huskers have a prayer with that pink shirt defense of theirs. Wisky and U* definately seem over matched. Northwestern can be a scrappy team. I think the middle of our lineup gives us the best chances for some wins.

These matchups are all not bad considering what could have been. Wisconsin, Michigan, Northwestern and Michigan State can all win

I see the B1G winning between 2-5 games (ranging from somewhat disappointing to strong). I wouldn't call that a bloodbath (though some individual scores will be bloodbaths).

The B1G has a decent chance to take a majority of the games against the SEC this year.

OSU81 wrote: I'm looking at the B1G bowl schedule and I don't even see a game in which the B1G team will be favored, let alone win.  Ouch!

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Stanford
Capital One Bowl: Nebraska vs. Georgia
Outback Bowl: Michigan vs. South Carolina
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan State vs. TCU
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State

Georgia has been pretty mediocre in bowls most years, and you're pitting a running team (Nebraska) against a team that's had trouble stopping the run.  I could see Nebraska winning that game, although it will probably be a high scoring one for both sides.

I don't have a line for Minny/TT but I think Minny will be an underdog as well. That's 7 out of 7 games where the B1G will be underdogs. It's getting real old where the B1G gets a bad rap but if you look at the facts, it's a setup.

I haven't gone through the SEC and Pac12 thoroughly yet but I believe they are favorites in every bowl game. The media won't point this out.

OSU81 wrote: I'm looking at the B1G bowl schedule and I don't even see a game in which the B1G team will be favored, let alone win.  Ouch!

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Stanford  -6½ -110
Capital One Bowl: Nebraska vs. Georgia  -12½ -120
Outback Bowl: Michigan vs. South Carolina  -7 +100
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State  -2½ -120
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan State vs. TCU  -4½ -120
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech 
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State  -14½ -120

"The line" is a bit misleading when trying to gauge difficulty of schedule.  If the Sunbelt conference played 8 bowl games, they would probably be an underdog in every one - because the Sunbelt is bad.

Here's the lineup for a few of the teams, comparing conference records:

Nebraska 7-2 vs UGA 7-2 (both lost conference championship game) 
Michigan 6-2 vs USC 6-2
Northwestern 5-3 vs Mississippi State 4-4

If the Big Ten is actually an underdog in those three games, it says more about the perceived strength of the conference - or at least those teams - than it does about "playing up" in terms of opponents.  Those should be roughly even matchups for the Big Ten based on conference standings. 

GatorNation4Lyfe wrote: I don't have a line for Minny/TT but I think Minny will be an underdog as well. That's 7 out of 7 games where the B1G will be underdogs. It's getting real old where the B1G gets a bad rap but if you look at the facts, it's a setup.

I haven't gone through the SEC and Pac12 thoroughly yet but I believe they are favorites in every bowl game. The media won't point this out.

OSU81 wrote: I'm looking at the B1G bowl schedule and I don't even see a game in which the B1G team will be favored, let alone win.  Ouch!

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Stanford  -6½ -110
Capital One Bowl: Nebraska vs. Georgia  -12½ -120
Outback Bowl: Michigan vs. South Carolina  -7 +100
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State  -2½ -120
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan State vs. TCU  -4½ -120
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech 
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State  -14½ -120

NorfolkVaTiger wrote: "The line" is a bit misleading when trying to gauge difficulty of schedule.  If the Sunbelt conference played 8 bowl games, they would probably be an underdog in every one - because the Sunbelt is bad.

Here's the lineup for a few of the teams, comparing conference records:

Nebraska 7-2 vs UGA 7-2 (both lost conference championship game) 
Michigan 6-2 vs USC 6-2
Northwestern 5-3 vs Mississippi State 4-4

If the Big Ten is actually an underdog in those three games, it says more about the perceived strength of the conference - or at least those teams - than it does about "playing up" in terms of opponents.  Those should be roughly even matchups for the Big Ten based on conference standings. 

GatorNation4Lyfe wrote: I don't have a line for Minny/TT but I think Minny will be an underdog as well. That's 7 out of 7 games where the B1G will be underdogs. It's getting real old where the B1G gets a bad rap but if you look at the facts, it's a setup.

I haven't gone through the SEC and Pac12 thoroughly yet but I believe they are favorites in every bowl game. The media won't point this out.

OSU81 wrote: I'm looking at the B1G bowl schedule and I don't even see a game in which the B1G team will be favored, let alone win.  Ouch!

