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Big 10 Football Longest Active Bowl Streaks
Big 10 football longest active bowl streaks, with a surprising top two schools not named Ohio State or Michigan.
September 26, 2016
A look at the longest active bowl streaks in Big 10 football. The leader will certainly surprise you.
The Big Ten has historically been owned by the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines, but neither of them are in the top two of conference teams with the longest active bowl streak.
1. Wisconsin: 14
The Badgers have been a model for consistency in the past 20 years, missing a bowl game in only one season in 2001. It hasn’t mattered whether it was Barry Alvarez, Bret Bielema, Gary Andersen, or now Paul Chryst in charge in Madison: you can pretty much count on the Badgers playing in the postseason.
2. Michigan State: 9
Since taking charge in East Lansing, all coach Mark Dantonio has done is win three Big Ten titles and led the Spartans to this year’s College Football Playoff. Oh, and his teams haven’t missed a bowl game yet, either.
T-3. Ohio State: 3
The only season the Buckeyes have missed a bowl since 2000 was in 2012, and that was due to being ineligible. How did the Buckeyes respond that season? They just went undefeated. After that aberration, coach Urban Meyer has led Ohio State to three straight bowl games, including winning the College Football Playoff last season.
T-3. Iowa: 3
Since arriving in Iowa City, coach Kirk Ferentz has led the Hawkeyes to 13 bowl games, including three straight with the upcoming game against Stanford in the Rose Bowl. This will be Iowa’s first Rose Bowl trip since 1990.
5. Penn State: 2
After two years of being ineligible for a bowl game due to the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the Nittany Lions have made two straight bowl games under coach James Franklin, including a date with Georgia in the upcoming TaxSlayer Bowl.
T-6. Indiana
The Hoosiers are making only their second bowl appearance since 1993, with the other being in the 2007 Insight Bowl in a 49-33 loss to Oklahoma State. The last time Indiana won a bowl game? The 1991 Copper Bowl against Baylor.
T-6. Michigan
The Wolverines have appeared in the Rose Bowl 20 times, but no bowl appearance last season meant the end of Brady Hoke as head coach in Ann Arbor. Enter Jim Harbaugh, who led Michigan to a 9-3 record this season, and a meeting with Florida in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day.
T-6. Northwestern
After making five straight bowl games from 2008-12, the Wildcats missed out the last two years before breaking through with a 10-2 record this season and earning a spot in the Outback Bowl against Tennessee. With his sixth bowl appearance as head coach, Pat Fitzgerald now has as many bowl appearances as all Northwestern coaches in history combined.
