Week 10: Bowl Discussion

I normally post my bowl picks around this time but the past few weeks have made that seem superfluous.  I am not as reactionary as a lot of other people and that means my bowl projections honestly will not have changed much over the last few weeks.  So rather than rehashing my bowl predictions, I am going to go through my logic of what is going to happen the remainder of the season point by point.

1. Iowa will win out.  This is homerish of me but it isn't unfounded either.  Getting past Northwestern will be a challenge for this team but the Wildcats running game has degenerated significantly over the last couple of years and I think Iowa will be able to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.  The Hawkeyes will win in Evanston in a close game.  Ohio State then comes to town and most of the analysts will pick the Buckeyes to win the game.  However, I really like the way our defense matches up against this passing attack and the way our receivers match up with the Ohio State secondary. Iowa will win a close, low scoring affair in Kinnick Stadium and beat Minnesota the next week to go 10-2.

2. Wisconsin will lose to Michigan.  This seems like an odd prediction even from me but I think the Wolverines, who will be coming in with a two game win streak, will be unstoppable by a Badger defense that's only great performance against a .500 or better team was against the conservative Buckeye offense.  I think Michigan will score often in this game and the Badger offense will be unable to keep up with the scoring frenzy.

3. Penn State will beat Michigan State.  Call it intuition or guts or whatever, but I just see this game going this way.  Michigan State has more than enough talent in the front seven to shut down the Nittany Lions run game but the secondary is still vulnerable and Matt McGloin is starting to come into his own.  I have a sneaking feeling the Penn State defense will be able to win battles upfront against an overated Michigan State offensive line and the Lions will join the Wolverines at 8 wins.

4. Northwestern will not win another game.  I have a sneaking feeling the Illini will pull the upset (which when you consider the way this series has gone in recent history it would be an upset) at Wrigley Field and I think Wisconsin comes out angry after losing to Michigan.  I won't be shocked if they make it to 7-5 and beat Illinois but I think Vic Koening's defense will shut down Persa and the Illini will end up 8-4 while the Wildcats go 6-6.

5. Purdue and Indiana will be at home again.  This isn't that bold of a prediction but I just can't see the Hoosiers or Boilermakers making it to six wins.  They join the already bowl inelidgible Gophers at home.

If all this plays out, here is how the Big Ten bowls would look:

Rose: Iowa
Capital One: Wisconsin
Outback: Ohio State
Gator: Penn State
Insight: Michigan State
Texas: Michigan
Dallas Football Classic: Illinois
Little Caeser's: Northwestern

Obviously this is all contingent on the Big Ten getting only one BCS bid but if this all plays out like I think it will then I think that is what happens.  I think Joe Paterno beating Michigan State plus the massive traveling fanbase for the Nittany Lions jumps Sparty in the bowl pecking order.  Ohio State has no signature win and lost to Wisconsin so I think that drops them below the Badgers but I wouldn't be too surprised if they flip-flopped. 

This is only what I think will happen so don't get too upset about it.  I know I could be completely wrong but that's just part of the fun I suppose.  Depending on how this shakes out I may add a new "How Right/Wrong My Prediction Was" post in lieu of bowl projections but we will see how things go from here.  It's college football so anything could happen.