New Year's Day can't get here soon enough for the Big Ten.
The 2011 college football season was supposed to be a celebration for the newly expanded conference. After adding Nebraska as its 12th school, the Big Ten split into two divisions -- Legends and Leaders -- and played a conference championship game for the first time.
If the dark clouds are, indeed, going to begin to part for the Big Ten, its teams need to reverse their recent performances in the postseason. Ten of the Big Ten's 12 teams are playing in bowl games, starting with Purdue, which plays Western Michigan in Tuesday's Little Caesars Bowl in Detroit.
Two Big Ten teams will play in BCS bowl games: Big Ten champion Wisconsin plays Pac-12 champ Oregon in Monday's Rose Bowl Game Presented by VIZIO and Michigan plays Virginia Tech in the Jan. 3 Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
Las Vegas oddsmakers have pegged only three Big Ten teams -- Purdue, Illinois and Michigan -- as favorites in their respective bowl games. The Illini play UCLA in Saturday's Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.
Putting together a winning postseason might figure to be difficult for Big Ten teams.
"We started off the season with a lot of parity," Delany told ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg in early December. "It played out that way. We had teams that were probably a little better than some people thought, teams that didn't do as well as some people thought. But for the most part, we had five or six teams in the Top 25. With Wisconsin losing a couple and everybody having at least two losses, that really knocks you out of the [national] championship conversation."
Winning bowl games hasn't been easy for Big Ten teams recently.
Big Ten teams went 2-5 in bowl games last season, including a woeful 0-5 in New Year's Day bowl games. Capped by Big Ten co-champion Wisconsin's 21-19 loss to TCU in the Rose Bowl last season, Big Ten teams failed to win a New Year's Day bowl game for the first time since 2002.
Since 2000, the Big Ten has gone 30-46 in bowl games (a 39.4 winning percentage) and has enjoyed a winning record in only two of 11 seasons. Its high mark was a 5-2 record in 2002, when the Buckeyes defeated Miami 31-24 in double overtime in the Fiesta Bowl to win their first national championship in 34 years.
Big Ten teams went 4-3 in bowl games in 2009, with Ohio State defeating Oregon 26-17 in the Rose Bowl and Iowa beating Georgia Tech 24-14 in the Discover Orange Bowl. Since 2000, Big Ten teams have gone 6-12 in BCS bowl games.
"We've played some very, very good teams in bowl games," Dantonio said. "We've never had an easy pick. I don't think there are any easy picks when you play on Jan. 2."
"It's just another thing we're trying to accomplish," Dantonio said. "We played great teams in these bowl games. We've played in three Jan. 1 bowl games, so we've come a long way in terms of reaching that height. But at the same time, we've got to win 'em, and we've got to prove we can play against anybody in the country. That's what you do in those bowl games. We've played three of these Jan. 1 bowl games against Southeastern Conference teams, and we've lost two at this point, so we need to play up and get ourselves ready to go."
While the SEC is assured of one of its teams winning a BCS national championship for the sixth consecutive season (No. 1 LSU plays No. 2 Alabama in the Jan. 9 Allstate BCS National Championship Game), the Big Ten is searching for a sort of silver lining in an otherwise forgettable campaign.
Perhaps more than ever before, the entire Big Ten could use a springboard into the 2012 season.
