Is the B1G in for trouble when bowl games come around?

Last season, eight out of 11 Big Ten teams (nine out of 12 if you count Nebraska) went to a bowl game. The conference looked to build on last season after going 4-3 in bowl games, including 2-0 in BCS games.

After starting 2-0 with Iowa defeating Missouri in the Insight Bowl and Illinois beating Baylor in the Texas Bowl, it appeared that the conference was headed in the right direction.

Then came New Year's Day.

Northwestern, Michigan State, Penn State, Michigan, and Wisconsin all lost their respective bowl games, with the middle three all getting embarrassed by opponents from the SEC (and a certain blogger getting a lot of heat from a relative residing in SEC country). When all was said and done, the Big Ten had a final bowl record of 2-5, as Ohio State's win over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl was vacated.

When this season came around with Nebraska as a new member, the Big Ten was looking to move past the clusterbleep of last bowl season. This past weekend brought us four teams playing away from home against teams that were bowl eligible last season. Wisconsin was really the only team from the conference to pass their "road test" by beating Northern Illinois 49-7 at Soldier Field.

Aside from that, the best word that describes the performance of Big Ten teams playing on the road this weekend is "pathetic."

Northwestern suffered an inexcusable 21-14 loss at Army, Michigan State lost 31-13 to a Notre Dame team that still has a problem with turnovers, and Ohio State fell flat on their faces in a 24-6 loss to Miami in the so-called "Probation Bowl." In fact, the Buckeyes performance may have been the worst out of all the losses as both Joe Bauserman and Braxton Miller combined to complete only four passes for 35 yards.

In conclusion, while the Big Ten has taken plenty of heat for falling flat in bowl games and in big non-conference games in the last five years, fans probably shouldn't raise their expectations after this past Saturday (I know I'm probably preaching to the choir when I say that). It still frustrates me that the conference whose football I've grown up watching on TV since I was a kid can't step up in big games on a consistent basis. Then again, things could be worse this season as the conference could cannibalize itself a la the ACC.