The Big Ten's Bowl Problem

New Year, Old Story: For The Big Ten, Its Time to Put Up or Shut Up

Now in its 100^th year, the Rose Bowl has always been an annual rite of passage. The TV gold panorama shots of the packed stadium set against the backdrop of the San Gabriel mountains is as much a signal of the new year as is the dropping of the diamond ball in Times Square. But while the Rose Bowl has always been a part of the New Year’s tradition, a new tradition has come to the forefront over the past several years: Big Ten football ineptitude.

Once again this year, January 1^st was not a good date for those trying to show that Midwesterners can still play football at a high level. With losses by Iowa and Wisconsin today following earlier defeats of Minnesota and Michigan, the conference dropped to just 2-4 for the 2013-2014 bowl season and a staggering 49-65 in bowl games during the BCS era (1998 to present).

While this ugly record in the silly season has done as much to bolster the reputation of the vaunted SEC as it has to slowly diminish the stature of the once-powerful Big Ten, it does have its fair share of legitimate and often overlooked reasons.

First and foremost, the Big Ten had traditionally ended its regular season up to two weeks prior to its bowl opponents. Although this has largely been eliminated since the conference added a championship game during the 2011 season, it did play a part in much of the dark era of Big Ten bowl performance. Though obviously both teams face a layoff prior to the “postseason”, there is a big difference between three weeks off the field and five weeks away from the game. Certainly this falls more in the category of “excuse” than legitimate explanation, but it does carry some weight when you look at the flat starts and uncharacteristically sloppy play that has marred the performances of the conference’s best teams under the national spotlight.

But perhaps more importantly, bowl games are played in the south and southwest rather than the Big Ten’s home turf. Moreover, the games played in the south are played against teams from the south (SEC) and those played out west are generally played against teams from the west (Pac-12). The Big Ten’s struggles in the Rose Bowl against Pac-12 teams playing in their own backyard aren't all that new. Even after Michigan State snapped a three-game slide (all by Wisconsin) by defeating Stanford, the conference has won just 4 of the 11 BCS-era match ups and just 13 of the 40 matchups played since 1970.

The Pac-12 dominance could be the result of having better teams and certainly during the periods of USC dominance, that is very much the case. However, the one-sided nature of the modern Rose Bowl is also in part a function of the fact that Big Ten teams are not built to play in the LA basin. Furthermore, the Pac-12 representative traditionally faces a very minimal travel burden and doesn’t have to make the climate adjustment that for many of us from the great white north makes performance at a high level virtually impossible to pack for the trip.

The same phenomenon largely holds true with regards to the Big Ten’s ineptitude against SEC foes in the “lesser” bowl games that lead off the New Year’s Day slate. Teams designed to handle the cold weather of November Big Ten games are forced to play in the heat and humidity of Florida or in the indoor track that is the Louisiana Superdome (almost always, coincidentally, against Louisiana State) and have to do so against teams built for precisely those conditions in which the games are played.

Don’t pretend that a game between Ohio State and LSU in the Superdome is a “neutral site game” and don’t tell me that Michigan can play against Florida on an “even playing field” in Orlando. Bowl games in the south are home games for the SEC representative and to call them anything else is to ignore reality.

If you consider the bowl games the road games they really are, the Big Ten’s record becomes a whole lot more respectable. While a .430 winning percentage is far from outstanding, consider that during the 2010-2011 season road teams in games between BCS conference teams (and ND) won just 32.73% of the time. Though the bowl environment certainly dampens the advantage for the home SEC (and to a large extent, Pac-12 as well) teams, the familiarity with conditions most commonly faced on the field and the desire of these teams, particularly those from the SEC, of protecting the “home turf” of their region gives rise to an advantage significant enough to explain a good deal of the basis for the Big Ten’s bowl game struggles.

Could the SEC be far superior to the Big Ten at this point in time? Sure, of course they could. Is it legitimate to argue that they are the best conference in the country? Certainly.

