The 2019-2020 Big Ten bowl season has some very attractive games… and some clunkers. It’s good to know which games you need to set aside time for, and which games you can occasionally look in on while you do household chores, errands, or spend quality time with family during the holiday season. We wouldn’t want you to think you need to set aside three and a half hours for Illinois in the Redbox Bowl. That time is better spent with family.
The big games, though, merit your attention. If you love college football (or hate Minnesota, or both), you want to watch the Outback Bowl this bowl season. It’s a very interesting game between two fascinating, hard-to-read head coaches. What’s good? What’s worth ignoring? Those are meaningful questions. We at Badgers Wire are here to help you put the Big Ten bowl games in their proper place, so that you can spend time wisely during the holidays.
We start with the worst bowl game and work our way up to the best:
9 – Redbox Bowl
Illinois vs. California — Monday, Dec. 30 — 4 p.m. Eastern, FOX
We shouldn’t laugh at Illinois, given that it beat Wisconsin. Yet, Illinois got dump-trucked by Northwestern, at home, in its regular-season finale. Illinois made some forward strides this season, but it’s still Illinois until it can beat Northwestern. Remember the “Cheez-INT Bowl” last year with California and TCU? This game could be as bad. Hopefully, it will be bad in a hilarious way, not in a boring way. That might be this game’s redeeming quality: comedic potential.
8 – Pinstripe Bowl
Michigan St. vs. Wake Forest — Friday, Dec. 27 — 3:20 p.m. Eastern, ESPN
Friday afternoon. Holiday season. Are you REALLY gonna tell a spouse or parents or kids that you simply HAVE to watch Michigan State, an eroding program under Mark Dantonio, go against Wake Forest in a baseball stadium? I thought so. Michigan State is a program in decline. A win here doesn’t really change that equation.
7 – Gator Bowl
Indiana vs. Tennessee — Thursday, Jan. 2 — 7 p.m. Eastern, ESPN
Tennessee beat one team with a winning record in its eight-game SEC schedule: 7-5 Kentucky. Indiana didn’t beat a single Big Ten team with a winning record. These teams are bowl teams because they beat bad teams. If you want to go out of your way to watch this game, know that you’re probably desperate for any college football on the day after New Year’s Day… which is a reasonable instinct, but not something you have to feel especially proud about.
6 – Citrus Bowl
Michigan vs. Alabama — Wednesday, Jan. 1 — 1 p.m. Eastern, ABC
It’s Nick Saban versus Jim Harbaugh. This is a game to watch very eagerly and intently in the first quarter. Will this be a game worth watching late in the second quarter, though? We will see. Will this game be worth watching midway through the third quarter? Skepticism about Michigan’s ability to hang with Alabama puts this game lower on the list.
5 – Cotton Bowl
Penn State vs. Memphis — Saturday, Dec. 28 — Noon Eastern, ESPN
Michigan-Alabama has more sex appeal, but this is more likely to produce a close game. The noon start on playoff semifinal day buries this game. If you had made me commissioner of college football, I would have had Penn State play Georgia in the Sugar and either Florida or Baylor play Memphis. (Note: Wisconsin basketball plays Tennessee during this game, so that’s why it’s hard to put this game any higher than No. 5.)
4 – Holiday Bowl
Iowa vs. USC — Friday, Dec. 27 — 8 p.m. Eastern, Fox Sports 1
This is a poor man’s Rose Bowl: A 3-loss Big Ten team against a Pac-12 team with a lot of firepower on the West Coast. Iowa’s defense versus USC’s offense will be worth the watch. Iowa contained Minnesota (and gave Wisconsin a path to both the Big Ten Championship Game and the Rose Bowl). Now the Hawkeyes go against USC quarterback Kedon Slovis, who is legitimately good, and the elite USC receivers, who are almost as good as Alabama’s receivers. (ALMOST, not quite.)
3 – Outback Bowl
Minnesota vs. Auburn — Wednesday, Jan. 1 — 1 p.m. Eastern, ESPN
Minnesota beat Penn State. Auburn beat Oregon and Alabama. These teams got smacked in November – Minnesota by Wisconsin, Auburn by Georgia – but have solid resumes. They both have aggressive, unconventional coaches, P.J. Fleck and Gus Malzahn. This isn’t a familiar bowl matchup (unlike, say, Iowa versus Florida or Michigan vs. USC). It is fresh and new. The quality of the teams is very good. This is better than Michigan-Bama UNLESS the Wolverines offer the Tide a surprisingly close contest.
2 – College Football Playoff Semifinal — Fiesta Bowl
Ohio State vs. Clemson — Saturday, Dec. 28 — 8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN
We can all look at this matchup and acknowledge it COULD be a tremendous game, an all-time college football classic. There is so much to love about this game: Justin Fields vs. Trevor Lawrence, J.K. Dobbins vs. Travis Etienne, Ohio State’s offensive staff vs. Brent Venables, Chase Young vs. Clemson’s front four. This is a walking NFL Scouting Combine in Glendale, Arizona. It could be sensational. I don’t have this game No. 1 because I am skeptical that a Clemson playoff semifinal will be very close. Not one Clemson semifinal (not even the one Clemson lost in the 2018 Sugar Bowl to Alabama) has been close.
1 – Rose Bowl
Wisconsin vs. Oregon — Wednesday, Jan. 1 — 5:05 p.m. Eastern, ESPN
My skepticism about Clemson playoff semifinals being close games is why Badgers-Ducks is No. 1. This is a game which has some of the qualities of the Holiday (Iowa-USC) and Outback (Minnesota-Auburn) Bowls, but on the grandest stage in college sports: The Arroyo Seco, in the shadows of the San Gabriel Mountains. It has the best chance of being close. It is going to look the best on television. Just take a look at this photo from the last Wisconsin-Oregon Rose Bowl. This is eye candy for college football fans:
Tell me I’m wrong when I put this game at No. 1.