BigAppleBucky
Three-Star Recruit
For starters each and every Big Ten bowl game is played in the home territory of the opponent, sometimes in the opponent's home stadium. (e.g. UCLA in the Rose)The announcers were talking today, and I got to thinking about us being a big 10 team and no longer playing any Big 12 teams, and I think I realized why Big 10 teams typically blow chunks in bowl games.
We knew there'd be a transition period while getting used to the Big 10. The announcers explained this, mentioning how our D had to agree to the downhill style of most Big 10 offenses, as opposed to the lateral movement of a lot of Big 12 offenses.
I fully realized we would no longer play Big 12 teams that use such spread variations and were therefore more likely to see more power, north and south stuff in the Big 10 (with obvious exceptions abounding... Michigan, Northwestern, etc.).
So, do Big 10 teams suck against SEC and other speedy teams because they're not used to the lateral attacks of spread teams who have speedier players, or is there some other reason? It seems like Big 10 teams religious come out and get rolled generally come bowl season, with the top teams perhaps faring OK (OSU in the Sugar Bowl last year).
Secondly, it is true the SEC is the best college conference and the Big Ten meets the SEC in at least two, often three, bowl games. IMO, it isn't really speed at the skilled positions that puts the SEC over the Big Ten. It's power and speed on the defensive line that does. It seems each of the top SEC teams has a defensive lineman, maybe even two or three, who are on the level of Crick.
Third, over the longish haul the Big Ten isn't massively under .500 in bowl games. Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin all have winning bowl records over the last 20 years.