Big Ten getting bowled over again with a 1-5 record so far

When computers take over the earth, there'll be one entity to blame:

Big Ten football.

For the last two years, the six Bowl Championship Series computers have screamed to us - likely using Stephen Hawking's voice synthesizer - that human pollsters tragically overrate Big Ten teams.

(Here's what I mean: In this year's final regular-season polls, five Big Ten teams received votes from either the coaches or the Harris Interactive people. All five teams had a better average rank in the polls than with the computers, a few teams significantly so. In 2007, four of the five Big Ten teams that got votes in the final regular-season poll had a better poll average than computer average.)

And in each of the last two years, once it became too late for the computers to do anything, Big Ten schools have proven them right with their colossal bowl crudulence.

With only the Fiesta Bowl to go - a BCS bid Ohio State didn't deserve, according to the computers - the Big Ten owns a swell 1-5 bowl record this winter.

Each game, by the way, went exactly as the computers predicted. They expect Texas to smack the Buckeyes, too.

This isn't unique. Last year, the computers pegged the Big Ten to go 1-7 in its bowls.

But thanks to Michigan's Capital One Bowl upset of Florida in Lloyd Carr's final game, the Big Ten proved 'em wrong with a 2-6 mark.

Woo-hoo! Overachievement!

Now, I know the Big Ten apologist's response. It goes something like, "If Ohio State didn't get that second BCS bid, then every Big Ten team bumps down a bowl and that gives the league much better matchups."

So I ran that simulation using, again, the BCS computer numbers.

Sure enough, the computers liked the Big Ten's chances better. They went all the way from a 1-6 prediction to - 2-5!

The computers liked Ohio State to beat Georgia and Michigan State over South Carolina, but Iowa (which beat the Gamecocks) fell to underdog status against Missouri.

I'm guessing the Big Ten won't be willing to return $3.75 million in bowl revenue - the difference between the league's Fiesta Bowl payday and the Motor City Bowl payday had Ohio State not gotten the Fiesta bid - in order to get that extra win.

You know what that extra $3.75 million buys? Roughly an entire year of recruiting expenses for the Big Ten.

The Champaign News-Gazette did an exhaustive study last month that revealed Illinois spent $421,535 in fiscal year 2008 on football recruiting.

That number, by the way, didn't include the use of an estimated $73,000 worth of free courtesy cars and private planes.

The News-Gazette also quoted The Chronicle of Higher Education's study that showed Illinois among the top 10 percent nationally in overall recruiting spending.

If we extrapolate that out, then $3.75 million should cover the league for a year.

Considering the Big Ten's lack of return on their money lately, they might want to spend future monies smarter.

Since they can't recruit enough speed from the south to compete with the best, how about luring some boosters from the south?

Or pay Iowa's Kirk Ferentz to stay. At least he won a bowl game.

lwillhite@dailyherald.com