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🚨 Mitchell Headed to 1st Conference Finals

Big Ten weakness truth or fiction?

Scott LargentDec 26, 2008

My first posting cut off the numbers.

Big Ten weakness truth or fiction?


Is the Big 10 as bad as I keep reading and hearing? I decided to find out for myself so here are the numbers 1995 to present. My father is fond of saying “numbers don’t lie but liars figure. Big Ten 47 wins, 54 losses, winning only 46 ½ % of their bowl games. Only 3 teams have winning records in bowls since 1995 (Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa). The real shock (to me) is that Ohio State and Michigan are below .500

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Big 10


       team            wins           losses          total      winning %
Penn State            9              2                11          81.82%
Wisconsin              8              4                12          66.67%
Iowa                     5              4                9           55.56%
Ohio                     6               7                13           46.15%
Michigan                6              7                13          46.15%
Minnesota             3               4                7           42.86%
Illinois                  3                5                 8           37.50%
Purdue                 3                6                 9           33.33%
Indiana                2                5                 7            28.57%
Michigan State      2                5                7            28.57%
Northwestern        0                5                5              0.00%
total Bowls record

1995 to present   47               54             101            46.53%

Two teams: Penn State and Wisconsin account for 36% of Big Ten’s bowl wins. With these numbers how can anyone defend the Big 10 as a group, it is clear the Big 10 does not win bowl games. With this said the PAC 10 is not a whole lot better winning 48 ½ % of their games. The Pac 10 has 5 teams at .500 or better representing 58.8% of all wins.

Pac 10

team                  wins                losses             total      winning %

Arizona                 2                     0                   2         100.00%
California              4                      1                   5          80.00%
USC                     7                      2                   9         77.78%
Oregon State         5                     2                   7          71.43%
Washington State   2                     2                   4          50.00%
Oregon                  5                    7                   12         41.67%
Arizona State         3                     6                   9           33.33%
UCLA                    3                     7                   10          30.00%
Stanford                1                    3                     4          25.00%
Washington            2                    6                    8           25.00%

total Bowls record

1995 to present       34                 36                   70           48.57%

The Big 12 is just a little bit better then the Pac Ten winning 49.5 % of their games with six teams at .500 or better.

Big 12

team                    wins                  losses              total    winning %

Kansas                  3                        1                    4          75.00%
Nebraska               8                        4                   12          66.67%
Texas                   7                        5                    12         58.33%
Missouri                3                        3                     6          50.00%
Oklahoma St.         3                        3                     6          50.00%
Texas Tech           5                        5                    10          50.00%
Colorado State       4                       5                      9          44.44%
Kansas State         4                       5                      9          44.44%
Oklahoma              4                       5                      9          44.44%
Iowa St.               2                       3                      5          40.00%
Texas A & M          2                       7                     9           22.22%
Baylor                             no bowl game
  total                 45                     46                     91          49.45%

The Sec on the other hand is clearly better than the rest. Bowl wins of 60% 9 of the 12 teams with winning records in Bowls (only two with losing record Vanderbilt has not played a bowl game)
Sec
team                   wins           losses                  total       winning  %
Ole Miss                6                1                          7           85.71%
LSU                      9                2                        11            81.82%
South Carolina        4                1                        5             80.00%
Georgia                 9                3                        12            75.00%
Auburn                 7                4                        11             63.64%
Mississippi State    3                2                          5             60.00%
ALABAMA              5               4                          9             55.56%
Tennessee            7               6                         13            53.85%
Kentucky              2                2                         4             50.00%
Florida                  6               7                        13             46.15%
Arkansas              2               8                         10             20.00%
Vanderbilt           no Bowl Games
  total                 60              40                       100            60.00%

Using the data above I would Place the Big Ten at the bottom of the list (having only three out of 11 teams with winning records and the worst winning percentage of the four) with the Pac 10 next, followed by the big 12 with the Sec on top.

Look forward to reading comments.

🚨 Mitchell Headed to 1st Conference Finals

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