2011 Bowl Games: Analyzing Each Big Ten Bowl Game

Championship weekend was very good to the Big Ten conference, as the inaugural championship game was another instant classic between Michigan State and Wisconsin. Additionally, Michigan vaulted up to No. 13 in the BCS Standings, which made the Wolverines a shoo-in for the BCS when Houston lost this weekend.

Although many of the Big Ten teams ended up in expected locations, the set of opponents changed wildly in the final weekend. The good news is that with the exception of one game, every match up is winnable for the Big Ten. Considering that the conference needs to do well in bowl games to make up for the disaster of 2010-11, the set of ten bowl games is a huge opportunity to make the nation respect the BIG.

Let's jump right into some quick analysis of each game on the docket.

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Oregon

Wisconsin squeaked past Michigan State in Indianapolis, which puts the Badgers in the Rose Bowl for the second straight year. Wisconsin will certainly hope to improve on the 2011 Rose Bowl effort, when the Badgers lost to Andy Dalton and TCU.

The Badgers face a stiff test against the Pac-12 champion Oregon, which lost this game two years ago to Ohio State. The Ducks and Badgers play opposite styles, as Oregon hurries to the line and tries to wear a defense down with fast pace. Wisconsin wear defenses down with relentless offense led by the strong-nosed running of Montee Ball.

Look for a shootout similar to the Big Ten Championship in this one. Oregon has faltered when teams from the SEC and the Big Ten have had time to prepare for the Ducks, so Wisconsin will be ready to hang with Oregon. In fact, Wisconsin should probably win this game considering the explosive offense and the fast track in California for this one.

Sugar Bowl: Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

The Big 12 might have been the best or second-best conference this season, but only Oklahoma State enters the BCS bowls while the Big Ten and the ACC (of all conferences) received second BCS berths thanks to the Sugar Bowl. Virginia Tech was a surprising choice, but the Hokies make for an interesting game against the Wolverines.

Virginia Tech went 11-2 this year, with the only two losses being blowouts against Clemson. The Hokies have one of the better defenses in the country, only allowing 17.2 points per game. That defense will need to be ready for all the different schemes Brady Hoke and Denard Robinson will throw at them.

The ACC is historically awful in BCS bowls, so perhaps this is a perfect pairing for Michigan. The revamped Michigan defense under Greg Mattison will also be tested against a run-heavy attack from Virginia Tech. However, Michigan stuffed teams like Nebraska with a similar offense, so this game could actually be a blowout if Michigan's offense opens well.

Capital One: Nebraska vs. South Carolina

Nebraska was the first team selected following the two BCS bowl participants, and the Florida-based bowl games will be thrilled to invite the Cornhuskers for seasons to come. Nebraska pulls a top-ten ranked team from the SEC for its first Big Ten bowl assignment, so welcome to the Big Ten Cornhuskers. This is run-of-the-mill for the brutal conference bowl game tie-ins.

South Carolina made the most out of nothing this season. South Carolina swept the East division this season, but lost two games against Auburn and Arkansas in cross-division games. Additionally, the Gamecocks had to overcome the loss of quarterback Stephen Garcia and star running back Marcus Lattimore. Yet that is precisely what the Gamecocks did, running off wins against Florida and Clemson to close the season with a three game winning streak.

Despite the top-ten ranking for South Carolina, Nebraska should be heavily favored to win this game. The zone option and strong running of Rex Burkhead should be enough to carry the day for Nebraska. As long as the good version of the Cornhuskers shows up rather than the team that lost to Washington last bowl season, Nebraska will celebrate a big win against the SEC on January 2.

Outback Bowl: Michigan State vs. Georgia

Call this the redemption bowl for Michigan State, after being throttled by an underrated Alabama team in the Capital One bowl a season ago. The Spartans proved to be a much better team this year, with Kirk Cousins and his set of receivers effectively attacking defenses. Michigan State also showed last night how LeVeon Bell can take over a game as well when needed.

Georgia was on a great roll with ten wins before the SEC championship, and like the Spartans, the Bulldogs cannot be happy to drop this far in the bowl order. However, that will not stop Mark Richt from having the Bulldogs ready to play in this one. Quarterback Aaron Murray plays a lot like Cousins, which means both defenses could be well prepared to slow the other offense in this one.

This game is truly a toss up. The game will likely be decided by turnovers, and Georgia has an athletic set of players in the defensive backfield that could win that turnover battle. If that occurs, Michigan State will be in trouble once more. But again, this is not an SEC West teams and thus is a winnable game.

Gator Bowl: Ohio State vs. Florida

Although each of these teams finished disappointing seasons at 6-6, this bowl pairign was too compelling to pass up for the Gator Bowl. This could be called the Urban Meyer bowl, as Meyer's future team faces his former team. It is also a rematch of the national championship shocker from five years ago, when the heavily-favored Buckeyes were knocked off by Meyer and Florida.

The Buckeyes will be improved even more with an extra month of bowl practice, but look for Luke Fickell to get some more young talent involved in the bowl game, especially on defense. If the youth that was tested by fired during the season steps up, then the Buckeyes have a good chance of blowing away a mediocre Florida team. That would give OSU a bowl win against the SEC without the asterisk attached to last year's Sugar Bowl.

