Maybe it's not fair to call Northwestern's defensive effort in the Sun Bowl today a "collapse" like conference brethren Minnesota and Michigan, because the Wildcats have not played much D all year long. But for the third straight bowl game, a Big Ten team got a double-digt lead and still lost.
The Sun Bowl was every bit the shootout observers expected, ending in a 50-38 UCLA victory. Northwestern came out blazing, jumping out to a 22-0 lead. Brett Basanez put up a stunning seventy passes. He completed thirty-nine of them and netted 420 passing yards. It may have been a losing effort, but the gritty signal-caller went down in fighting fashion. He easily outplayed his accomplished Bruin counterpart Drew Olson, whose three interceptions matched his season total.
But the Bruins had too much on the ground. Chris Markey and Khalil Bell both easily broke the 100-yard barrier, and UCLA's comeback was so swift and certain they had the lead by halftime and scored 36 unanswered points.
So Northwestern's letdown continues the pattern in the Big Ten. Michigan had an 11-point lead on Nebraska. Minnesota had a 14-point lead against Virginia. Both lost. With these game added in, conference teams are now 0-3 in bowls that they led by a combined total of 47 points. The conference's defenses have started to resemble Saddam Hussein's during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Minnesota brings two 1,000 yard rushers to the table in Laurence Maroney and Gary Russell, and a line anchored by All-Americn center Greg Eslinger. The Gophers have a reasonably consistent quarterback in Bryan Cupito. The team would be playing in a better bowl game, if only they had been able to get off a punt against Wisconsin on October 15. 
Penn State coach Joe Paterno's search for the national title had been like the search for the Holy Grail. The Nittany Lion master coached unbeaten teams three times--in 1968-69 and 1973 and capped it off with a bowl win. But the caliber of football played in the East in those days did not lend itself to the kind of schedule that could get Paterno's team any respect. 
Down south there were some rumblings about the Sugar Bowl's standing as an undisputed national title game. Southern Methodist went 10-0-1 and won the Southwest Conference. The Mustangs boasted a fearsome 1-2 punch at running back in Eric Dickerson and Craig James. They were dubbed the "Pony Express', and they were #2 in the land. But SMU's schedule was fatally weak, and in the season finale coach Bobby Collins opted to play for a 17-17 tie against Arkansas rather then go for the win and perfect season. A loss would have cost his team a long-sought Cotton Bowl berth, and Collins was unwilling to risk that. SMU's opponent in Dallas would be Penn State's chief rival, Pitt. The Panthers had been #1 earlier in the year and were led by quarterback Dan Marino. The Pitt quarterback had a rough senior season that would result in his falling all the way to 27th in the NFL draft the following spring, and his team had been handed losses by both the Nittany Lions and Notre Dame, preventing them from playing for a national title. 
Paterno was finally a national champion. Ironically, college basketball of this year saw another respected legend also get his first ring. North Carolina's Dean Smith won the Final Four back in March--and in more irony, it had taken place in the very Superdome where Paterno was now carried off the field. Given SMU's record and Paterno's long advocacy of a national playoff, he was asked what his thoughts were on that subject right now--"Next year let's have a playoff, he said. "This year, let's vote." 
The Sun Bowl matchup between Northwestern and UCLA on Friday afternoon is expected to be a shootout. Looking at the numbers, this expectation is quite realistic. Both quarterbacks--Brett Basanez at NU, and Drew Olson at UCLA broke the 3,000 yard barrier this season. And for as often as both teams throw, both QB's are astonishingly proficient at avoiding mistakes. Basanez threw only six picks this year against 19 TDs, while Olson posted a stunning 31/3 ratio. 
The pressure is on Michigan's coaching staff heading into Wednesday night's game with Nebraska. Last season the Wolverine defense collapsed down the stretch, giving up 37 points against Ohio State, then surrendering 38 to Texas in the Rose Bowl. Defensive coordinator Jim Herrman cannot afford a similar conclusion in San Antonio after his unit gave up a nine-point fourth-quarter lead against the Buckeyes to end this the '05 regular season. 
Lloyd Carr's team will bring a more balanced offense to the table. Running back Michael Hart has been hurt much of the year, but he looks healthy for this game. As for Nebraska, these are defintely not your father's Cornhuskers. NU ranks 112th in rushing offense. Somwhere Dean Steinkhuler, and the great offensive lineman of years gone by are turning in their graves (granted, they're not dead, but you get the point). 
Big Ten Country takes this opportunity to wish its readers a Merry Christmas. Bowl predictions for each conference team, along with the Rose & Sugar Bowls are forthcoming starting tomorrow. The New Year's retro feature that has run throughout December will have a couple more installments. And as the calendar changes our focus to college basketball, weekly Top 25 rankings will soon be appearing. We thank our readers for their support and look forward to exciting bowl matchups and an intriguing basketball season ahead. 
Michigan head coach Bo Schembecler helped define football in this conference, and his rivalry with Woody Hayes dominated the Big Ten from 1969-1978. After Hayes retired, Schembecler continued to run the conference's flagship program, earning Rose Bowl bids in 1982 and '86, and getting his only two wins in Pasadena in 1980 and '88. This season's Wolverine team was expected to compete for a national title. That goal slipped away in the opener, when they surrendered two kickoff returns for touchdowns to Notre Dame's Rocket Ismail and lost at home, but UM went on to win its next ten games. A hard-fought win over Illinois in Champaign gave Bo the chance to end his career with back-to-back Rose Bowl wins. His 10-1 Wolverines were matched with traditional power USC, out of the Pac-10. 
The Rose Bowl was a tense affair. It was tied 10-10 late in the game, when a controversial 15-yard penalty against Schembecler helped the Trojans to the winning score in a 17-10 triumph. For the combative Michigan coach, a confrontation with officials and a Rose Bowl loss was an almost sadly appropriate exit to a magnificent career. 
That night, Colorado showed they were in over their head. Notre Dame simply had to much for the Buffs and Lou Holtz's team won 21-6. The Irish coach campaigned for the #1 vote, declaring his team had played the toughest schedule and beaten the top-ranked team in a bowl game. But when Miami survived Alabama in a not-as-close-as-it-sounds 33-25 win, the 'Canes head-to-head win over the Irish was what counted most in the eyes of the voters. 
Wisconsin's weakness has typically been a lack of team speed. In the rugged Big Ten they can generally compensate with the muscle of their offensivel line, and few teams in the conference are really lightning fast anyway. But the athletes in SEC programs bring substantial matchup problems to UW. Alvarez and his staff bristle at hearing this analysis, preferring size to speed. But you can't block what you can't catch, and the most dominant programs--Alabama of the late 1970s, Miami & Florida State of the 1980s/90s, and USC in recent years--have had great speed. 