Bowled Over: The Big 10 Takes Another BCS Blow
By TOM FORNELLI
Updated 10:46 AM EST, Tue, Jan 6, 2009
Colt McCoy's 26-yard touchdown pass to Quan Cosby with 16 seconds left in the Fiesta Bowl Monday night sealed the fate of No. 3 Texas over tenth-ranked Ohio State -- and brought to the forefront a sorry statistic: Big Ten teams are 1-6 in bowl games this year.
For a few minutes it looked like the Ohio State Buckeyes were going to get the BCS bowl monkey off their backs, and in the process maybe salvage the reputation of a Big Ten conference that has been beat up in postseason play the last few years.
After trailing 17-6 after three quarters, the Buckeyes reeled off 15 unanswered points on a field goal and two touchdowns -- each touchdown included an unsuccessful two-point conversion -- to take a 21-17 lead.
With two minutes left on the clock the Longhorns struck back and McCoy found Cosby for a touchdown strike with 16 seconds remaining.
While it was a very entertaining and closely contested battle, it makes one wonder what the outcome means for both the Buckeyes and the Big Ten. With the loss, the Big Ten's record in bowl games this season dropped to 1-6 with the only win coming thanks to Iowa's victory over South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.
It's the first time in conference history that the Big Ten has lost six bowl games, and it's enough to make you wonder if the conference will ever get its credibility back.
Sure, the game was a lot closer than most people thought it would be, but does a close loss really do anything to change the perception of the Big Ten?
In the eyes of possible recruits, all that's visible is the fact that teams from the SEC, Big 12, and the Pac-10 beat their Big Ten opponents on a routine basis, which means that they have the better teams. While some recruits may see the challenge of trying to turn around a weaker
Big Ten school as an appealing prospect, the truth is the vast majority are going to want to go where they think they have a chance to play in BCS games and get exposure, and to possibly win a national championship.
At the moment that's not possible in the Big Ten. Sure, one team is guaranteed a BCS bowl bid, but would you want to be on the team that gets embarrassed by USC in the Rose Bowl every year?
It's still possible that Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney is right, and that these things are cyclical in college football, and eventually the Big Ten will bounce back in the national picture, but with each new loss by a Big Ten school in a bowl game the odds of it actually happening only grow larger. Even if the margins of defeat are shrinking.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Jan 6, 2009 12:25 AM EST
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