Blogs Tom Mulhern Wisconsin Badgers football: Sorting out the Big Ten bowl picture
Wisconsin Badgers football: Sorting out the Big Ten bowl picture
By TOM MULHERN
11/17/2008
Wisconsin State Journal
SPORTS
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 I haven't booked my flight yet to Tempe, Ariz., but that sure seems, to me, like the bowl destination for the Wisconsin Badgers football team, regardless of one or two Big Ten Conference teams getting in Bowl Championship Series games.

 Since everybody has their bowl projections, here's my Big Ten version:

 Penn State (Rose)
 Ohio State (BCS)
 Michigan State (Capital One)
 Iowa (Outback)
 Northwestern (Alamo)
 Minnesota (Champs)
 Wisconsin (Insight)
 Illinois (Motor City) provided it gets bowl eligible with a win over Northwestern.

 Now, I can see one possible scenario where Ohio State doesn't get an at-large BCS berth, even with an expected win over Michigan. If Oregon State wins out and gets the automatic berth for the Pacific-10, then USC would seem like a lock to go ahead of Ohio State for an at-large berth.

 Here would be my projection with one BCS berth:

 Penn State (Rose)
 Ohio State (Capital One)
 Michigan State (Outback)
 Iowa (Alamo)
 Northwestern (Champs)
 Wisconsin (Insight)
 Minnesota (Motor City)

 I just don't see the Champs Sports, in Orlando, Fla., being interested in bringing UW back to Florida for a fifth straight year -- and a third time to that city in four years. I don't see UW officials being too interested in that scenario either.
 

 All things considered, I think the first bowl trip to Arizona since 1996 and a quality opponent from the Big 12 would be a pretty favorable outcome for a team that was 0-4 in the Big Ten a few weeks ago.
 

 Now, does all of this assume a UW victory this week? Well, under the first scenario, with two BCS teams, there's a chance the Big Ten would not even have enough bowl-eligible teams. There's no guarantee Illinois can win at Northwestern on Saturday to get to six wins.
 

 After two bowl-eligible teams last year, Iowa and Northwestern, failed to get bowl berths, it figures there might not be enough eligible teams this year.

 That means, with two Big Ten teams in the BCS and an Illinois loss, the Badgers STILL could go to Arizona with a loss to Cal Poly.

 A 6-6 team with a loss to a Football Championship Subdivision team should be precluded from going to any bowl game. But that's college football and that's the bowl system.

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Wisconsin Badgers football: Sorting out the Big Ten bowl picture
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