It was made clear to me why B1G teams play like crap in bowl games today...

[Bo-Nose]

Mizzou has a really good record against the SEC, and hasn't lost to them in over 10 years. Nebraska should win the Big 10 for a few years. With Ohio St being crap, and Michigan rebuilding, the Big 10 is a lot easier for us than the Big 12. Penn St won't be great until Paterno retires. Mich St is getting better, but not there yet. Iowa sucks. Wisconsin is gonna be good for a while. Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, and Illinois all suck. If Nebraska can get better offensively, we can be in the National Championship pretty regularly in the Big 10.

[GBRsal]

No one is going to be able to compete with the SEC until the NCAA stops taking bribes and gets in there and shuts those aholes down.

[NoLongerN]

My perception is the B1G is weaker this season then ever and that the teams that make into bowls would get "rolled" ... except for Wisky. After yesterday ... it is even more obvious that all teams in the B1G are rather weak. Week in and out any team can win any game ... home or away ... it's all based on emotion and preparedness. Almost every team has a three game stretch against an equally matched opponent and it seems that their are lapses that cost an unfortunate loss. My concern for Nebraska is to win Northwestern ... go in to the Penn State game and win ... match the intensity of the Michigan game and win it ... then have Iowa at home and come out flat and lose. The bounty goes up each week and if we can stay focused and match that with intensity and game play ... we could get ourselves in a top tier bowl ... hopefully get rested up and pull off a good bowl win. This would exceed my expectations dramatically. I had us losing four games this year, with that including the bowl game.

[Green and White]

Did the Big 10 get hammered last year on New Years Day by teams with spread offenses? Alabama doesn't run a spread offense, neither does LSU... Iowa beat Missouri who does run a spread offense... Ohio State also beat Oregon in the 2009 Rose Bowl...

 

Not buyin' it yet...

 

Um I don't know what you were watching last January but the spread burned us...

 

Urban Meyer damn near wrote the book on the Spread and UF ran it to beat PSU. Mullen brought the spread from UF and has been working it well in Starkville, or at least he did last year against the Wolverines. Tuberville has it at Tech and beat the Wildcats. TCU runs a derivation of the spread and hooked UW.

 

 

Then look at the Razorbacks, they don't really run the spread and OSU was able to win...and to say bama doesn't run the spread is also deceptive. They're a very talented offense and Saban has incorporated it in many games (see SEC CG two years ago)

 

LSU used to run it but they didn't play a Big Ten team so I dunno what you were saying with that.

 

I don't remember who played who last January. That's why I was asking. The only examples I could remember off the top of my head were the ones I already mentioned, and Michigan State (who got smoked by Bama, right?). But what Bama runs is not the spread. Anybody can have a spread package as part of their offense (like Nebraska does now, even though we're not currently a spread offense), but what Alabama ran with McElroy was basically a pro-style offense, much like what you see in the Big Ten, except better.

 

What I remember is the Big Ten getting hammered last January, pretty much regardless of the style of offense the other team played.

 

Congrats to the Huskers on a well played game and the D stepping up and took control of the game from the beginning... Sparty had no life and was totally confused (the coaches also seemed to be sleepwalking)... I was embarrased, but have to give credit where credit is do and the Huskers proved the much better team yesterday.

 

One of the critical reasons why Sparty was blown out of the 'bama game last bowl season was the fact that Sparty was simply blown off both sides of the line, couldn't establish any rushing attack, and was lucky Cousins wasn't put into the hospital by the dominance of the 'bama D fence. No rhythm... no nuthin'.... If you listened to Dantonio afterwards, he acknowledged that his primary concern was BOTH the O and D lines and had to improve for this year. The problem is, Sparty has a hard time recruiting 4 and 5 star down linemen. This year early injuries to the Sparty O line required moving some of the Defensive players to the Offense to try to build some balance. It shows we're still a ways away from dominating every Sat. and Capt. Kirk has the ability to 'lay an egg' and did it again yesterday (like the Iowa game late last year).

 

With the Badgers, Hawkeyes, Sparty all losing... the road to Indy has just become a lot more interesting !

 

Again, great game by the Huskers and hope we can improve a bit for next year in EL.

[GBRsal]

all conference linemen are not recruited, they are built. god i miss tenopir's lines

[Creed]

2010 Bowl records were Big10 3-5; Big 12 3-5; SEC 5-5 but only the B10 gets sh!+ on by the media and fans?

 

How come there's no mention of poor B12 bowl record? Aside from winning the NCG, SEC is not stellar. The Big 10 has the most difficult bowl alignments (3/4 with SEC in SEC country, B12 (in Texas) and PAC (Rose Bowl)) - no ACC or Big East or non-AQ conferences. Big 10 has an even record against the SEC in bowl games in the BCS era - what other conference can claim that?