But are the results in their bowl games against Big Ten opponents a valid piece of evidence to support these contentions? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Remember, the Big Ten struggling in bowl games is nothing new. Though the folks at the worldwide leader seem to act as if the last decade has seen the SEC surge ahead of the rest of the country in terms of football prowess (particularly in relation to the Big Ten), the statistics simply don’t back that assertion. And yes, I know the only stat that matters in the eyes of many is national titles and the SEC has won all of them.

But where are those “National Titles” decided? Here is a clue: It isn’t Indianapolis, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, or any number of viable midwestern sites.

Much of this is sentiment I have expressed before and it is sentiment I will continue to believe in despite the fact many so-called experts conveniently choose to ignore it.

However, I am done using it as an excuse because it is no one else’s fault by the Big Ten conference itself. Time and time again, the Big Ten has allowed itself to be the sacrificial lamb (albeit one that is very well-paid) for two conference in the Pac-12 and SEC that are gradually becoming the class of the college football landscape, taking hold of a mantle the Big Ten itself once held very securely.

If the bowl games were what they should be, exhibitions to reward teams for a successful season and to provide TV networks (well, just 1 network now) with a massive audience to get the year started, then I would have no problem with the conference continuing to put itself in a difficult position and would be fine persisting in my crusade to eliminate the bowl season from consideration in the never-ending debate concerning college football superiority both on the conference and individual team level.

But with the end of the BCS era (thank the lord) and the beginning of the college football “playoff” next season, it is clear that the bowl games can never again be mere exhibitions. Regardless of how illogical it may be, the bowl games not only will be deciding the national champions of the current season, but also the contenders for the title the following year.

While this is a phenomenon that began when the BCS was formed in 1998 (and was bolstered by the changes made to the BCS formula in 2006, conveniently the very season that marked the beginning of the SEC “streak”), it is one that the Big Ten had a perfectly good opportunity to stop when it negotiated for the new four-team playoff system that will begin with next season.

Though undoubtedly other parties were involved, the negotiations for a new system to replace the BCS at the end of its contract in 2014 were essentially a battle between the interests of the on-field “power” that is the SEC and the off-field power that is the Big Ten (Have you seen the Pac-12 network available in a New York City hotel?).

For many of the reasons I have always stated, the SEC wanted to ensure that the entire “playoff” would be played in the confines of Dixie, with the “concession” being made that they could occasionally move into the “neutral” southwest when the available sites south of the Mason-Dixon were all gobbled up.

On the other side of the table, the Big Ten stood ready with a proposal that would, if you believe in the theory of vast SEC superiority, have benefitted the “best conference in America” had it been adopted. The Big Ten’s plan was to reward the higher seeds in the four-team playoff by having the semifinals played in the home stadiums of the #1 and #2 teams. This would allow the rest of the bowl system to stay in tact, with the semifinal winners moving into the national title game and the losers filling back into the “BCS Bowl” slots from which they were removed when they were selected for the playoff.

As ESPN’s own Big Ten blogger Brian Bennett said back in 2012 when the proposal was unveiled, “Playing semifinal games at home sites instead of using the bowls makes so much sense that I'm actually surprised that top college football officials would consider it.” From the Big Ten’s perspective, it was a way to allow for the possibility that a title-contender from the Midwest could make its way to the finale by taking advantage of playing in the cold comforts of home while also preserving the Rose Bowl as a likely Big Ten-Pac 12 matchup on January 1.

The SEC couldn’t get a playoff approved without the Big Ten’s support and since this proposal gave teams around the country a chance to host a spotlight game on campus, it would seem like this would be the plan toward which the support of athletic directors around the country would flow.

But the SEC knew what the Big Ten held so dear and took advantage of it: The Rose Bowl.

Even though it has been a contractual part of the event for only the last half of its century-long existence, the Big Ten conference and commissioner Jim Delany are obsessed with the Rose Bowl. Ironically, however, the conference’s devotion to protecting the matchup with a Pac-12 foe in Pasadena on New Year’s Day may have not only resulting in the caving in to SEC demands for a more southerly playoff track, but also in the end of the very matchup the conference was so intent on protecting.

