The B1G: Where daddy has to pay for your acceptance
Grading out the B1G bowl season performance and saving a nice gift for last.
By: The Waco Kid
Bowl Season Grade: B
There were the highs and then there were the lows. It was an unimaginable season by a conference whose top competitors ended up being Ohio State, Northwestern, and basketball powerhouse Indiana. The highs mainly surrounded the emergence of Northwestern and Indiana as competitors in a league historically run by football giants Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin. The lows encircled the majority of the previously listed giants as well as B1G commissioner Kevin Warren, who could not make a decision if his life depended on it and then had to call for a special vote to make sure the conference championship could include a 6 win team because he had no faith in any other program. And because Ohio State has him by the balls.
The conference only had five teams that finished the season with over a .500 record, all of which were invited to bowl games. Only two “top tier programs” were a part of these five; Ohio State and Wisconsin, the other three came from Indiana, Iowa, and Northwestern. WHAT? Michigan gave the Jim Reaper a contract extension after this season and are paying him $4 million in base salary, PER YEAR, after producing a 2-4 record. If you are listening UM, I can also coach a team to two wins and will only require a base salary of ONE million dollars to do so. Penn State and Nebraska also have high paid coaches and neither of them could win more than 4 games this past season. Yes, there were extenuating circumstances this year but none of these high-income coaches’ teams looked like they could sniff the SEC’s jockstrap, and let’s be honest that is the goal of every other conference on a year-to-year basis. The decline of these historical greats does not bode well for a conference that has won only two National Championships in the past 20 years.
That is pretty funny, isn’t it Jim?
Now we have to address the joker himself, Kevin Warren. First Warren could not decide if there should be college football this year, which was a fair assessment, but then completely flip-flopping gave him no credibility as a sitting commissioner. Second, if the previously mentioned vote, that ultimately allowed OSU to get into the playoffs, doesn’t scream “my daddy is a lawyer and will sue you if I don’t get my way” I do not know what does. Third, changing the conference protocol on virus protection, to ensure certain players would be eligible to participate is just sweetening the pot even more for the B1G. The commissioner’s office showed no fortitude or honesty, and if I were a program, not by the name of Ohio State, I would be taking note and expect the same backing and leniency in the upcoming seasons. If none is given then you know who the class pet is.
With all that being said, the conference did go 3-2 during the bowl season with one game being canceled. They, undeservingly, sent one team to the playoffs and the national championship which gave them a boost in their bowl game report card. Taking them from the likes of a Big 12 grade to one step up only due to an appearance in the Natty. We also had to take into consideration that the B1G only lost one bowl game that was not against Alabama, but it was against another SEC team. Just needed to make sure that did not get overlooked. The conference definitely put up some impressive wins and two embarrassing losses. One loss because of the score and the other because of the team they were matched with. Some of these games have already been mentioned while the majority we still get the pleasure of exploring.
Let’s look deeper into the quality wins the B1G provided in bowl games. For starters, Wisconsin beat an embarrassing Wake Forest team 42-28. I mean if you are going to play an ACC team that most people do not know is a part of the conference, do not let them score 28. Still, a two-score win over a Power 5 opponent could be viewed as commendable. I do not see it that way but I am sure the Buckeye faithful would count this as a quality win that speaks to the prominence of their conference. The worst part is that the Demon Deacons kept the lead through the majority of three quarters against the Badgers that were supposedly leaps and bounds a better team. WF outmanned UW in every aspect of the game, however, the four interceptions from Sam Hartman proved to be the determining factor in this one. Wisconsin did not need to drive the ball 75 yards a possession, all they needed was to wait for Hartman to make a poor decision and give the ball back.