 

If only 1 B10 team gets a BCS game, then the B10 bowl match ups will be much better than they were last year.

[Enhance]

This argument some of you are putting forth is bs anyways. Almost every team in the nation has "spread" elements, or uses them to a certain extent. Spread is a very large and generic term - it essentially means getting your players in space to make plays. What are you guys using for classification as a "spread" team? Teams that run the shotgun a lot? Teams that constantly have four WR sets or more?

 

I'm curious what your individual opinions are because throwing the term "spread" out there is about as generic as saying they play "offense."

[JJ Husker]

The offensive "style" of play has a lot less to do with it than the effectiveness of the team running it or defending against it. It still comes down to who plans the best and then goes out and executes the plan, making adjustments as required. Style means squat.

[flatwaterfan]

Just like TO has mentioned numerous times; you're playing some pretty darn good teams in a bowl game

 

 

GBR

^^^ This. And a lot of times the games are played on the other teams home turf, or nearby. It's tough to face USC or UCLA (years past) in the Rose Bowl. Just like it's tough to go down to the Orange Bowl and face a Florida team. Too bad we don't have a major bowl in, say, St Louis.

+1

[True2tRA]

It's about lining up and doing what you do and doing what you do better than you allow them to do what they do. It's football. Don't overcomplicate it.

 

 

 

[VectorVictor]

Well, let's look at the Big 10 Bowl Matchups--probably helpful to see what we're talking about here.

 

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl

December 27, 2011 Detroit, MI, 4:30 pm ESPN

MAC No. 1 vs. Big Ten No. 8 (or Sun Belt if no Big Ten)

 

Insight Bowl

December 30, 2011 Tempe, AZ, 10:00 pm

Payout: $6.7 million

Big Ten No. 4 or 5 vs. Big 12 No. 4

 

Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas

December 31, 2011 Houston, TX, 12:00 pm ESPN

Payout: $3.4 million

Big Ten No. 6 vs. Big 12 No. 6

 

TicketCity Bowl

January 2, 2012 Dallas, TX, 12:00 pm ESPNU

Payout: $2.2 million

Big Ten No. 6 vs. C-USA

 

Capital One Bowl

January 2, 2012 Orlando, FL, 1:00 pm ESPN

Payout: $9.2 million

Big Ten No. 2 vs. SEC No. 2

 

Gator Bowl

January 2, 2011 Jacksonville, FL, 1:00 pm ESPN2

Payout: $5.4 million

Big Ten No. 4 or 5 vs. SEC No. 6

 

Outback Bowl

January 2, 2012 Tampa, FL, 1:00 pm ABC

Payout: $7 million

Big Ten No. 3 vs. SEC No. 3, 4 or 5

 

Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO

January 2, 2012 Pasadena, CA, 5:00 pm ESPN

Payout: $36 million

Big Ten No. 1 vs. Pac-12 No. 1

 

 

What's probably going on with the Big 10's bowl fortunes is that they've been the victim of good BCS fortune in getting multiple teams in--that pushes all of the teams up a notch, to where your #4 Big Ten team is now playing the #3 SEC team, so on and so forth.

 

As for offensive style, that's why teams get multiple weeks of practice before bowl games--if a team is not used to their opponent's style or is out of their element in some regards, you get to use the extra practice to compensate accordingly.

 

Also, how long have Big 10 teams been told their relics, old, antiquated, pushovers, has-beens, boring, monotonous, so on and so forth? After a while, even if the talk isn't justified, it soaks in eventually. Wonder how much of this is a mental block by the Big 10 en masse?

 

Regardless, I do hope we're able to do the Big 10 proud come bowl season. It would be nice to hear the Big 10 chant when we're winning, especially if it's against a former Big 12 team. And yes, a Big12 team is very likely if we go to the Rose Bowl and a Pac-12 team--Stanford or Oregon--makes the title game. I would think the Rose Bowl would jump at the chance to reunite Nebraska with some of its former slum dwellers--the drama alone would sell this game to the masses.

[spinne1]

Spartan fan since 1976 here. First post here. [Love Nebraska in the Big 10. Raises our game and prestige. Forces us to be better. Your fans are great and classy. MSU fans have much to learn from you (they are quick to boast, quick to complain, quick to make excuses, are poor sports too often, do not show respect for opponents but rather contempt. etc.)

 

Anyhow, let's not let facts get in the way of a good story, right?

 

Facts:

 

Since beginning of BCS era:

 

Big 10 overall bowl record: 41-48

ACC: 56-52

Big 12: 48-50

Big East: 30-28

Pac 10: 35-36

SEC: 61-44

 

Yes, the Big 10 had a terrible New Year's Day in 2011, going 0-5. Each game had a different story. What we can learn:

 

-The SEC is the best football conference.