As a result of the conference’s inability to use its leverage to set up a system that removed the inherent bias against them, the SEC has ensured that it will continue to dominate the college football landscape for years to come, provided only that its members can continue their tradition of protecting home turf like every college football team in America has a tendency of doing.

Delany and company not only failed to win approval of their proposal for semifinals hosted by the higher seeds, they didn’t even reach a compromise. With just an ounce of hard-nosed bargaining, the Big Ten’s leadership could have at the very least won support for a system in which the entire playoff was conducted in a completely neutral set of venues, either influenced by the geography of that year’s higher seeds or otherwise varied from year-to-year to ensure a wide geographic spread of neutral venues.

Instead, they simply caved and allowed the SEC to win approval for 100% of its proposed system and to enable the status quo of patently unfair venues to continue into this new era of college football.

If anything, the new system is more geographically biased toward the schools of the old south than the BCS was even in its heyday. Of the six bowls that will be used to fill the semifinal games, the bowls still being used for no reason other than to continue the less-than-ethical relationship between high-level AD and presidents, conference commissioners, and bowl representatives charged with safeguarding the traditions (ahem, financial coffers) of their “not-for-profit” events conducted with 200+ unpaid entertainers, four of them are located in the deep south, two in the southwest, and ZERO in the northeast, mid-atlantic, or Midwest.

Since the Super Bowl can be held in Indianapolis and even outdoors in New Jersey, why does a NATIONAL college football semifinal game have to be played nowhere but the southern half of our vast nation?

Had the southern bias been, as it largely is now, confined simply to the title game itself, my anger at the “peace for our time” tactics of our conference negotiators would be somewhat restrained. But now instead of just one opportunity to be blasted by a full speed train of home field advantage, the new system provides two opportunities for Big Ten teams to find themselves at a loss against “SEC Speed”.

I know the title game venues beyond 2017 are TBA, but with a three-year lineup of Dallas, Glendale, and Tampa, does anyone really think that Indy, Detroit, or Minneapolis would have a prayer?

As much as I wish I could place the blame for this extension of the acutely unfair status quo on the evil overlords of the SEC, I cannot. This one falls squarely on the Big Ten and its inability to assert itself in the boardroom any better than it has of late on the field.

Agreeing to the playoff system the Big Ten agreed to is akin to allowing Tiger Woods to reach Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors by playing every US Open and PGA Championship at either Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, or Firestone (if you aren’t a golf fan, check out his record at those venues).

So having lost its opportunity to even the playing field at any point prior to the 2025 season, it might just be time for the conference to wave the white flag and admit defeat. Not defeat from the standpoint of agreeing that its brand of football is inferior to that played in the land of Dixie but rather that its brand is, by design, unable to compete in the consensus venues used to decide the “national champion” and if that is the case, continuing to try fitting a square peg into a round hole is a useless effort.

As long as collegiate football titles are decided in Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Glendale, and even Pasadena, the SEC will have a perpetual advantage and the Big Ten a never-ending hill to climb.

The opportunity to rectify the situation unfortunately passed with the long-term playoff agreement put in place last year. At this point, the only solution for the Big Ten is to cut off the opportunities they present to conferences like the SEC, Pac-12, and Big 12 to bolster their reputations at the Big Ten’s expense in patently unfair matchups.

Maybe you do that by reinstituting the “One bowl team” rule that the Big Ten had in place until the 1970s. But since the schools would never agree to that because of the irrational belief in the financial power of the bowl appearance, perhaps the conference could instead simply abandon the traditional matchups and find more favorable contracts that would improve the overall record. Doing so wouldn’t even require stooping down to the “Group of Five” level but would instead simply happen by virtue of playing teams from the west in bowls held in the south and visa versa.

Is it wishful thinking? Of course. But at this point I am sick and tired of making excuses for the annual ineptitude put on display by a conference that time after time squanders the opportunities it has to place itself on a more level playing field nationally.

