Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany: 'I'm Seeing Us Get Beat By Better Teams'

With Ohio State's loss to Texas last night, the Big Ten finished the bowl season with a 1-6 record. We could offer up a lot of reasons for the Big Ten's lousy bowl record, but Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told the Chicago Tribune after watching USC beat Penn State in the Rose Bowl that it's really quite simple:

"You look at it and ask: Did the players play hard, and were they prepared?" Delany asked. "Yes and yes. You know what? SC's a better football team. In all of the [bowl] games I've watched, I'm seeing us get beat by better teams.

"Then you say: Why is that? I don't have a great answer other than to say that these things tend to be cyclical."

So there you have it. Delany says the Big Ten teams are just getting beaten by better teams, and that's that.

And really, does anyone disagree? Texas is better than Ohio State. USC is better than Penn State. Georgia is better than Michigan State. Kansas is better than Minnesota. Missouri is better than Northwestern. Florida State is better than Wisconsin. Iowa is the one Big Ten team that won its bowl game because it's the one Big Ten team that drew an opponent (South Carolina) it should have beaten.

I don't have any grand solution to the problem of the Big Ten's bowl record (I'd love to see one of the BCS games relocate to Soldier Field, but somehow I don't see that happening), but I give Delany credit for accepting the simple fact that Big Ten teams are losing bowl games because they're not as good as their opponents.