Most observers labeled Big Ten football as “down” again this season, and it would be hard to argue the point given the hardship beset on marquee programs Ohio State and Penn State and the disappointment in Illinois that led to the ouster of head coach Ron Zook.

Plus, just when it looked like Wisconsin was a legitimate national championship contender, the Badgers lost consecutive games in the final minute on desperation touchdown passes by Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins and Ohio State’s Braxton Miller.

And when the Spartans went to the head of the class and provided the conference with a team that looked ready for the top 10, they also faltered, losing in grand fashion at Nebraska.

Still, MSU held onto the lead in the Legends Division and Wisconsin emerged from the rubble in the Leaders Division, setting up a rather tasty rematch in the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Many followers of the league were just hoping for a competitive and entertaining tilt with the two teams battling in prime time on FOX on Dec. 3. They got it – and then some.

In a highly dramatic affair in which the Badgers battled from behind, fell in another hole, took a late lead and then held on thanks in large part to a horribly ill-timed MSU penalty, UW managed to produce a 42-39 Rose Bowl-clinching victory. Perhaps the last time two conference teams were on such a high stage was when No. 1 Ohio State held off rival and No. 2 Michigan in 2006. The score of that game – 42-39.

Despite the turmoil surrounding some of the top programs, commissioner Jim Delany at least could hang his hat on a record 10 conference teams advancing to bowl games, including troubled Ohio State and Illinois, and doubly troubled Penn State.

The previous Big Ten record for bowl teams was eight in 2003 and 2007. The 2011-12 bowl season marks the seventh straight season that seven or more Big Ten programs have earned postseason berths, continuing the longest streak in conference history.

Including the coming bowl season, conference programs will have made 74 bowl appearances over a 10-year span (2002-11) and 266 appearances all-time.

And even though no Big Ten teams were able to remain in national championship contention, two of them – Wisconsin, which is headed to the Rose Bowl, and Michigan, which will play in the Sugar Bowl – will be showcased in BCS bowls. That marks the 10th time in the 14-year history of the BCS that two Big Ten teams have participated in a top-five postseason game.

Other current conference institutions to play in BCS games are Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue. The Big Ten’s total of eight BCS participants ranks second only to the Pac-12, which added Colorado and Utah this season and now has nine different schools with BCS appearances.

The only other conferences with six or more current schools boasting at least one BCS berth are the ACC and SEC with seven teams each and the Big 12 and Big East with six participants each.

For the seventh consecutive season, at least two of the Big Ten bowl matchups will be virtual road games, with conference teams facing schools from the state in which the bowl will be played.

One such matchup, of course, pits Ohio State against Florida in the Gator Bowl. EverBank Field is located in Jacksonville, Fla., just a short drive away from UF’s Gainesville campus.

Also, Penn State will be facing a highly successful Houston squad in the TicketCity Bowl the same afternoon. That contest will be staged at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

The nation, no doubt, will be interested to see how interim head coaches Luke Fickell of Ohio State and Tom Bradley of Penn State fare, and Michigan State and Nebraska also will be on display on Jan. 2. However, the biggest stage for a Big Ten team will be the Rose Bowl.

The Badgers lost to TCU in Pasadena last January and they are the underdog once again as they face Pac-12 champ Oregon this time. However, UW will have Russell Wilson at the controls of one of the nation’s top offenses and can’t be taken lightly.

“They do a good job with play-action and protecting their quarterback,” Fickell said of Wilson back in October. “Ultimately it comes down to that with the quarterback. You have to find ways to get to him, whether it’s picking a ball off, sacking him, getting hits on him, getting guys in front of his face. There’s all different kind of ways, but most importantly you have to be able to affect the quarterback.”

Can a sometimes soft Oregon defense rattle Wilson or can the Ducks survive the more comfortable way – in a shootout?

We shall see.