At this point it is clear the money is too great and too important to conference leadership for them to place it at risk in pursuit of an agreement for crowning a “national champion” and for setting the national landscape of college football that isnt inherently tilted toward the gulf of Mexico (with an honorable mention going to the Pacific Ocean) both physically and consequentially.

Instead, I will just turn the calendar forward come December 31 and remember what the New Year should mean in the college sports landscape: the beginning of the march to madness. After all, its a lot easier on the psyche to concentrate on basketball, where subjective interpretation is irrelevant because in the end the titles are won on the playing surface. Even in this new “playoff” system the conferences have devised, football simply cannot say the same.

Montee Ball: Heisman Trophy Winner

If only people in this country actually took the time to learn a thing or two about the world around them. I feel like I find myself saying this almost on a daily basis. And while the south certainly has a leg up in its proclivity for ignorance, Americans all across the board have given up their reverence for fact. 

But this isnt about how Herman Cain nearly became the Republican nominee for President of the United States.

No, this is about something much more important: the Heisman Trophy.

Montee Ball has scored 38 touchdowns this season, one touchdown for every 7.24 times that he touches the football. The NCAA record for single-season touchdowns, a record not even sniffed since Barry Sanders set it back in 1988, is 39. Barring unforeseen injury or futility in the Rose Bowl, Montee Ball will hold the record when you wake up on January 3rd. 

But while Ball will likely hold the once-untouchable single-season touchdown record, he will not hold the Heisman trophy. Somehow.

Not only will Ball almost certainly not win the award, he wont even come close. Given that Alabama's Trent Richardson has somehow already been awarded the Doak Walker award given to the nation's best tailback, Ball's chances are virtually nil. 

Why?

Because no one bothered to check the numbers, no one bothered to check the facts and see if Richardson and fellow Heisman frontrunners Andrew Luck of Stanford and Robert Griffin III of Baylor actually had better seasons than the junior running back at Wisconsin.

Reality: They didnt.

First of all, lets assess Luck. Andrew Luck is the best quarterback in the country and will be the top pick in the 2012 NFL draft. After deciding, against the advice of many, to return for his senior year at Stanford, Luck led the Cardinal to an 11-1 regular season and a Fiesta Bowl appearance. Luck's 3170 passing yards and 35 touchdowns are staggering numbers, but he dropped the ball when it counted most, only managing to complete 66% of his passes in the Cardinal's lone loss at home against Oregon. The two interceptions that Luck threw in that game cost Stanford a shot at an undefeated season and ultimately ruined Luck's chances of running away with the Heisman.

Robert Griffin III has a good case to be named the most valuable player in college football. The junior quarterback has single handedly put Baylor football on the map, leading the Bears to a 9-3 finish that included their first-ever win over Big 12 stalwart Oklahoma. But while Griffin's numbers are impressive, 3998 passing yards and 36 touchdowns to go along with another 644 yards and 9 touchdowns on the ground, they come in the offensive-heavy Big 12 conference. The Big 12 is by any statistical measure the “best” conference in college football, but it is not known for its defenses.

And once again, Griffin’s few mistakes came when the Bears could least afford them. His 4^th quarter interception against Kansas State cost Baylor the game and ended their undefeated run after just three games. Against Texas A&M, the nation’s worst pass defense, Griffin did set a school-record with 430 yards through the air, but once again threw a crucial interception and Baylor got blown out. The following week against Oklahoma State, Griffin had his worst game of the season, managing just a 136.0 passer rating despite throwing for another 425 yards on 50 attempts. It was the two interceptions that once again led in part to a lopsided Baylor defeat.

Never mind that Baylor is 9-3, with their lone road win coming in overtime over 2-win Kansas, and headed to the Alamo Bowl. I don’t like the argument of team record or BCS ranking, but if we are going to go there, then Griffin cannot be the way to turn.

Then there is Trent Richardson. After reading through this, you probably wont like the fact that I intend to lob the majority of my disgust at this final supposedly “deserving” Heisman candidate. But that is exactly what I am going to do.

Richardson doesn’t even deserve to be in the conversation. His team coasted through an easy schedule, lost its one big-time matchup at home against LSU, and has somehow rode the wave of SEC bias all the way to a BCS Title game appearance.

