Big Ten Teams Win Seven of Eight Bowl Games

The Big Ten Conference was shut out of the College Football Playoff, but did quite well in the post season anyway. Until Michigan committed five turnovers, had some questionable coaching decisions, and blew a 19-3 lead and lost to South Carolina 26-19 in the Outback Bowl, Big Ten teams won seven bowl games in a row.

Iowa beat Boston College 27-20 in the Pinstripe Bowl, Purdue beat Arizona 38-35 in the Foster Farms Bowl, Michigan State trounced Washington State 42-17 in the Holiday Bowl, and Northwestern edged Kentucky in the Music City Bowl 24-23. In most years, the Big Ten and Pac-12 champions meet in the Rose Bowl, but that game was one of the semi finals for the College Football Championship this season, so those two conference champions met in the Cotton Bowl. Ohio State beat USC 24-7 in that game. In another Big Ten vs. Pac-12 game, Penn State beat Washington 35-28 in the Fiesta Bowl. Wisconsin followed that with a victory over Miami in the Orange Bowl. In what was essentially a home game for Miami, the Badgers beat the Hurricanes 34-24.

So while it was a fine post season for the Big Ten, the SEC was involved in, and won, the biggest bowl games, with Georgia beating Oklahoma 54-48 in two overtimes in a wild Rose Bowl, and Alabama knocking off Clemson 24-6 in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia will play Alabama in an all SEC College Football Championship game in Atlanta on January 8th.