2010 Big Ten Bowl Lineup---Jacksonville, anyone?

by Bama Hawkeye on Aug 14, 2009 9:01 AM CDT in All

Adam Rittenberg at ESPN.com has posted what he believes will be the new bowl lineup for the Big Ten. It's not quite what I had dreamed of, but it's pretty good.

Say Hello to Jacksonville.

It seems all but official that we will end our relationship with the Alamo Bowl this Fall. Since the bowl's origin in 1993, the Big Ten only had one year in which it has not participated. The Iowa Hawkeyeshave been to the most Alamo Bowls, winning two of their four appearances. Eight of the Eleven Big Ten teams have appeared in the Alamo Bowl - only Illinois, Minnesota, and Indiana have never gone. I wouldn't be surprised to see Illinois make it a ninth Big Ten team this year.

Could it be a Juicy Alamo Bowl this year?

The Alamo Bowl has always been one of the best attended and best viewed bowl games, and it is a shame not be a part of it.

However, it is very exciting to think that the Big Ten will be the Official Conference of New Year's Day! Replacing the Alamo Bowl will be an association with the Gator Bowl. The third or fourth Big Ten selection (post-BCS picks) team will face the second ACC selection (post-BCS picks) on New Year's Day. That's great. The top four affiliated bowls all play on 1/1. The traditionalist in me likes that.

The Big Ten will continue its affiliations with the Capital One Bowl, Outback Bowl, Insight Bowl (which will rotate the 3rd/4thPicks withthe Gator Bowl and match up with the 4th non-BCS pick of the Big 12), and Motor City Bowl (still the 6th non-BCS pick against a MAC team).

The conference is apparently still trying to line up the bowl for the 5th non-BCS pick. It may be the Texas Bowl in Houston. It may be the Car Care Bowl in Charlotte. Time will tell.

Here's a look at how this would have changed the Big Ten's Bowl Lineup last year:

Big Ten Team	2008 Bowl	Opponent	New Bowl Lineup	Opponent
Penn State	Rose	USC	Rose	USC
Ohio State	Fiesta	Texas	Fiesta	Texas
Michigan State	Capital One	Georgia	Capital One	Georgia
Iowa	Outback	South Carolina	Outback	South Carolina
Northwestern	Alamo	Missouri	Gator	Clemson
Wisconsin	Champs	Florida State	Insight	Nebraska
Minnesota	Insight	Kansas	Texas/Car Care	At Large/North Carolina

I think that's a good change on the back end. If it's Texas, it's a good trip to a fertile recruiting location. I would anticipate that it will draw a low level Big 12 team most years. Just as the Big Ten couldn't fill the Motor City Bowl in 2008, the Big 12 couldn't fill two bowls last year. If it's the Car Care Bowl, I would suspect that it will be against a 4th or 5th choice from the ACC.

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Comments

The bowl changes are excellent overall

San Antonio is a nicer destination than Jacksonville from a pure tourist perspective, but the Gator Bowl has a higher payout, more prestige, and is a New Year’s Day game. Give credit to the Big Ten for having a bowl lineup that makes logical sense from a TV perspective and in terms of making sure that the games are in places that have great conference alumni connections (Florida, Arizona, California, Texas). I believe that the Big Ten has the best bowl lineup from top-to-bottom.

My one quibble is an old one: I’d rather swap out the Motor City Bowl for a bowl in an attractive warm weather destination even though that’s the only bowl game in the Big Ten’s geographic footprint. I’ll challenge anyone to find a Big Ten fan base that has been excited to spend Christmas in Detroit in order to go to a game on December 26th to watch your school that likely had a 6-6 record.

That’s why I’d love to see our #7 selection go to a place that doesn’t need any selling point: the Las Vegas Bowl. That’s the one destination on Earth that can get you fired up to watch a bowl game featuring your barely bowl eligible school. It would make sense for the bowl, too, since the #1 market for Las Vegas visitors outside of Los Angeles is Chicago, which is the center of the Big Ten alumni base.

Frank the Tank's Slant

by Frank the Tank on Aug 14, 2009 11:09 AM CDT reply actions