1. Penn State (11-1, 7-1 Big 10) is headed for the roses. The Nittany Lions near perfect season (lost to Iowa) includes wins at Ohio State and against Michigan State. JoePa got the job done, but can his team compete with Pac-10’s USC in the Rose Bowl? I don’t think so, stayed tuned for more on that in the upcoming weeks.
2. Ohio State (10-2, 7-1) only lost when it counted (at USC and against Penn State). The Buckeyes season may have been good enough to receive an at-large BCS bid, only time will tell.
3. Michigan State (9-3, 6-2) lost conference games to the top two and knocked off every other opponent on its schedule except for California in the season opener. Ranked No. 21 by the BCS, AP and coaches at the conclusion of their season, the Spartans ought to be playing in a somewhat big bowl game.
4. Northwestern (9-3, 5-3) lost to both Ohio State and Michigan State and had the advantage of not facing Penn State this year, however, a loss to Indiana (their only conference win) is not one of their brightest moments.
5. Iowa (8-4, 5-3) ruined Penn State’s perfect season and could have been ranked had it not lost three close games in a row in the early going (Pittsburgh by one, Northwestern by five and Michigan State by 3).
6. Wisconsin (7-5, 3-5) will go bowling, however, it had a rather disappointing let down. The Badgers came out strong to a 3-0 start and then dropped their next four straight.
7. Minnesota (7-5, 3-5) also had a rather disappointing season. The Golden Gophers were perfect in their first four, and un-perfect in their last four.
8. Illinois (5-7, 3-5) had a big let down this season and could not put together a win streak after defeating Eastern Illinois and Louisiana-Lafayette in Week 2 and 3 of the season.
9. Purdue (4-8, 6-2) can only hope next season will be better, as of two of its four wins came against Northern Colorado and Central Michigan.
10. Michigan (3-9, 2-6) only won one of its final eight games, enough said.
11. Indiana (3-9, 1-7) started off a perfect 2-0 (Western Kentucky and Murray State) and then dropped far, far off the map.
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