For the first time in three years No. 25 Northwestern’s bowl hopes won’t come down to the final game of the season.
The Wildcats (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) attained bowl eligibility with their last-minute, 28-27 win against Iowa Saturday. To which bowl they’ll go, however, remains in question.
The Big Ten is affiliated with seven bowls. The winner of the conference goes to a BCS bowl, probably either the Fiesta Bowl or the Orange Bowl. The other six Big Ten affiliated bowls choose teams based on their conference standings, but bowl committees can choose teams with one more loss than the team in its precribed place. Thus, if the sixth place Big Ten team has 4 losses and the seventh place team has 5, then the Music City Bowl, which hosts the No. 6 Big Ten team, can choose either.
The Capital One Bowl hosts the No. 2 Big Ten team against the No. 2 SEC team on Jan. 2 in Orlando. The Outback Bowl has the third choice against the SEC’s third team. The Alamo bowl is fourth against the Big XII’s fourth team, the Sun bowl is fifth against the Pac-10’s third and the Music City bowl takes the Big Ten’s sixth team against the SEC’s sixth or seventh. NU went to the Motor City bowl in 2003 and played a MAC representative.
In addition to the seven Big Ten-affiliated bowls, bowl-elegible Big Ten teams have the possibility of being offered one of two at-large spots: against a Mountain West team in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego or against the Conference USA champion in Memphis, Tenn.
Cheap Shots
Senior quarterback Brett Basanez isn’t alone in his grievances against Iowa.
Three days after Basanez said the Hawkeyes played dirty, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz referenced linebacker Chad Greenway’s lack of personal fouls in defense of the senior.
But to NU coach Randy Walker, that was the problem. Walker sent a tape to the Big Ten on Tuesday in hopes that officials will recognize a number of uncalled illegal hits against his quarterback.
“They called two (personal fouls),” Walker said. “There were some others they could have called, in my opinion.”
One penatly officials called was a helmet to helmet hit by linebacker Chad Greenway on NU’s game-winning drive. Basanez slid to avoid being tackled, but Greenway’s helmet collided with Basanez’s.
Walker said the hit was not a mistake.
“I don’t think (Greenway’s) a bad kid,” Walker said. “He’s a great player, but there’s no doubt about what his intentions were – Look at the film. There’s no doubt about what he’s trying to do. – “
“I’m trying to stick up for my quarterback.”
Special needs
Iowa wasn’t the only subject of Walker’s wrath Tuesday.
After practice Walker called out his special teams players, questioning their effort.
“They’re backup DBs for crying out loud,” Walker said. “They sit on the sidelines and they don’t give us the things we need – You’ve got (junior cornerback) Marquice (Cole) out here busting his tail, going 80 snaps, you’ve got (sophomore cornerback) Deante (Battle) going 80. You’ve got 15 snaps. You run down and cover kickoffs. Come on!”
Walker said he’s especially worried because of Ohio State’s kick return tandem of Santonio Holmes and Ted Ginn Jr. – “I haven’t slept for three nights,” he said – but he’s more concerned with his team’s inconsistent performance.
“We haven’t been good all year,” Walker said.
Inches to go
Senior safety Herschel Henderson was injured Tuesday, but Walker said he didn’t know what Henderson hurt or the extent of the injury. “We’ll find out (Wednesday) morning, I guess,” Walker said. – Junior linebacker Nick Roach did not practice Tuesday; Roach is questionable for Saturday’s game with a back injury – Freshman safety Brendan Smith, out the last two weeks with a knee injury, practiced Tuesday, but Walker said he will not play Saturday – Walker on junior kicker Joel Howells: “He is really a good kid – You’d want him to walk in and marry your daughter.”
Reach Patrick Dorsey at [email protected]
