Big Ten needs the Buckeyes to deliver in the Sugar Bowl -- all the Buckeyes

People have called last Saturday the worst day in Big Ten football history. That may be an understatement.

It was the first time the league ever had five bowls on the same day. So next year could bring a tie for the worst day in league football annals.

It's been noted the conference went 0-3 against the SEC on New Year's. But here's what hasn't been mentioned: Two of those teams went 4-4 in the SEC and the other went 5-3.

But the Big Ten sent three tomato cans to Florida. Penn State had four losses of 20 points or more. Michigan was 3-5 in the conference, losing its last two league games by a combined 50 points. Michigan State was a league tri-champion, but its one loss established itself as quite mortal. You may remember Iowa 37, MSU 6.

The Spartans beat Wisconsin at home, avoided Ohio State altogether, and took care of business against the rest of the conference, which was no murderer's row.

Michigan State had a splendid season. It overachieved. Until it got to Orlando, that is. Then, an Alabama squad with three SEC losses treated a Big Ten title-sharer like a steamroller would treat a peanut.

Alabama is good. Top Ten good. Top Five good. But Mississippi State and Florida? They weren't Bama-like.

Mississippi State, which clubbed Michigan 52-14, needed a fourth-quarter rally to beat UAB in late October. Florida, a 37-24 Outback Bowl winner over Penn State, ended its regular season with a 31-7 loss to Florida State. That was two weeks after a 36-14 loss to South Carolina.

It was expected MSU would lose to Alabama, but by six touchdowns? Many thought Michigan would lose to Mississippi State, but by giving up 42 unanswered points?

Wisconsin, meanwhile, was second-best to TCU in the Rose Bowl in a very good game. But before it was over, you heard from the Big Ten and BCS people saying TCU wouldn't have stood up to a week-in, week-out diet of Big Ten competition. Really?

Let's say TCU played Michigan State's schedule. Wisconsin at home? Uh, the Horned Frogs beat the Badgers at a neutral site with at least 70 percent Badger fans. It's safe to say they could have withstood Wisconsin's challenge in Fort Worth. Iowa on the road? I think that would have been a tossup much like Wisconsin-Iowa was. (Pssst, Wisconsin won.)

But Illinois, Minnesota and Purdue at home? Games at Michigan, Northwestern and Penn State? This season's Frogs probably win all six.

Oh, but there's the “physical toll” of playing those teams week after week. Maybe it was that toll that left Michigan State so unable to compete against Alabama.

Which brings us to Tuesday's Sugar Bowl, where Ohio State will start a quarterback, running back and receiver who will be suspended for the first five games of next season for receiving improper benefits.

Do you have rules or not? You don't play those players in New Orleans if you're serious about anything other than winning football games. You don't hide behind the flimsy excuse that fans purchased game tickets and airfares under the impression they'd see the full Buckeyes squad. It's bowl season. Every fan should go in knowing suspensions are part of the fabric of bowl-season.

Speaking of which, Iowa running back Adam Robinson is no longer just suspended. He's officially dismissed as of Monday. In equally shocking news, today's temperature in Iowa City will be below freezing.

You have some murky suspension and don't accompany your team to its bowl game, then you get arrested for marijuana possession? Off you go. So ends what had been a very special two-year career on the field. In the middle of this season, Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi called Robinson the team's offensive MVP.

Another fall from grace, another cautionary tale. To those who pay attention, anyhow.

THE FOLLOWING is a passage from Dan Wetzel's fantastic column on Ohio State and college sports at Yahoo.com. I encourage you to click on this link and read the piece.

On Dec, 29, the NCAA responded to the backlash by issuing a rare statement declaring: “the notion that the NCAA is selective with its eligibility decisions and rules enforcement is another myth with no basis in fact … Money is not a motivator or factor.”

Within hours Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan had blown that out of the water when he confirmed everyone's suspicions and said that not only did he lobby hard for Pryor and the others to get a reprieve but also that the powers that be listened to him.

“I made the point that anything that could be done to preserve the integrity of this year's game, we would greatly appreciate it,” Hoolahan told the Columbus Dispatch. “That appeal did not fall on deaf ears.”

Oops.