The following is a sneak peek at all 10 bowl games involving Big Ten teams, starting with Tuesday night’s matchup between Purdue and MAC counterpart Western Michigan:

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
Purdue (6-6) vs. Western Michigan (7-5)
Date, Time (TV): Tuesday, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Location: Ford Field; Detroit
Line: Purdue by 2½
AP Rankings: Both teams unranked
Outlook: Purdue will play in its 16th bowl game in history but first since 2007, when the Boilermakers defeated Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl, where it defeated Central Michigan in a wild 51-48 party. Top tackler Dwayne Beckford (suspension after drunken driving arrest) and top runner Ralph Bolden (injured) will not play for PU, which will make matters tougher. Plus, the Boilers will try to slow down Western QB Alex Carder, who threw for 3,434 yards and 28 touchdowns this season. Western was eighth nationally in passing yards per game.

Insight Bowl
Oklahoma (9-3) vs. Iowa (7-5)
Date, Time (TV): Friday, 10 p.m. (ESPN)
Location: Sun Devil Stadium; Tempe, Ariz.
Line: Oklahoma by 14
AP Rankings: Oklahoma, 19th; Iowa, unranked
Outlook: The Hawkeyes, who had a break-even mark of 4-4 in the Big Ten this season, have been rewarded by having to face the nation’s preseason No. 1 team. Also, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops will want to take down his alma mater and post another 10-win season. Iowa, though, has played admirably in the postseason and owns an overall mark of 14-10-1 in bowls. The Hawkeyes were 27-24 winners over Missouri in last year’s Insight Bowl. The Big Ten is 3-4 in the Insight. Oklahoma hasn’t quite reached its potential offensively, mostly because of the loss of star receiver Ryan Broyles, but QB Landry Jones still managed to compile 4,302 passing yards and 28 touchdowns. Plus top Iowa rusher Marcus Coker has been suspended.

Meinke Car Care Bowl
Texas A&M (6-6) vs. Northwestern (6-6)
Date, Time (TV): Saturday, noon (ESPN)
Location: Reliant Stadium; Houston
Line: Texas A&M by 10
AP Rankings: Both teams unranked
Outlook: The Wildcats actually will appear in their fourth straight bowl game for the first time in program history. It’s NU’s 10th bowl game overall. Illinois won the TicketCity last year by knocking off Baylor. A&M is about to head off to the SEC and would like to do so on a good note. Houston’s Kevin Sumlin has been tabbed to replace the fired Mike Sherman but defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter will handle the head coaching duties for the bowl game. The Aggies come into the postseason with four losses in the their last five games while Northwestern has won four of its last five. NU’s lone loss since a 2-5 start was a hardfought 31-17 setback vs. Michigan State.

Fight Hunger Bowl
UCLA (6-7) vs. Illinois (6-6)
Date, Time (TV): Saturday, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Location: AT&T Park; San Francisco
Line: Illinois by 2½
AP Rankings: Both teams unranked
Outlook: Even though this was not a season of notable success for the Illini, they will be compete in a bowl game for the second straight year for the first time since 1991-92. Like UI, the Bruins let go of their head coach as Rick Neuheisel wasn’t about to survive a 50-0 lashing at the hands of rival USC. The last time a Big Ten team played in a bowl game in the state of California that was not the Rose Bowl Game was when Michigan State competed in the Silicon Valley Classic in 2001. The Illini are 7-9 in bowl games all-time. UCLA leads the series between the two schools, 6-5. Illinois became the first team in I-A history to open 6-0 and finish 6-6. UCLA is the first-ever 6-7 team to make a bowl.