-The Big Ten, while slightly worse than the other conferences, is not terrible. The Big Ten up until this year has had the longest layoff between the last game and the bowls. The SEC has had at least one additional week of games counting the conference champtionship. The long layoff makes a difference.

-The Big Ten's seeming bowl problems are mostly the faults of a few teams: Minnesota 3-6, Purdue 3-6, Michigan State 2-5, and Northwestern 0-6. The other teams have fared much better. MSU's bowl problems have been mostly coaching in my opinion. Last year's Alabama debacle was a perfect example. We had no imagination on how to attack a physically superior team (see BYU in the 80s and 90s for a good way to win with inferior talent.) We were stubborn enough to try and run power I-formation football at a giant brick wall. Stupid.

 

The following link has excellent analysis and goes in more depth to see what is up with the Big 10 in bowls:

http://www.offtackle...-in-the-bcs-era

[Excel]

Wow thanks for the breakdown, for some reason I thought we'd have a better record than the ACC and BE but I guess fewer of their teams make bowls and the bowls they get are far easier than ours.

[GBRsal]

Spartan fan since 1976 here. First post here. [Love Nebraska in the Big 10. Raises our game and prestige. Forces us to be better. Your fans are great and classy. MSU fans have much to learn from you (they are quick to boast, quick to complain, quick to make excuses, are poor sports too often, do not show respect for opponents but rather contempt. etc.)

 

Anyhow, let's not let facts get in the way of a good story, right?

 

Facts:

 

Since beginning of BCS era:

 

Big 10 overall bowl record: 41-48

ACC: 56-52

Big 12: 48-50

Big East: 30-28

Pac 10: 35-36

SEC: 61-44

 

Yes, the Big 10 had a terrible New Year's Day in 2011, going 0-5. Each game had a different story. What we can learn:

 

-The SEC is the best cheatiest football conference.

-The Big Ten, while slightly worse than the other conferences, is not terrible. The Big Ten up until this year has had the longest layoff between the last game and the bowls. The SEC has had at least one additional week of games counting the conference champtionship. The long layoff makes a difference.

-The Big Ten's seeming bowl problems are mostly the faults of a few teams: Minnesota 3-6, Purdue 3-6, Michigan State 2-5, and Northwestern 0-6. The other teams have fared much better. MSU's bowl problems have been mostly coaching in my opinion. Last year's Alabama debacle was a perfect example. We had no imagination on how to attack a physically superior team (see BYU in the 80s and 90s for a good way to win with inferior talent.) We were stubborn enough to try and run power I-formation football at a giant brick wall. Stupid.

 

The following link has excellent analysis and goes in more depth to see what is up with the Big 10 in bowls:

http://www.offtackle...-in-the-bcs-era

 

 

FIFY

[Excel]

Spartan fan since 1976 here. First post here. [Love Nebraska in the Big 10. Raises our game and prestige. Forces us to be better. Your fans are great and classy. MSU fans have much to learn from you (they are quick to boast, quick to complain, quick to make excuses, are poor sports too often, do not show respect for opponents but rather contempt. etc.)

 

Anyhow, let's not let facts get in the way of a good story, right?

 

Facts:

 

Since beginning of BCS era:

 

Big 10 overall bowl record: 41-48

ACC: 56-52

Big 12: 48-50

Big East: 30-28

Pac 10: 35-36

SEC: 61-44

 

Yes, the Big 10 had a terrible New Year's Day in 2011, going 0-5. Each game had a different story. What we can learn:

 

-The SEC is the best cheatiest football conference.

-The Big Ten, while slightly worse than the other conferences, is not terrible. The Big Ten up until this year has had the longest layoff between the last game and the bowls. The SEC has had at least one additional week of games counting the conference champtionship. The long layoff makes a difference.

-The Big Ten's seeming bowl problems are mostly the faults of a few teams: Minnesota 3-6, Purdue 3-6, Michigan State 2-5, and Northwestern 0-6. The other teams have fared much better. MSU's bowl problems have been mostly coaching in my opinion. Last year's Alabama debacle was a perfect example. We had no imagination on how to attack a physically superior team (see BYU in the 80s and 90s for a good way to win with inferior talent.) We were stubborn enough to try and run power I-formation football at a giant brick wall. Stupid.

 

The following link has excellent analysis and goes in more depth to see what is up with the Big 10 in bowls:

http://www.offtackle...-in-the-bcs-era

 

 

FIFY

"Using current conference alignments, the Big 12 leads BCS affiliates with 55 infractions cases, followed by the SEC, the Pac-10 (41) and the Big Ten (40)."