jamesvanderwulf got me to thinkin

[starbrown]

I'm not accustomed to thinkin much. I spend most days drinkin moonshine with Cletus and screamin at strangers about their tattoos. But his thread delving into the past got me to ponderin when someone posted that the B1G used to restrict bowl participation for its membership. I already knew that but had never considered how that affected our history.

I instantly got depressed realizing that rule hurt a program like ours. But then something really cool happened. Because the rule-change occurred near the time-frame that Hayden turned things around, those limits actually helped us from a historical perspective. At least within the big-ten conference.

Neb - 51 (25)
Penn State - 45 (28)
Ohio State - 45 (21)
Mich - 43 (20)
Iowa - 28 (14)
Wisconsin - 26 (12)
Maryland - 26 (11)
MSU - 25 (11)
Ill - 18 (8)
Purdue - 17 (9)
Minn - 17 (5)
Northwestern - 11 (2)
Rutgers - 9 (6)
Ind - 9 (3)

Look where we rank in a 14 team league.

 

[Suterman]

MSU has made a huge jump in the last 10 years, and Wisconsin in the last 15. Iowa has been pretty steady since Hayden got here.

 

[starbrown]

MSU has made a huge jump in the last 10 years, and Wisconsin in the last 15. Iowa has been pretty steady since Hayden got here.

Yep, and looking at the list I realize that since PSU & Nebraska weren't subject to the same bowl restrictions that we were, they would likely be behind us putting us in the Top 3.