TicketCity Bowl
Penn State (9-3) vs. Houston (12-1)
Date, Time (TV): Mon. Jan. 2; noon (ESPNU)
Location: Cotton Bowl Stadium; Dallas
Line: Houston by 6½
AP Rankings: Penn State, 24th; Houston, 20th
Outlook: Penn State is bowl-bound for the 44th time in program history, the eighth most in college football history, but this probably won’t feel like a celebration. Scandal dating back more than a decade of alleged hideous acts by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has rocked Happy Valley and cost legendary coach Joe Paterno and others their jobs. After that story unfolded, the Nittany Lions lost grip of first place in the Leaders Division with losses to Nebraska and Wisconsin. Now they are the proverbial underdogs with record-setting QB Case Keenum  (5,099 yards, 45 TDs) leading the Cougars. Penn State returns to the Lone Star State for a postseason game for the first time since 2007, when it defeated Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl. In its history, Penn State is undefeated in bowl games in Texas with a 4-0-1 mark. Houston was dumped by Southern Miss in the Conference USA title game, missing out on a chance at an undefeated season.

Gator Bowl
Florida (6-6) vs. Ohio State (6-6)
Date, Time (TV): Mon., Jan. 2; 1 p.m. (ESPN2)
Location: EverBank Field; Jacksonville, Fla.
Line: Florida by 2½
AP Rankings: Both teams unranked
Outlook: The last time the Buckeyes played in the Gator Bowl it signaled an inglorious ending to the career of 28-year head coach Woody Hayes, who infamously punched Clemson linebacker Charlie Bauman after a late interception. This time, OSU is not itself once again as the program has been hit with a multitude of NCAA sanctions and won’t usher in new head coach Urban Meyer, UF’s six-year coach, until after the game. Florida, meanwhile, will have the homefield advantage. Still, we’re talking about Ohio State here. Buckeye fans will travel just as they have for the school’s previous 41 bowl appearances. Plus, the offense finally some teeth in the loss at Michigan in late November, putting 34 points on the board and showing that freshman QB Miller and senior wideout DeVier Posey can be a lethal combination. Florida won the only previous meeting between the two schools on the gridiron, a dominant 41-14 decision in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game. The winner of the “Urban Bowl” will go out with a 7-6 record; the loser will suffer the ignominy of a 6-7 mark.

Outback Bowl
Georgia (10-3) vs. Michigan State (10-3)
Date, Time (TV): Mon., Jan. 2; 1 p.m. (ABC)
Location: Raymond James Stadium; Tampa, Fla.
Line: Georgia by 3½
AP Rankings: Georgia, 18th; Michigan State, 12th
Outlook: The Spartans are going to have to get over their disappointment of a near-miss in the Big Ten title game or they could suffer a similar fate, or worse, in Tampa. Georgia comes into this matchup as one of the nation’s hottest teams and leads the series 2-0, including a 24-12 win over MSU in the Jan. 1, 2009 Capital One Bowl. The Bulldogs own a sterling mark 26-17-3 in bowl games while MSU is just 7-14. Still, Sparty has a chance to do well here and may want to prove a point considering it took down Michigan in the regular season and the Wolverines are the ones going to a BCS game. Seniors Cousins and WR B.J. Cunningham might be able to exploit Georgia with big plays the way LSU did in the SEC championship.

Capital One Bowl
Nebraska (9-3) vs. South Carolina (10-2)
Date, Time (TV): Mon., Jan. 2; 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Location: Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium; Orlando, Fla.
Line: South Carolina by 2½
AP Rankings: Nebraska, 21st; South Carolina, 10th
Outlook: Nebraska will make its 48th bowl appearance but first as a member of the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers certainly have a rough assignment as South Carolina, but the Big Ten actually holds a slight edge of 11-10 at the Capital One. Plus, the ’Huskers lead the all-time series 3-0, though the two teams haven’t met since 1987. The Gamecocks’ two defeats were against Auburn (16-13) and Arkansas (44-28) this season. They have won just four bowl games in 16 tries, two of them coming in back-to-back years at the expense of Ohio State following the 2000 and ’01 seasons. Nebraska will rely on the option running attack of QB Taylor Martinez and RB Rex Burkhead as well as the defensive prowess of star LB Lavonte David.

