Taking A Rooting Interest in B1G Championship & Bowl Season

Listen Buckeye fans, we all need to take a rooting interest in the Big Ten Championship Game and the Big Ten bowl season. I know the rest of the fans in the conference are bitter over the Buckeyes going 12-0. I know we've been getting a lot of "What bowl game are the Buckeyes playing in? Oh yeah, their not!" garbage from the fans of teams we beat. I know the coaches didn't vote a single Buckeye offensive player for first team Big Ten.

It's true, the Big Ten doesn't have the togetherness that the SEC has. Part of what they have is because of "southern pride." You only see it in the SEC. You don't see it in any of the other big conferences. After the ACC Championship Game, you don't hear the fans chanting "ACC."

But here's the thing, we need the Big Ten to look good. We need them all to win their bowl games, especially if they are playing SEC teams.

For years everyone has said the Big Ten is down. That it's easy to go undefeated or suffer just one loss playing a Big Ten schedule. That if it comes to an undefeated Buckeye team and a one-loss SEC team, the Buckeyes should be left out.

And we don't play a tough out-of-conference schedule next season either.

v. Buffalo
v. San Diego State
@ California
v. Florida A&M
v. Wisconsin
@ Northwestern
Bye Week
v. Iowa
v. Penn State
@ Purdue
Bye Week
@ Illinois
v. Indiana
@ Michigan
Big Ten Championship Game (vs TBD, if we qualify)

That is next year's schedule. We need Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Michigan to look as good as possible going into next season because those are the three best teams we face. We need them ranked all year long.

So who do we want to win the B1G Championship Game? It's Nebraska vs Wisconsin, both teams that we defeated this season. Well for me, I want Nebraska to win the game. The Big Ten hasn't won a Rose Bowl Game since 2010 when Ohio State defeated Oregon. The past two Rose Bowls have featured Wisconsin getting defeated; in 2011 by Texas Christian and in 2012 by Oregon.

That's two straight years that the Big Ten lost the game. I don't think that Wisconsin will be able to defeat Stanford, the team I think will win the Pac 12 Championship and take on the Big Ten winner. I would much rather see new blood in the Rose Bowl, and that would be Nebraska. I think they could win the game, a BCS game in prime time. A game that's legendary and full of history. A game that if the Big Ten won, it would raise the Big Ten's profile.

Also, Nebraska isn't on the schedule next year so the only way we would face them would be in the Big Ten Championship Game. It would help the Buckeyes resume to make the final ever BCS National Championship Game if we defeated the defending Big Ten and Rose Bowl Champions.

Yeah, we face Wisconsin for sure next season (and every season since we share a division with them). But that's something we've done two years in a row now, and they aren't taken as seriously by the rest of the nation like Nebraska is.

As for the Big Ten bowl season, I know I won't enjoy rooting for the Big Ten teams due to how bitter their fans are. But we need to raise the profile of the Big Ten, and to do that we need the Big Ten to win some bowl games.

The only bowl eligible teams in the Big Ten are Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan State, and Minnesota. The first four can win their bowl games, the last three I am not so sure about. If Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Northwestern can win their bowls, it will make this conference look good.

So I am going to suck it up and root for these teams to win their bowl games, knowing that next year our team can kick them in the mouth by going undefeated, and defeating all of them. And then, we can throw some salt in the wound by winning the BCS National Championship. So go Big Ten!

What Going 12-0 Means

Yesterday Ohio State did it, they went undefeated/untied for a final 12-0 record. It's bittersweet however, because the Buckeyes are not eligible to play for the Big Ten Championship or to play in a bowl game this year.

But that doesn't mean that going undefeated means nothing. It means a whole lot, in my opinion. This is the sixth undefeated/untied season in Ohio State football history. Even if they can't compete in postseason play, they still made history. Only two teams finished the season without a loss or tie, Ohio State and Notre Dame. If the Fighting Irish were to lose the BCS National Championship Game, then the Buckeyes would be the only team with that distinction this season. They could possibly win the Associated Press National Championship if the AP Poll would vote them number one at the end of the bowl season. That would give them a split National Championship with whoever won the BCS National Championship Game.

This is also big for the future of the football program. The Urban Meyer era started with a perfect season. This team showed a lot of resiliency under the watch of Meyer, something we didn't see a lot of last year with a 6-7 season after losing to Florida in the Gator Bowl.

This sets the Buckeyes up to make a run at the final BCS National Championship next season. The Buckeyes should be ranked in the top five in the nation, if not the top two. If Notre Dame can go from unranked to start the season to #1 overall going into the bowl season then the Buckeyes can move from a top five position to number one or two.

I expect this team to go into next year with supreme confidence in what they can do. I expect them to feed off of this season. I expect them to come out with a chip on their shoulders after accomplishing perfection but having to hear all the haters asking them "what bowl are you guys playing in?," or that their perfect season "doesn't count."

Going 12-0 this year means that the Buckeyes are set up to dominate not only the Big Ten for years to come with Urban Meyer captaining the ship, but be part of the National Championship picture every year too. I like the sound of that, don't you?