Iowa could be going back to a January bowl. I surveyed various online sources to get a feel of where the Hawkeyes might land (if they win their final two). The Big 10 bowl selection order is 1) Rose, 2) Capital One, 3) Outback, 4) Alamo, 5) Champs Sports 6) Insight, 7) Motor City.
CBS -- Outback Bowl, Jan. 1, vs. South Carolina
Scout.com/FOX -- Outback Bowl, Jan. 1, vs. South Carolina
ESPN (Mark Schlabach) -- Outback Bowl, Jan. 1, vs. South Carolina
ESPN (Bruce Feldman) -- Champs Sports, Dec. 27, vs. Virginia Tech
Sports Illustrated -- Outback Bowl, Jan. 1, vs. South Carolina
Rivals.com/Yahoo! -- Outback Bowl, Jan. 1, vs. South Carolina
MSNBC -- Insight Bowl, Dec. 31, vs. Nebraska
Tell me if I'm missing any major sports Web sites. USA Today is another I checked but I had no luck finding projections.
MSNBC and Feldman from ESPN are the odd ducks because they think the BCS bowls will take both Boise State and Utah. The others have Ohio State as a second team from the Big 10 in the BCS bowls. That moves everyone up a notch.
The Rose Bowl is locked into the champion, of course. Of the Big Ten's other bowls, the Capital One, Outback, Alamo and Champs Sports can select any eligible team except a team that has two fewer wins or two more losses than another eligible team, according to the Big 10 (an 8-4 team can move past a 9-3 team in the pecking order, but a 7-5 team can't push up the ladder for a better bowl over the 9-3 team).
The Insight and Motor City Bowls have no restrictions. They can take any Big 10 team that is bowl eligible with one exception. A 7-5 team won't stay home at the expense of a 6-6 team. But if they are both bowl-bound, the 6-6 team can move past the 7-5 team in the pecking order.
With that in mind, the remaining schedules and overall records of contending teams with two weeks left:
Penn State (9-1) -- Nov. 15 - INDIANA, Nov. 22 - MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State (9-2) -- Nov. 15 - bye, Nov. 22 - @ Penn State
Ohio State (8-2) -- Nov. 15 - @ Illinois, Nov. 22 - MICHIGAN
Minnesota (7-3) -- Nov. 15 - @ Wisconsin, Nov. 22 - IOWA
Northwestern (7-3) -- Nov. 15 - @ Michigan, Nov. 22 - ILLINOIS
Iowa (6-4) -- Nov. 15 - PURDUE, Nov. 22 - @ Minnesota
Illinois (5-5) -- Nov. 15 - OHIO STATE, Nov. 22 - @ Northwestern
Wisconsin (5-5) -- Nov. 15 - MINNESOTA, Nov. 22 - CAL POLY
Got all of that?
Subscribe to this blog