Rose Bowl
Oregon (11-2) vs. Wisconsin (11-2)
Date, Time (TV): Mon., Jan. 2; 5 p.m. (ESPN)
Location: Rose Bowl; Pasadena, Calif.
Line: Oregon by 6
AP Rankings: Oregon, 6th; Wisconsin, 9th
Outlook: Even with the two hard-to-swallow defeats, the Badgers are confident if not cocky and shouldn’t intimidated to face Oregon’s high-octane attack, even on Pac-12 turf. UW has earned a bowl berth for the 10th consecutive year and will be on display in the Rose Bowl for the eighth time. UW is 3-4 in the game and the Big Ten is 30-34. Oregon is 9-15 in bowl games including as loss to Auburn in last season’s BCS title game. Oregon will enter town averaging 46.2 ppg, just ahead of Wisconsin’s 44.6 ppg average. It’s a perfect setting for Wisconsin running back Montee Ball to set NCAA history. He’s just one touchdown away from equaling Barry Sanders’ NCAA single-season mark of 39 TDs.

Sugar Bowl
Michigan (10-2) vs. Virginia Tech (11-2)
Date, Time (TV): Tues., Jan. 3; 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Location: Mercedes-Benz Superdome; New Orleans, La.
Line: Michigan by 2½
AP Rankings: Michigan, 13th; Virginia Tech, 17th
Outlook: Some have questioned Michigan’s inclusion in this game but the Hokies also have looked pretty mortal at times. Plus, the Wolverines are entertaining if nothing else with Denard Robinson under center. With Robinson a dual threat at QB and Fitzgerald Toussaint adding into the mix, UM ended up 12th nationally in rushing yards per game (235.7). Michigan is 19-21 in bowl games while Tech has struggled with a 9-15 showing. The Hokies can run it, too, with RB David Wilson (1,627 yards, nine TDs) while QB Logan Thomas (2,799 passing yards, 19 TDs) also can make plays. Tech came on if late but had a preconference schedule that included games with Appalachian State, East Carolina, Arkansas State and Marshall. The Hokies were bombed by Clemson.

Football Notes

* Zook was fired after Illinois’ second-half collapse but took the high road. Despite a sometimes tumultuous relationship with the media and fans, he thanked both factions for their support in his seven years in Champaign. The university tabbed Toledo head coach Tim Beckman as his replacement.

* Michigan State senior offensive lineman Arthur Ray Jr. was named the winner of the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl/FWAA Courage Award. Ray, who hails from Chicago, returned to football this season four years after bone cancer derailed his career and caused him to undergo nine surgeries.

The award will be presented Jan. 3, 2012, at the AVMed Orange Bowl Coaches Luncheon in Miami. Ray will be honored again Jan. 4 on the field during the Discover Orange Bowl.

“This is a tremendous award for a young man who has conquered all of the odds up against him,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said.

Ray had been given a medical waiver but remained on scholarship with Michigan State. Last April, doctors cleared him to resume football.

“I was in class, and I just cried tears of joy,” Ray told the Associated Press.

* The Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors (COP/C) put out a statement in early December with regard to the recent developments at Penn State matter:

“The Big Ten Presidents and Chancellors express their sincere concern for any harm done to innocent young victims and their families. Protection of our children is one of society’s most central responsibilities and institutions of higher education should be particularly vigilant. We are committed to examining our own institutions to assure that effective measures are taken to assure the safety of children on our campuses.”

The COP/C also determined it will work in coordination with the state grand jury, but “will reserve the right to impose sanctions, corrective or other disciplinary measures in the event that adverse findings are made in the areas of institutional control, ethical conduct and/or other conference-related matters.”

* Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi was expected to receive overtures for a head-coaching job after a very impressive season guiding the Spartan defense. Sure enough, Akron came calling with an offer. Narduzzi reportedly met with Akron officials and had a contract in hand to sign but decided to stay on Dantonio’s staff.