Here are the Big Ten bowl alliances:
BCS National Championship - FedEx Orange Bowl (Miami, FL) - January 8, 2009 -8pm ET - FOX
In the event a Big Ten team is #1 or #2 (aka Penn State) the Rose Bowl gets to select the next highest ranked BCS team.
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA) - January 1, 2009 -5pm ET - ABC
Reserved for the Big Ten Conference Champion unless said champion (aka Penn State) is ranked #1 or #2 in the BCS at which point they play in the BCS national championship. The years when the Rose is NOT the national championship year pits the Big Ten champion vs the Pac-10 champion unless either conference has a team playing in the national championship.
Capital One Bowl (Orlando, FL) - January 1, 2009 - 1pm ET - ABC
The Capital One essentially gets the third best Big Ten team if the conference has a team playing in the national championship. They get the next "pick" after the Rose and will pit a Big Ten against an SEC team.
Outback Bowl (Tampa, FL) - January 1, 2009 - 11am ET - ESPN
Next in the pecking order is the Outback, which again pits the Big Ten vs the SEC. Based on Penn State playing in the title game, the Outback would likely get the fourth place Big Ten team, but see below for caveats.
Valero Alamo Bowl (San Antonio, TX) - December 29, 2008 - 8pm ET - ESPN
The Alamo Bowl is next and contractually slates a Big Ten opponent vs a Big 12 opponent.
Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando, FL) - December 27, 2008 - 4:30pm ET - ESPN
Next in line is Champs which will match a Big Ten team with an ACC opponent. This game is played in the same stadium, Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, as the Capital One bowl. It is the bowl most seeking an identity as it was most recently, in order, the Tangerine Bowl, MicronPC Bowl, Carquest Bowl and Blockbuster Bowl.
Insight Bowl (Tempe, AZ) - December 31, 2008 - 6pm ET - NFL Network
Ahh, the double-edged sword of great date, bad distribution. This slates a Big Ten vs Big 12 pairing.
Motor City Bowl (Detroit, MI) - December 26, 2008 - 7:30pm ET - ESPN
Cats fans know this venue all too well and it has become somewhat of the stigma bowl in Big Ten play. The game pits a Big Ten team against a MAC champion assuming they don't make the BCS (see: Ball State).
The Scary Part
So there is the pecking order, but now comes the scary part. Notice how none of the bowls come with contractual match-ups (ie. Big Ten #3 vs SEC #3). That is because aside from the BCS and the Rose Bowl, each bowl has the right to select whichever team they choose within reason. There is a provision precluding a bowl from selecting a team with a worse record of 2 or more losses. They should just come out and call this the Northwestern clause. Let's explore.
Let's just say, like Herb Gould did today, the Cats finish tied for fourth with Minnesota at 8-4 (4-4). Assuming Penn State runs the table and gets the BCS title nod, you would think Northwestern should/would get the Outback Bowl nod (PSU title game, Ohio State Rose, MSU Capital One). However, there are no tiebreakers, it is simply up to the Outback staff to choose. Despite the fact Northwestern has travelled tremendously well to bowls, the horrific home attendance would likely sway bowls to choose ANY other Big Ten team over NU. But wait, it could be worse. If the Cats were 9-3 and Minnesota is 8-4, the Outback could STILL choose Minnesota over us. The only protection we have is from a two loss differential. If we are 9-3 then a 7-5 team cannot be selected over Northwestern. For what it is worth, this rarely happens, but it is possible. Hence, yet another reason why attendance matters.
Obviously a win over Ohio State would go a long way to swaying any bowl partner from leapfrogging a lesser team over the Cats, so let's keep the mojo going!
10 comments:
Pessimist alert:
I would absolutely expect (maybe I'm managing expectations here) that a team with more losses leapfrogs NU. They will say its because our wins are of less quality (hard to argue), but the real reason would be the ability to sell tickets due to our lower number of alumni and weak home game attendance.
I always forget - is it just record in conference, or overall record that gets taken into account? I thought it had been in-conference in the past, but I'm not sure.
All of this is fine so long as we finish two games in front of WI and Iowa. . . that way the Insight Bowl won't be able to snub us.
I'm pretty sure the Rose Bowl isn't obligated to take a Big 10 team if the Big 10 winner goes to the BCS championship game. That's what happened with Texas a few years back when they didn't take a Pac 10 team. If Ohio State loses again, I could see a scenario where the Rose Bowl doesn't have a Big 10 team and everyone gets pushed down a notch.
I heard that the Rose Bowl doesn't want a rematch between USC and Ohio State - anyone else hear this?
Note regarding the Rose Bowl and other BCS bowls - after adding a 5th bowl (the national championship) that is a separate game from the regular bowl (and held a week later), each bowl will retain its traditional conference ties unless that team is taken as #1 or #2 for the championship game.
If a bowl has its team taken, it will have a pick of the remaining teams before the bowls get their at large picks. The bowl losing #1 gets first pick, and the bowl losing #2 gets second pick.
If the Rose Bowl does lose PSU to the national championship game, it will get first pick of at large BCS teams (teams in the top 12 who are not conference champions tied to another bowl or the top 2 teams).
Again, while the Rose isn't obligated to pick a Big Ten team, they will feel a lot of pressure to pick one, i.e. OSU if they win out and are in the top 12. Nobody really likes rematches, but with Wells and Pryor playing full time, it adds an extra wrinkle that wasn't there back in Sept. (assuming they meet USC). There have been rematches of regular season games in bowls before (Miami vs. FSU just a few years back), so don't mark that out just yet.
Indeed Jonathan is correct. If Penn State goes, the Rose Bowl is NOT obligated to select a Big Ten team, however, this is where the Jim Delany relationship with the Rose Bowl comes into play. It would need to be something extraordinary for that to happen. There is a lot of pressure on the Rose Bowl to select a Big Ten team (see: Illinois).
Here is the fairyland of all fairyland scenarioes:
PSU runs table goes to national title.
MSU goes 1-1 and loses to PSU to finish 9-3 (5-3).
NU wins out to go 10-2 (6-2).
Ohio State loses to NU but beats Illinois and Michigan.
In this scenario, the Cats go to the Rose Bowl.
LTP, I truly cannot believe that I saw that last post in print. You'd better have a lot of Start Wearing Purple kharma going if that scenario's going to play out. In that regard, by the by, you can get the cool purple camo pants at ThePurpleStore's website. They were a big hit last Saturday at Bandon Dunes. . .
@tdc mole- It won't happen, but it technically could. The only unrealistic part is NU winning out, I predict every other scenario to play out. Thus, making the Indiana loss THAT much more painful.
Two things:
1) If Michigan State loses only to Penn State, they end up 9-3 (6-2) for the season. Even if NU went 10-2 (6-2), they could get snubbed for the Rose Bowl, right?
2) Speaking of unlikely scenarios, in the rather improbable case that NU runs what's left of the table, what are the odds that they end up in the BCS Top 12?
Post a Comment