Penn State, Wisconsin Keep Big Ten Perfect in Bowls

College football observers with nothing better to do spend too much time reading something that's usually not there into what they're seeing.

And frankly, they're usually seeing what they want to see.

The Big Ten's just gone 7-0 in the post-season. Awesome.

Its champion, though, got hammered in a non-con against a team now in the CFB playoffs. The Selection Committee also snubbed that champion for a bracket slot.

Regardless, the conference is having one swell post-season.

Here are its results coming into the New Year's Six slate:

• Ohio State 24 USC 7,
• Michigan State 42 Washington State 17,
• Northwestern 24 Kentucky 23,
• Purdue 38 Arizona 35, and
• Iowa 27 Boston College 20.

Wanna know why we use the Anderson-Hester Computer Rankings as part of our Daily Player 12 formula?

Dudes measure results and results alond, and their algorithm confirmed that 2017 was simply the Big Ten's year:

They saw it coming. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Bigsters just added two more bowl trophies to this season's haul, too.

The score didn't really show it, but Penn State's 35-28 defeat of the Washington Huskies was more dominant that seven points.

• Trace McSorley went 12-12 for 193 yards and two TDs on third downs alone,
• The Nittany Lions converted 13 of 17 third downs altogether, and
• That led to a whopping 35:55 to 24:05 time of possession advantage.

By design, Saquon Barkley played a limited role to reduce his risk of injury. It was only limited by his lofty standards.

 

Then there were the Wisconsin Badgers, anxious to put memories of their Big Ten title loss behind them.

Dudes did all of that, taking on Miami's turnover chain and Mark Richt's tantrum to the tune of a 34-24 triumph:

Now, it's up to Michigan to complete an 8-0 post-season sweep if the Wolverines can prevail against South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

How big of a deal is that to conference prestige?

Just ask the Michigan State Spartans for a perspective. They want their rivals to lose. Big time.

And that should tell us all we really need to know about conference-vs-conference trends.