If favorites win, Big Ten will go 2-5 in bowls

There's nowhere to go but up for the Big Ten in bowls this season. Unless, of course, it goes down.

But that would require losing all seven bowl matchups, since the league was 1-6 a season ago. The win, as people in Iowa may recall, was the Hawkeyes' rout of South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

I looked at the Las Vegas Hilton's lines for all the bowl games today (That's another free plug for the Las Vegas Hilton, by the way. I'm still waiting for my first comped room.) and saw little love for Big Ten teams.

In fact, Big Ten clubs are favored in just two of their seven postseason games. Here were the numbers as of 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Central time:

Orange - Georgia Tech by 4 over Iowa

Rose - Oregon by 3.5 over Ohio State

Capital One - Penn State by 3 over LSU

Outback - Auburn by 7. 5 over Northwestern

Champs Sports - Miami by 3 over Wisconsin

Alamo - Texas Tech by 7.5 over Michigan State

Insight - Minnesota by 2.5 over Iowa State

Hlastradamus isn't tipping his crystal ball just yet, but the prophet is sending signals that the Big Ten will be the way to bet against the spread this holiday season. For the most part.

The prophet tentatively likes Iowa, Wisconsin and Northwestern getting those points. He wonders if Texas Tech will be any more enthused about the Alamo Bowl than suspension-wracked Michigan State. He thinks LSU is a fraud that Penn State can expose.

He also said this would be a dry, unseasonably warm week in Iowa.