The next game was scheduled to be #15 Iowa against the #6 team in the SEC Missouri. Weird how top 25 teams get pitted against unranked, mid-tier SEC teams, I wonder why that is? Maybe because mid-tier SEC teams can play with the best in other conferences? No…that cannot be true, there’s no way that the number 24, 23, and 11 ranked teams in the nation could lose to unranked mediocre SEC teams. Well luckily for Iowa they did not have to find this out the hard way. The game was canceled due to virus concerns. However, Indiana did have to learn this lesson the hard way.
#11 Indiana was slated to take on unranked Ole Miss in the Outback Bowl. We knew the Rebels could score but the Hoosiers were a team that played OSU within 7 points and had an impressive defense all season. I loved watching IU all year, and when Michael Penix Jr. was injured for the season, it was a shot to the heart for all of us who wanted to see an underdog prevail. This is an SEC blog, though, and Indiana did get railed by the Lane Train so we have to make a mockery out of the B1G. You really thought you could luck out sending your #3 team to play an underappreciated, unranked Mississippi and come out with a victory? Nah, that’s not how the South rolls. You aren’t given anything because of what you accomplished in conference play. You either win or go home a loser. This was a close game but in the end, a 3-yard pass from Ole Miss’ Matt Corral in the fourth quarter put the contest too far out of reach, propelling the Rebs to a 26-20 victory over the second-best team in the Big 10. Both teams in this bowl game have promising futures, I only hope we can see a similar outcome from Indiana in 2021.
Another top-ranked team, #14 Northwestern, met with SEC big boy Auburn. Now the Tigers have not been an impressive team throughout the season, getting embarrassed by South Carolina and losing to A&M and Alabama along the way. I still picked War Eagle over the Wildcats in this one, and boy was I wrong. I chose NW to lose because of their lack of offensive productivity, not the defense. Their defense has been spectacular all year. I just did not believe they could score more than 24 in a game and for that, I take full responsibility. The Cats put up 35 which was way more than needed because they held Bo Nix and the Auburn offense to only 19 points. In my prediction, I said that Tank Bigsby would have to be stopped to take another bowl victory from the clutches of the B1G. Unfortunately, I was right as Bigsby did not participate in the showdown due to an injury. Nix never had the composure to win a game like this on his own and it showed. Northwestern’s Peyton Ramsey took control and put his team on the map, passing for 291 yards, 3 touchdowns, and beating an SEC powerhouse 35-19. The addition of South Carolina transfer QB Ryan Hilinski will add to the growth of an up and coming program.
Tank Bigsby would have run through Northwestern like Frank the Tank ran through the streets.
Then there was Ohio State. After annihilating an overrated Clemson team in a semifinal game that Justin Fields threw 6 touchdowns in, most likely breaking at least one rib, the Buckeyes had to face an Alabama team that had everyone wearing a diaper. OSU wiped the floor with the Tigers and trolled Dabo for saying they were the #11 team in the nation. However, as impressive as I think the defeat of a Trevor Lawrence team is (part of the reason I believe Meyer takes Fields at #1) there is a difference between a team revolving around one player and a team that can win with anyone they throw-in. This year Alabama had the perfect next man up mentality and it correlated to victories on the field. The Buckeyes played Clemson, Indiana, and Northwestern, while the Tide faced Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Auburn, Notre Dame. Looking at this unbiasedly, who do you really think played a more difficult schedule? This wasn’t ever a question of who but rather how bad? Mac Jones, Devonta Smith, and Najee Harris could have gone out alone and brought another title home to Tuscaloosa. With Jones’s 5 TDs, three of which were to Smith, with two added on the ground from Harris, there was no way to stop this team. The Ohio State University proved they had no more business being in the title game than Texas A&M did, see scores if you have an objection.
Say louder for those in Columbus, Forrest.
This goes to show when Daddy pays your way in, it may be a “win” at the time, but no lesson is learned about hard work and integrity until you get your ass beat by a team that worked harder than you all season. Good luck to the B1G in the future, I hope you can always ignore integrity and perseverance to create the best outcome for your conference. Oh and one last thing: