Bowl season is now over and it’s time to take stock in what the Big Ten did against the rest of the college football universe. There have been really good years, some years in the crapper, and some really, really bad ones. You can count this one as a mixed bag of sorts.
All in all, the Big Ten went just a wee-bit under .500, going 4-5 during bowl season. And a little worse than that, it’s highest exposure games resulted in just a 2-3 finish. That would be the Fiesta Bowl (Ohio State loss), Rose Bowl (Wisconsin loss), Cotton Bowl (Penn State win), Camping World Bowl (Michigan loss), and Outback Bowl (Minnesota win).
Here’s a look at how all the conferences did, with the SEC leading the way (queue the chest thumpers):
Never should a conference’s strength be determined by a small sample size of a few games at the end of the year, but that’s the reality of the world we live in. The Big Ten did not show up like the conference stakeholders would have liked, so there it is.
It also feels like an opportunity lost. Both Ohio State and Wisconsin were both there with some officiating breaks going against each, and Indiana dominated throughout but fell to Tennessee.
Better luck next year I guess.