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Stanford  -6½ -110
Capital One Bowl: Nebraska vs. Georgia  -12½ -120
Outback Bowl: Michigan vs. South Carolina  -7 +100
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State  -2½ -120
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan State vs. TCU  -4½ -120
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech 
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State  -14½ -120

with osu out, the best team in the b1g is not present and penn finished ahead of wisconsin, so nebraska got stomped by the 3rd best b1g team,

^^^ Well we all know the B1G has been down but when you exclude OSU and PSU, your making these other schools play up even more.

All I'm saying is that when UGA is a double digit favorite by Vegas, you shouldn't be surprised if they win the game. When the majority of these games are lines of a TD or more that tells me that it will be a difficult road. It's a setup IMO to make the B1G look bad. Especially when the SEC is favored in all their bowls.

Wisc vs Stanford - I gotta give the edge to Stanford as they will be the best front 7 wisc will face all year and be able to stuff monte ball.. I have no faith in wisc passing game to win it for them and see Stanford winning in a defensive struggle.

Nebraska vs Georgia - advantage Georgia. After watching the bama game I am no longer impressed with Georgia ESP thier run defense. However, as we have seen throughout this year Nebraska defense is god AWEFUL and will not be able to keep their offense in a good position to win this game. This is a matchup I would have preferred Wisconsin had instead of neb.

Michigan vs south Carolina - I actually give the edge to michigan on this. Since the loss of lattimore, sc offense has been lackluster this season. This helps Michigan a lot bcuz if there is one major weakness they have it's thier run defense which was exposed vs Alabama and osu.. the Michigan pass defense has been legit all year and will assist them in shutting down this sc offense. Michigan will score enough points to add the W to thier season.

Miss st vs northwestern - this is my fav matchup in favor of us as miss state has shown they are terrible vs any team with a pulse this season. Northwestern has been stellar on offense all season especially in the run game. They will beat a very overrated sec team by atleast 10.

Mich st vs tcu - I like mich st in this one. I think they are arguably the best 6-6 team we are looking at this year. All of thier losses with the exception of notre dame have been very very hard fought loses that with one of two plays could have caused the outcome of the game to go their way instead. This is not the tcu of the past. Mich st defense will shut thier offense down and the tcu def will give up points to state with maxwell passing and bell leading the rushing attack.

Purdue vs okie state - this is one of the two games I think is the worst matchup for us. Purdue just is not a very good team this year althought there have been some good games they have played, that being vs us and notre dame.. Ever since thier heart breaking loss to us however, they have pretty much given up on thier season. I see Okie states offense hanging many points on them. Ifpurdue can play this game like they played us they have a chance. I not they will lose by double digits.

Minnesota vs Texas tech - this is the worst matchup for us this year as Minnesota is also a very bad team and Coach kill has pretty much lost his team. Texas tech has shown a very good pass defense with the way they shut down wvu's offense and will see the exact same results vs Minnesota.. I have Texas tech in a blow out.

Obviously with "Ohio" and penn state not eligible for the post season we are taking a big hit and sadly 3-4 is how I see our conference playing out.. One thing I think is funny is if you look at all the locations of these games they are right next door to our opponents campus yet these sites are considered "neutral" what a Hoke...

wisconsin upsets stanford (they have improved a lot in the last few weeks, and I have to call an upset somewhere, stanford is a great football team)
Georgia in a blowout over neb
Michigan wins over south carolina (for reasons mentioned above)
miss st wins against northwestern (Honestly haven't watched either team but northwestern has a way of disappointing)
Mich St holds on to beat TCU (Michigan State has defense but struggles on offense,)
Ok State beats purdue
Tech destroys minnesota

 

Michigan beat South Carolina, this is Spurrier with a month off to prepare.
Michigan's pass defense padded numbers against horrendous passing offenses like Air Force (who gouged them on the ground with a 250 pound OL), MSU, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and UMass.  Even Notre Dame's pass offense, and offense in general is as bland as it gets.
Real offenses like Ohio State, Northwestern, Alabama and Air Force with the option shredded them.
Meyer sticks with Hyde more in the red zone, OSU scores in the high 30's on them and wins easily.
South Carolina beat Georgia by 4 TD's, and routed lesser teams like Kentucky and others.
South Carolina also lost at LSU 23-21 and at Florida, and last weekend they went into high flying Clemson with QB Boyd, elite RB's like Ellington and elite WR's like Watkins and just slammed them and won by double digits.
SC runs option football, and has a massive OL as well.  They will run the option and straight ahead smash mouth football like Bama, Air Force and Northwestern did and run for over 200 yards against Michigan, while Spurrier will use end arounds and play action after the run is set.  Lattimore is a stud, but they have other solid proven RB's behind that massive OL, and Spurrier knows how to get WR's in space with quick passing plays and end arounds.
Steve Spurrier, with a rested and healthy QB, and a month to find ways to exploit Michigan's holes in their slow defense that padded numbers against a lot of bad teams, that is why everyone last night on the bowl show picked SC to win, several win big.
UofM could not block Bennet, Hankins, Spence and Washington last week, good luck trying to block Clowney and the elite front seven SC has.
South Carolina by double digits.
Spurrier with a month vs. Hoke, come on.
NW has the best chance of winning New Year's day for sure, it should be another ugly day for the Big Ten.
2-5 for the Big Ten, MSU and NW win.

