Big 10 Bowl Game Calculus

Will IU and Purdue both get bowl assignments on Sunday?   Big Ten bowl pairings will be released on Sunday's nationally-televised show.

If Ohio State plays in the BCS championship game and Illinois is selected to the Rose Bowl l, all eight teams with seven or more wins will play in a bowl game. That means Indiana and Purdue are in.

For that to happen, West Virginia or Missouri must lose Saturday to create a BCS title game shot for Ohio State, and Illinois (No. 15 BCS) must move into the top 14 and be selected by the Rose Bowl. Illinois moving up is likely. No. 14 Tennessee is an underdog against LSU in the SEC championship game, and No. 11 Boston College is in the same role against No. 6 Virginia Tech in the ACC championship game.

If OSU and Illinois don't fill both BCS slots, then one seven-win team (IU, Michigan State or Purdue) will have to secure a bid from a bowl not affiliated with the Big Ten.

If Purdue just would have beat IU, this wouldn't have been so hard.