Monday, November 15, 1999
OSU bowl streak could end at 11 years
BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLUMBUS — Back in August, Ohio State players were dreaming of the Sugar Bowl, this year's national championship game. Now there's a strong possibility the Buckeyes won't make any bowl for the first time in 11 years.
The Buckeyes' 46-20 loss Saturday to Illinois puts them in a strange position: Needing to win their season finale against Michigan just to qualify for a second-tier bowl. Teams must finish the regular season with a record above .500 to be bowl-eligible, and because Ohio State plays 12 games this season, it must win seven.
The Bucks enter Michigan week 6-5. They've already blown their chance at extending their New Year's Day bowl streak to six years.
The players know the stakes. “It's win or nothing,” senior center Kurt Murphy
said. “I don't think you need any extra motivation.”
Winning at Michigan is a tough task any year, especially in the John Cooper era. Ohio State is 2-8-1 against the Wolverines since Cooper took over as coach in 1988, and hasn't won at the Big House since 1987, a span of six visits.
But winning at Michigan (8-2 overall, 5-2 Big Ten) in a Buckeye rebuilding year makes the job even tougher. The Wolverines beat then-No.6 Penn State Saturday, while OSU lost to unranked Illinois at home.
If the Buckeyes do upset the Wolverines, they become bowl-eligible. But even in the best-case (and least likely) scenario, the best they could expect is the Dec. 28 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio (the Big Ten's fourth-place selection). And that would require a string of upsets.
More likely, they'd be looking at the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, the Dec. 30 Micron PC Bowl in Miami or the Dec. 27 Motor City Bowl in Detroit.
Seven Big Ten teams are already bowl eligible (Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue and Illinois) and an OSU win would make it the eighth. But there are only six Big Ten bowl tie-ins, with room for a seventh team if Penn State or Michigan earns a Bowl Alliance bid.
That means even if OSU wins, it could end up in the Motor City Bowl as an at-large pick.
The possible OSU scenarios:
• Alamo Bowl, vs. Big 12 No.4. The Buckeyes enter the final week in a three-way tie for sixth place in the Big Ten. To move up to the fourth selection, strange things would have to happen.
Penn State must beat Michigan State, which might earn the Nittany Lions an Alliance at-large bid. With Wisconsin (9-2, 7-1) done and going to the Rose Bowl, that would allow one Big Ten team to move up in the standings.
Then it would have to get weird. Fifth-place Minnesota (4-3) must lose to doormat Iowa, which is unlikely. Sixth-place Illinois (3-4) and Purdue (3-4) must then lose to Northwestern and Indiana, respectively.
If OSU beats Michigan, it would finish 4-4 and then leapfrog 3-5 Illinois and Purdue and tie 4-4 Minnesota for the fourth selection. The Bucks beat the Gophers 20-17 this season, and Ohio State could still be a more attractive pick than Minnesota.
• Sun Bowl, vs. Pac-10 No4. The Bucks could make this one as the Big Ten's fifth selection if they win, Penn State wins and gets an Alliance bid, Minnesota wins and Illinois and Purdue lose. Or, Illinois and Purdue could win and tie the Bucks at 4-4, but the bowl committee could chose Ohio State just because it's Ohio State.
• Micron PC, vs. ACC No.4. The sixth Big Ten selection could go to Ohio State if it wins, Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue win and the bowl committee finds it more attractive than Illinois and Purdue.
• Motor City Bowl, vs. MAC champion. If Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue all win, Ohio State could be shut out of Big Ten bowls if the selection committees find those teams make a better pick and/or Penn State doesn't get an Alliance bid. One of the teams left out of the Big Ten bowls could get this at-large bid to play the MAC champion, which will probably be Marshall.
›O'ahu Bowl, vs. Pac-10 No.5. This Christmas Day game, played as part of a double-header with the Aloha Bowl, can pick an at-large team if it doesn't choose the No.5 selection from the ACC.
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