OSU81 wrote: I'm looking at the B1G bowl schedule and I don't even see a game in which the B1G team will be favored, let alone win.  Ouch!

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Stanford
Capital One Bowl: Nebraska vs. Georgia
Outback Bowl: Michigan vs. South Carolina
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan State vs. TCU
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State

These games are a lot better than the early projections. I actually think these teams match up pretty well from a style perspective.

Oklahoma State/Purdue is really the only one that I see being ugly...on paper.

They beat Clemson by 10 points that isn't slamming anyone... Since they lost lattimore they got pounded by Florida 44-11.. Beat a shitty Tennessee team by 3 points.. 38-20 to arky.. And looked sluggish against WOFFORD. Really?

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--- brutus79 wrote:

Michigan beat South Carolina, this is Spurrier with a month off to prepare.
Michigan's pass defense padded numbers against horrendous passing offenses like Air Force (who gouged them on the ground with a 250 pound OL), MSU, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and UMass.  Even Notre Dame's pass offense, and offense in general is as bland as it gets.
Real offenses like Ohio State, Northwestern, Alabama and Air Force with the option shredded them.
Meyer sticks with Hyde more in the red zone, OSU scores in the high 30's on them and wins easily.
South Carolina beat Georgia by 4 TD's, and routed lesser teams like Kentucky and others.
South Carolina also lost at LSU 23-21 and at Florida, and last weekend they went into high flying Clemson with QB Boyd, elite RB's like Ellington and elite WR's like Watkins and just slammed them and won by double digits.
SC runs option football, and has a massive OL as well.  They will run the option and straight ahead smash mouth football like Bama, Air Force and Northwestern did and run for over 200 yards against Michigan, while Spurrier will use end arounds and play action after the run is set.  Lattimore is a stud, but they have other solid proven RB's behind that massive OL, and Spurrier knows how to get WR's in space with quick passing plays and end arounds.
Steve Spurrier, with a rested and healthy QB, and a month to find ways to exploit Michigan's holes in their slow defense that padded numbers against a lot of bad teams, that is why everyone last night on the bowl show picked SC to win, several win big.
UofM could noDt block Bennet, Hankins, Spence and Washington last week, good luck trying to block Clowney and the elite front seven SC has.
South Carolina by double digits.
Spurrier with a month vs. Hoke, come on.
NW has the best chance of winning New Year's day for sure, it should be another ugly day for the Big Ten.
2-5 for the Big Ten, MSU and NW win.

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GatorNation4Lyfe wrote: ^^^ Well we all know the B1G has been down but when you exclude OSU and PSU, your making these other schools play up even more.

All I'm saying is that when UGA is a double digit favorite by Vegas, you shouldn't be surprised if they win the game. When the majority of these games are lines of a TD or more that tells me that it will be a difficult road. It's a setup IMO to make the B1G look bad. Especially when the SEC is favored in all their bowls.

A setup? Why are you using Vegas lines to support your claim? These three bowls must match teams from the two conferences, which possible matchup  could be made where the Big10 is a favorite. SEC has better teams, that's why basically every reasonable matchup possible would have the SEC favored in Vegas.

Considering final rankings and conference records, the two leagues finished something like this...

1.OSU
2. Neb
3. Mich
4. PSU
5. NW
6. Wisc
7. MSU
8. Purdue

1. Bama
2. UF
3. UGA
4. LSU
5. A&M
6. Carolina
7. Vandy
8, MSU
9. Ole Miss

#3 UGA vs #2 Neb
#6 Carolina vs #3 Mich
# 8 MSU vs #5 NW

Big10 is playing down by a comfortable margin against the SEC.