Big Ten Bowl Review: Outback, Capital One, Rose

Say what you want about how ugly some of the games were (Capital One, Outback), but there's no denying that with Ohio State's dominating Rose Bowl victory, the once-maligned conference played its collective hearts out this bowl season. New Year's Day was the highlight; let's take a look at what "they" are saying.

Outback Bowl: Auburn 38, Northwestern 35 (OT)

• This loss must have been particularly tough on NU alum Adam Rittenberg, who points out in his typical level-headedness that the Cats had plenty of chances to win the game prior to the final fake field goal.

• I hate linking to just a wire story, but you gotta love the CBSSports.com fan comments on any of the Big Ten-SEC game stories. Here we'll start with the Outback recap.

Capital One Bowl: Penn State 19, Louisiana State 17

• Penn State did it the usual way, with defense and ball control, writes Rittenberg.

• Evan Royster spoke with SportingNews.com's Brian McLaughlin about the field conditions, among other things.

• For more really funny SEC fan comments, let's see some of them for CBS's Capital One recap.

Rose Bowl: Ohio State 26, Oregon 17

• Over at TWWL, Ivan Maisel and Adam Rittenberg offer thoughts on Ohio State's victory.

• The Big Ten turned out to be New Year's Day's big winner, according to Matt Hayes at SportingNews.com.

• SI.com's Stewart Mandel also throws some praise the Buckeyes' way.

I know this was a crappy post. My apologies. But I have some big news coming your way this week that I just know will make up for it.