Will Muschamp and Charlie Weis looked lost with the talent they had this season, so it will also be interesting to see if a month of bowl practices helps the Gator offense play better. Ohio State's defense is no picnic, but they are beatable if an offense plays well on the offensive line.

Insight Bowl: Iowa vs. Oklahoma

And here is the seemingly un-winnable bowl match up. Iowa has received no favors in bowl game choices in previous seasons, but this mountain might be too much for the Hawkeyes to climb. Oklahoma suffered through some injuries and inconsistent play in the Big 12, but this team was one of the small handful with enough talent to win a national title this season. In fact, a 9-3 record on this Oklahoma teams reminds me of the Alabama team that crushed MSU last bowl season.

James Vandenberg will need to find Marvin McNutt and his other receivers early and often to keep up with Landry Jones and the Sooners. Iowa came up with a great defensive game plan for defeating Missouri and Blaine Gabbert last bowl season, so perhaps the Hawkeyes defense will figure out how to slow the Sooners.

However, staying close and actually winning the game are two different things. Sorry Hawkeye fans, this one could be difficult to win and difficult to watch, but the match up is at least an opportunity to impress the nation if an upset occurs.

Meineke Car Care Bowl: Northwestern vs. Texas A&M

Northwestern was grabbed in this bowl game over Penn State, a fact that is not looked upon kindly by the Nittany Lions administration. On the bright side, at least by picking Northwestern there will not be two interim head coaches in this game. Texas A&M stumbled down the stretch and lost four of their final five Big 12 conference games, leading to the ejection of Mike Sherman as coach.

With the exception of the finale against Texas, the Aggies never failed to score 29 points or more in a game. The Aggies enjoy pushing teams into a shootout, which could play right into Northwestern's hands this season. The Wildcats have a multi-faceted monster of an offense led usually by Kain Colter, although Dan Persa will continue to see significant playing time in his final game at Northwestern.

The Wildcats have been playing much better on defense in late October and early November, and that should be the difference in this game. Northwestern will be challenged to earn the first bowl win in many decades, but that first win will be a fitting way for the only senior class to ever attend four bowl games at NU to go out.

TicketCity Bowl: Penn State vs. Houston

So this is what a child sex abuse scandal and a poor finishing kick will get you in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions dropped all the way to be the 8th team off the board, only beating Purdue and Illinois in the bowl selections. Despite the precipitous drop, Penn State will end up playing in a match up of ranked teams as Houston opposes them in this Texas based bowl game.

Houston is emotionally crushed after being blown out at home by Southern Mississippi for the Conference USA crown, and one wonders if the Cougars will be excited to play in this January 2 bowl game when the BCS was so tantalizingly close. Case Keenum gets another opportunity to add to his legendary numbers against one of the best defenses in the country. A good finishing battle for Keenum and the Cougars, assuming they show up to play.

Penn State will try to win with little offense, although the Houston defense is nothing to be terribly impressed about. Tom Bradley may not win the full time job, but it would be nice to see him go out with two wins in his four games as head coach. Although most Big Ten casual viewers will turn away once the three games at 1 PM begin on the same day, Penn State has the national and conference spotlight for an hour. Let's hope that spotlight is not squandered.

Little Casear's Bowl: Purdue vs. Western Michigan

Purdue won its final game to become bowl eligible for the first time in the Danny Hope era. Now Hope has inherited a relatively easy assignment in the lowest regular Big Ten bowl tie-in. Actually, this will be the first time in a few years that the conference has enough bowl eligible teams to fill this bowl slot, so Detroit will be happy to finally have any Big Ten team to play there.

Western Michigan has a dynamic offense, but that offense was not enough to keep up with the likes of Toledo and Northern Illinois in the MAC this season. Although the Boilermaker defense plays inconsistently from time to time, this unit should be able to slow down the Broncos and give the Purdue offense many opportunities to win.

It will be interesting to see if Caleb TerBush continues to take most of the snaps at quarterback for Purdue. TerBush is clearly the quarterback of the future for Hope, so one would imagine the heavy play will continue for him. That could actually be risky if Western Michigan can force a couple turnovers, but Purdue should still win this game.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Illinois vs. UCLA

Wow, what can you say about this final bowl game for the Big Ten? What's worse than an Illinois team coming off a blowout loss to Minnesota, six losses in a row, and a firing of the head coach? How about a team that had to obtain a waiver from the NCAA to be bowl eligible despite a losing record, and another fired head coach? That's exactly what will be paired in San Francisco for this "treat."

Nathan Scheelhaase should be able to carve up the Bruins defense, although Illinois must find a way to stop making the critical mistakes that undermined them in the second half of the season. UCLA is relatively ineffective on offense, so Illinois should only need to score in the mid-20's or so to get a win here.

This is not the most awe-inspiring way to end the Big Ten bowl line-up, but this is what you get when ten teams are bowl eligible. This could be a future Rose Bowl game, but not with these coaches and probably not with these teams.

On the whole, all the games are at least relatively interesting and most are winnable. The Big Ten made out better than every other conference in America outside the SEC, and a power packed ten bowl games will be fun to follow for Big Ten fans. I look forward to bringing more analysis of these games as late December arrives. Until then, thanks for reading!