Why the Big Ten Can't Win a BCS Bowl

-Penn State loses the Rose Bowl to USC in a 38-24 "nail biter."

-Georgia manages to get by Michigan State 24-12 in the Capitol One Bowl.

-Kansas somehow manages to squeak by Minnesota by a "narrow" three-touchdown margin in the Insight.com Bowl.

-In the Champs Sports Bowl, Wisconsin barely loses a heartbreaker to Florida State, by 29 points.

-In two of the closest of the Big Ten's six losses this bowl season, Northwestern lost in OT to Missouri in the Alamo Bowl. Running with our Texas theme, Ohio State loses in the last minute to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl.

-The only win? Iowa destroyed a mediocre South Carolina team 31-10 in the Outback Bowl.

Let's face facts: The Big Ten's teams fold like a tent during bowl season.

So, why are the Big Ten's flaws exposed like a cubic zirconium engagement ring in the hands of a professional gold digger every year?

The answer's complicated.

1. Population. Since the 1970s, the "Rust Belt" (home to most of the Big Ten's member schools) has been bleeding population like Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. Translation: lower population equals shallow talent pool. Not only that, but the population in the Rust Belt is getting older. The fewer kids you have in an area, the less likely you are to have kids that can run a 4.4 in the 40. Smaller population = smaller talent pool = less talent.

2. Football's overall decline. American kids just don't play as much football as they used to. Even in the Deep South, where football and religion are so intertwined as to be indistinguishable from one another in places, soccer and other activities are making inroads. It only stands to reason that football would also be in decline in the Midwest.

3. The South Has Risen Again. While the Big Ten's talent pool has gotten shallower because of declining population, the Southern US has been the scene of tremendous growth. From Los Angeles to Jacksonville, population has steadily increased . This, in part, explains the success of programs like USC, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida. And success breeds success as rival schools compete for survival. To recruits want to go where the "action" is. And face it, "the action" hasn't been in the Big Ten for a while.

So, we can see that the uncontrollable reasons for the demise of the Big Ten are complex, but it is of note that the Big Ten doesn't exactly help it cause. The eleven teams of the Big Ten played a grand total of 13 non-Big Ten BCS conference teams during the regular season. As a comparison the SIX teams JUST OF THE SEC EAST played 10 non-SEC BCS conference opponents. You don't get better by scheduling a slate of mediocre teams and each other. It is also of note that their commissioner, Jim DeLaney, an avid opponent of a playoff system, (doesn't think it's necessary...yeah, let that sink in a minute) thinks that the reason the Big Ten is missing out on top recruits is because of other conferences lack of "discipline" and "restraint." Typical coddled-child behavior: if you are getting beat, the other guys must be cheating. Never mind that the dynamics of college football have changed. Never mind that American demographics have changed dramatically in the last 20 years. Never mind that his schools play watered-down schedules, year-in and year-out only to advance to the BCS and have their weaknesses become embarrassingly obvious to anyone paying attention. Bottom line? If the Big Ten is to be a viable conference again, then they need to address reality. More importantly, so does its leadership.