Big Ten Football & Basketball Blog

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.

The November 11th BCS Standings have been released and now feature 4 Big Ten football programs in the Top 25 rankings. After their 28-21 loss to Illinois on Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes continue to lead the Big Ten and will play Michigan for the Big Ten football championship next weekend, but the Buckeyes have dropped from #1 to #7 in the BCS standings. Illinois is the second-ranked Big Ten school coming in at #19 overall thanks to a strong computer score. Michigan comes in at #21 following a disappointing loss @ Wisconsin and the Badgers round out the Big Ten programs in the Top 25 of the BCS coming in at #25.

Penn State was the lone other Big Ten football team receiving Top 25 votes in the AP and USA Today rankings and was ranked as high as #22 by the coaches in the USA Today poll.

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