Bowl projections

CollegeBCS.com's Jerry Palm checks the schedules, crunches the numbers and projects the college football bowl scene each week on his Web site. Here are a few of this week's predictions. And, yes, he has Michigan out of the bowl picture for the first time since 1974:

Insight Bowl: Indiana (3-0) vs. Texas A&M (3-0)

Champs Sports: Iowa (2-1) vs. Boston College (3-0)

Alamo: Michigan State (3-0) vs. Texas Tech (3-0)

Capital One: Purdue (3-0) vs. Tennessee (1-2)

Outback: Ohio State (3-0) vs. South Carolina (3-0)

Fiesta: Wisconsin (3-0) vs. Oklahoma (3-0)

Rose: Penn State (3-0) vs. UCLA (2-1)

Opening streaks

Michigan owns the Big Ten record for consecutive wins in league openers. The Wolverines won 23 in a row before losing to Wisconsin in 2005. Ohio State (1968-82) owns the next-best run with 15 straight. Illinois (1994-present) and Iowa (1901-13) share the record for consecutive losses with 13, but Chicago owns the Big Ten record if one goes by the calendar. The Maroons have never snapped their Big Ten-opener losing streak that began with the 1935 season. Of course, they quit playing football after the 1939 season and didn't resume until 1969, when they scheduled the likes of Wheaton's and North Central's jayvees. They now play in Division III.

-- Lindsey Willhite