Big Ten Football & Basketball Blog

The conference opens their bowl season with the Wisconsin Badgers facing a tough test against the Miami Hurricanes on December 29th in the Champs Sports Bowl. The Golden Gophers of Minnesota will face Iowa State on New Years Eve with the game being broadcast on the NFL Network. On New Years Day Northwestern will face good Auburn squad while Penn State will battle LSU. In “The Granddaddy of them All” the Ohio State Buckeyes will face the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl on New Years Day at 4:30. Sparty will face Texas Tech on January 2nd. In the Big Ten’s other BCS game Iowa will face Georgia Tech on January 5th.

Big Ten Fans & partner site College Sports Fans are pleased to announce that the 2008-2009 bowl previews have been released for every bowl game that the Big Ten is participating in. From the Northwestern’s Alamo Bowl match-up with Missouri to Penn State’s face-off with USC in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, you can find previews for every Big Ten bowl game for the 2008 college football season below.

• 2008 Rose Bowl preview - Penn State
• 2008 Fiesta Bowl preview - Ohio State
• 2008 Capital One Bowl preview - Michigan State
• 2008 Outback Bowl preview - Iowa
• 2008 Insight Bowl preview - Minnesota
• 2008 Alamo Bowl preview - Northwestern
• 2008 Champs Sports Bowl preview - Wisconsin

The college bowl games were announced on Sunday as 7 Big Ten teams will be bowling to conclude the 2008 college football season. Headlines by the two BCS Bowl teams, Penn State & Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern & Wisconsin will join the co-Big Ten Champions in bowl games. Here’s a look at each bowl match-up featuring Big Ten football teams.
- Rose Bowl - Penn State vs USC
- Fiesta Bowl - Ohio State vs Texas
- Capital One Bowl - Michigan State vs Georgia
- Outback Bowl - Iowa vs South Carolina
- Insight Bowl - Minnesota vs Kansas
- Alamo Bowl - Northwestern vs Missouri
- Champs Sports Bowl - Wisconsin vs Florida State

New Year’s Day 2008 featured two Big Ten vs. SEC showdowns in bowl games as the Michigan Wolverines and Wisconsin Badgers matched up with SEC opponentts in their bowl games. #18 Wisconsin kicked off at 11 am in the Outback Bowl against #16 Tennessee and fell to the Vols 21-17. Just two hours later, unranked Michigan, led by head coach Lloyd Carr in his final game, faced heavy-favorite Florida in the Capital One Bowl. Michigan led 21-14 at the half over the #12 Gators and kicked two late FG’s and picked off a Tim Tebow pass to seal a 41-35 victory. With the win, Carr ends his coaching career at Michigan 122-40 overall and Chad Henne, Mike Hart & Jake Long, the three seniors who returned to Michigan this season to play for a National Championship, were able to get their first bowl win in four tries.