In bowls, it's Big One (Penn State) and Little Ten
CHRIS DUFRESNE ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Big Ten teams, and conference's reputation, have taken a postseason drubbing in recent years, with one exception: Penn State has won three straight bowls and nine of last 11.
Penn State safety Mark Rubin, out here to play in the Rose Bowl on Thursday in Pasadena, made the mistake of tuning in to the Champs Sports Bowl on Saturday in Orlando.
Must all these games be televised?
We thought the Big Ten started its own network in part to confine these humiliations to in-house programming.
Watching Florida State put a 42-13 pounding on Wisconsin did little to enhance the notion that Penn State stands any chance against USC.
Call it guilt by National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Asked at Sunday morning's Rose Bowl media briefing whether the Wisconsin defeat stung, just a little bit, Rubin was frank.
"It does," he said. "You would prefer that the Big Ten bowl teams win all their games."
In fact, Ohio State has lost its last two, both in the national title game against schools from the Southeastern Conference.
Iowa has lost its last two, and so has Illinois, and so has Indiana, and so has Michigan State, and so has Wisconsin, and so has Minnesota, which blew the biggest bowl-game lead in history against Texas Tech in the 2006 Insight.
Michigan is one for its last five, winless in its last three Rose Bowls, while Northwestern is trying to end a five-game bowl losing streak against Missouri in the Alamo.
The Big Ten is 8-9 in Bowl Championship Series games since 1998 and hasn't claimed a Rose Bowl win since Wisconsin plucked mediocre Stanford after the 1999 season.
You know who gets dragged down in this holiday Big Ten muck and mire?
The Penn State Nittany Lions, who have actually won nine of their last 11 bowl games and their last three.
Here's a shock: The last time Penn State played in the Rose Bowl, on Jan. 1, 1995, it won to cap a perfect season.
Coach Joe Paterno is 23-10-1 in bowl games.
Can't match Southern speed?
Three years ago, Penn State beat Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Can't hang with the SEC?
Two years ago, Penn State defeated Tennessee in the Outback.
Sharing the Big Ten's reputation with 10 other teams hasn't been easy, or perhaps fair, to Penn State.
In light of the trashing the conference's reputation has taken in bowl games of late, Penn State might be tempted to put out a news release:
Didn't join the Big Ten until 1993!