And it is that SEC bias that has not only brought Richardson into the conversation, but probably has gotten him the trophy.

First of all lets look at the numbers.

Richardson has rushed for 1583 yards on 263 carries, an average of 6.0 yards per carry. Montee Ball has averaged 6.4 yards per carry.

Richardson has scored 20 touchdowns on the ground. Ball has 32.

Richardson has caught 27 passes for 327 yards and 3 touchdowns. Ball has caught 20 passes for 255 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Against AP-ranked teams, Richardson has 95 carries for 507 yards (5.3 yards per carry) and 4 touchdowns. Ball has 100 carries for 559 yards (5.6 yards per carry).

So much for the SEC schedule being so much more difficult.

Oh, and Ball has scored 12 touchdowns against those ranked teams.

In games decided by less than 15 points, Richardson has just 23 carries for 89 yards, 3.9 yards per carry. And not a single touchdown.

Ball has 100 carries for 561 yards and 7 touchdowns in games decided by less than 15 points.

Six of Ball’s touchdowns have either tied the game or given Wisconsin the lead. Just two for Richardson.

Who is more valuable to their team?

The answer is clear. If you bothered to read the facts.

But the problem is that there is this assumption that SEC players are better, that SEC teams are better, and that SEC schedules are flat out tougher.

Alabama had arguably a far easier schedule than Wisconsin:

Home against Kent State. Automatic.

At Penn State. The Nittany Lions were young and at the time still gelling as a team. Plus the weather was still picture perfect. Try coming to State College in November.

Home against North Texas. Seriously? North Texas went 4-4 in the Sun Belt for crying out loud.

Home against Arkansas. The Razorbacks are a potent team, but not a potent defense. The Hogs gave up an average of 174 yards on the ground in 2011. Richardson had just 126. At home.

At Florida. Another team that, while ranked at the time, was in the top-25 by name only and Richardson torched them for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns. Florida’s defense was still strong and that was probably Richardson’s best performance.

Home against Vandy. 107 yards. Vandy? They are a bowl team this year, but if Vandy is going to be one of the tougher conference matchups, how can you argue the SEC is that good?

At Ole Miss. Richardson picked 203 all-purpose yards. But Ole Miss had just one win over a FBS team this entire season. And they gave up an average of 225 yards on the ground alone. 203 all-purpose doesn’t mean much against the Rebs.

Home against Tennessee. 77 yards and two touchdowns. Not bad. But again, the Vols gave up 163 yards per game on the ground.

Home against LSU. In the greatest sporting event the world has ever seen, the game that every American had a patriotic duty not only to watch, but to enjoy, Richardson managed just 89 yards on 23 carries. No touchdowns. 9-6 loss.

At Mississippi State. 127 and a TD.

Home against Georgia Southern. Not Georgia. Not Georgia Tech. 179 all-purpose yards and 3 touchdowns.

At Auburn. 203 yards on just 27 carries. In the Iron Bowl. The annual “greatest game of the year, no matter what”.

Yeah, don’t mind the fact that Auburn gave up an average of 195 yards per game on the ground and was just 79^th in scoring defense.

That was in the Iron Bowl. Come On!

For all the grief that gets lobbed onto the Badgers and onto Ball’s Heisman candidacy for having a weak schedule, this argument simply doesn’t match up with reality.

In games against UNLV, South Dakota, and Northern Illinois (all 3 non-BCS opponents for Wisconsin), Ball picked up just 242 yards and 7 touchdowns.

In games against Georgia Southern, North Texas, and Kent State, Richardson tallied 379 yards and 8 touchdowns on the ground.

On the other hand, in Wisconsin’s games at Michigan State (5^th in total defense), at Illinois (7^th), and Penn State (10^th), Ball rushed for 495 yards and 7 touchdowns. He also caught 5 passes for 38 yards and another two touchdowns.

Against Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship game Ball rushed for another 137 yards and 3 TDs, all while catching 3 passes for 7 yards and a touchdown and finally throwing one ball for 32 yards passing.

