Boost for Big Ten

At first glance, the Big Ten's bowl record of 4-3 may not look like much. However, thanks to Iowa's Orange Bowl win over Georgia Tech, the Big Ten captured victories in all three of their marquee bowl games:

Rose Bowl - Ohio State 26, Oregon 17
Orange Bowl - Iowa 24, Georgia Tech 14
Capital One Bowl - Penn State 19, LSU 17

Sure it would've been nice for Northwestern to hold on against Auburn (38-35 OT loss), Minnesota to get a safety against Iowa State (14-13 loss), and Michigan State to hold Texas Tech in check (41-31), but having all the premiere teams in the league win was much more important.

The Big Ten hadn't won a Rose Bowl since Michigan's National Title-clinching victory over Washington State during the 1997 season, and lost their last three appearances in Pasadena by an average of almost three touchdowns. They had lost their last six BCS Bowl appearances, including both of Ohio State's lopsided National Championship defeats by Florida (41-14) and LSU (38-24).

I'm not saying the Big Ten was a great league this year - it wasn't. But, it was clearly better than both the ACC and Pac-10, and I think you can argue it was superior to both the Big East and Big 12 as well.

It's about time.