MotSaG Bowl Guide, Episode IV: A New Hope

Happy New Year! It’s time once again for the Big Ten/SEC football challenge. Since the mid-90s, both Capital One Bowl and the Outback Bowl have matched up the two conferences, and the Gator Bowl joined in the fun with their 2011 game. The overall record is SEC 25, Big Ten 17. Last year, the SEC went 2-1 in these games, with a combined score of 98-93. All three of the Big Ten representatives this year won their most recent appearance in their bowl.

So far this bowl season, the Big Ten is 0-2 (0-4 if you count incoming B1GGIES Rutgers and Maryland) so the conference could use some good fortune today.

Wednesday
Noon

Gator Bowl: Nebraska vs. Georgia. Interestingly, this is a rematch of last year’s Capital One Bowl, which Georgia won by 14 points. In each of the past five seasons, Nebraska has lost exactly 4 games. Since they’ve already lost 4 this year, they are scientifically required to win this game. Congrats, Huskers! (ESPN2)

Heart of Dallas Bowl: North Texas vs. UNLV. In three attempts, North Texas has been unable to beat UNLV. However, they’ve never played in a bowl and their last game was in the year 2000. (ESPNU)

1:00p

Capital One Bowl: Wisconsin vs. South Carolina. Wisconsin’s three losses are by a combined 16 points to teams who have lost an average of 3 games each. South Carolina’s two losses are by a combined 13 points to teams who have lost an average of 5.5 games each. Wisconsin also has the clear advantage on paper, and is a slight favorite in the game. South Carolina is ranked #9. Wisconsin is ranked #19. There is no SEC bias though. (ABC)

Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. LSU. The Hawkeyes beat the Tigers 30-25 in the 2005 Capital One Bowl. Obligatory Program Cover Art (with fish). (ESPN)

5:00p

Rose Bowl: Michigan State vs. Stanford. In the past seven years, the Rose Bowl has featured either Wisconsin or USC six times. The Big Ten lost all six of those games. But in the one game that featured neither of those teams, the Big Ten won! You can’t argue with that! Sparty YES! (ESPN)

8:30p

Fiesta Bowl: Baylor vs. UCF. In keeping with this year’s tradition of finishing the night with a stinker of a game, here’s this thing. It’s almost physically impossible for this game to be intriguing. Even if it is competitive, it’s still not that interesting. This drawing of a bear fighting a knight is pretty cool though. (ESPN)

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