At the same time Ball was doing this, Richardson was sitting at home watching.

Richardson faced just three teams in the top 10 in total defense as well (Georgia and South Carolina are in the SEC, sure, but Alabama got the benefit of skipping them this season). One was LSU. Not exactly his best performance.

The other two were Penn State and Florida.

In addition to the 89-yard dud against the Bayou Bengals, Richardson rushed for 111 yards against the Nittany Lions, a full 45 yards short of the total Ball had against the same defense.

The 181 yard afternoon at Florida was the best performance Richardson had all season, but then again, doesn’t 242 on the ground against the 7^th best defense in the country outdo that?

Total for Richardson against top-10 defenses: 381 yards, 4 touchdowns. Ill give him a slight edge with 11 catches for 128 yards. But again, just the 4 touchdowns on the ground.

Advantage Ball.

The reality is that every number out there suggests that Montee Ball is the nation’s best running back. Not only that, Ball is also the clear most valuable back to his team.

The reason that Richardson is winning this award season is because of the perception that the nation has about the SEC being the dominant conference in college football.

First of all, the computers seem to disagree, with every statistical measure pointing to the Big 12 in terms of conference supremacy. And by a landslide.

But beyond that, Alabama did not play the entire SEC. Alabama was fortunate to have a schedule devoid of games against South Carolina or Georgia, essentially the only two competent football teams in the 6-team SEC east. They faced both LSU and Arkansas at home, with their toughest road test coming against a reeling Florida Gator squad on the first day of October.

That paragraph should not only show you why Alabama has no business being in the BCS Title game (the “no rematch” argument probably won Alabama the rematch after all), but also why Trent Richardson has no business being in the Heisman trophy candidate.

Even the SEC faithful profess that the SEC is a defense-heavy conference. The numbers don’t lie there. But so is the Big Ten.

And if the SEC in general, and Alabama specifically, is so consumed with defense, then why does Richardson become so valuable to Alabama?

Without Montee Ball, Wisconsin is nowhere near the Rose Bowl. Even with Russell Wilson, the Badgers don’t have the type of aerial attack that can overcome a weak running game. And while they have arguably the nation’s best offensive line, that only adds to the argument that Ball and the Wisconsin running game stood out above the rest.

Our country has always had, and the South is home to some of the most egregious offenders, a problem with blind faith.

Faith in god, faith in the word of political leaders, faith in the conventional wisdom.

This is just another case in which faith simply isn’t properly yielding to fact. There is a blind faith across the country in the SEC being the most dominant conference in college football. Each and every Saturday, we witness the dominant performances by Alabama, LSU, and………, well, at least Alabama and LSU and simply assume that those are clear evidence of conference supremacy.

But for every Alabama or LSU there is an Ole Miss and a Kentucky.

Don’t pay attention to the fact that the Big 12 only lost 3 games out of conference (SEC-6) or that the Big Ten has as many teams ranked in the top 25 of the coaches poll as the vaunted SEC.

The SEC has to be dominant.

After all, didn’t they win the last six national championships.

Yes, they did. They won the last six national championship GAMES.

But how about the process that got them six straight national title appearances. Heck, the Big East hasn’t even had one since the BCS started.

Its impressive that the SEC has won the last six title games, but that doesn’t say anything about the strength of the conference as a whole. Sure, they produce top-level teams year-in year-out, but the perception of the SEC as the dominant conference is now becoming part of the reality and that is dangerous.

This year proves it. Two SEC teams? Alabama’s best win was against an Arkansas team that struggled to overcome a halftime deficit against Texas A&M, had to rely on a missed chip-shot field goal to beat Vanderbilt, and scraped out a 5-point win after trailing 17-0 to lowly Ole Miss. Not exactly the greatest 6^th-ranked team in the history of the BCS. Beyond that, Alabama hasnt beaten another top 20 team.

The SEC isn’t that great. Montee Ball is.

It’s a shame that blind faith will cost him the Heisman, but that is what it is.

Ignoring the facts: It’s the American way.