The Bowl Game Season Has Been A Bonanza For Big Ten Teams

Happy New Year 2025! As this is being written, I am still basking in the dominant Ohio State 41-21 dismantling of Oregon in The Rose Bowl, while looking forward to next weekend’s semi-final College Football Playoff bowl games, featuring Penn State in The Orange Bowl on January 9th, with Ohio State facing Texas on January 10th in The Cotton Bowl.

Even with so much college football remaining to be played, I want to revel in the collective performance of The Big Ten in the traditional bowl games, as the calendar flipped from 2024 to 2025. While The Big Ten has not been undefeated in all of its bowl game efforts, the overall performance of teams within the conference deserves some recognition.

Example 1: USC 35, Texas A&M 31 in The Las Vegas Bowl on December 27th, 2024

While USC’s inaugural season within The Big Ten was a disappointment, with the Trojans only able to eke out a 6-6 record, Lincoln Riley’s team rallied from a 17 point deficit to defeat Texas A&M with only 8 seconds remaining to pull out the win. Even more impressively for USC was how their season began and ended, with two wins over SEC teams (USC defeated LSU 27-20 back on September 1st in The Modelo Vegas Kickoff Classic, if you recall).

Example 2: Nebraska 20, Boston College 15 in The Pinstripe Bowl on December 28th, 2024

Comparable to USC in the sense that Nebraska only finished up with a 7-6 record, the Cornhuskers were able to hold on for their first bowl win since 2015. What I found more impressive was that Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule’s statement of “This is the last time we celebrate a 6 win season”. While I am not predicting a trip to The College Football Playoff in 2025, a quick glance at Nebraska’s 2025 schedule has me thinking that the Cornhuskers could be playing in a more prestigious bowl game destination, especially if Huskers QB Dylan Raiola continues to develop this off-season.

Example 3: Michigan 19, Alabama 13 in The ReliaQuest Bowl on December 31st, 2024

Ohio State fans, as painful as it may be to read, it is important to give credit where credit is due. The Michigan Wolverines, “That Team Up North”, were able to hold on in a nailbiter that went down to the final seconds versus a SEC team that college football fans were told repeatedly belonged in The College Football Playoff. Most impressive to me was that Michigan accomplished this after losing several of their best players decided to opt out of this bowl game, while Alabama was supposedly going to dominate this game, as evidenced by the heavy Vegas betting odds (Alabama -14.5).

Example 4: Illinois 21, South Carolina in The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on December 31st, 2024

Indiana’s outstanding 2024 season earned Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti widespread recognition and praise for turning the Hoosiers around, but I will make the point that Illinois head coach Bret Bielema somewhat quietly turned in an outstanding performance this past year, as the Fighting Illini finished 10-3. This marked the first time Illinois won ten games since the 2001 season. More importantly, it gave The Big Ten another bowl win versus another supposed College Football Playoff team from the “It Just Means More” SEC.

Has The Big Ten been perfect this bowl season? No, as Rutgers, Washington, and Iowa all lost close bowl games. The Duke’s Mayo Bowl featuring Minnesota versus Virginia Tech is yet to be played (January 3rd at 7:30pm ET on ESPN). Ohio State fans, while enjoying The Rose Bowl win over Oregon, will now politely remind Ryan Day, Jim Knowles, Will Howard, and others that a win over Texas in The Cotton Bowl is next on the list. Even with those other tasks remaining, it is important to acknowledge a job well done. Some might even say a B1G job well done.