As we begin preparing for the year in which the Big Ten shocks the college football world by winning five of its seven bowls, let's learn about the opponents.  Oh sure, we could turn to the fans of our opponents and ask them questions about their beloved cats, birds, and bees.  But this site was founded upon the idea of rivals. That's why we're talking with our opponents' rivals. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Don't forget to go back and submit your Bowl Prediction sheet for another chance to win a prize. For winning the regular season OPC, Seattle Hawkeye won...a hat. You may win...something cooler. Hardest bowls to pick so far are Stanford-Oklahoma and PSU-LSU.

As we look at the Outback Bowl, PeteHoliday of the outstanding Alabama blog, Roll Bama Roll, was kind enough to answer these questions that we had about the hated Auburn Tigers.

1.  Much has been made about Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's desire to run his offense at an uncomfortably fast pace (not just the plays, but the time between plays).  Yet, while watching Auburn lose to Alabama and Georgia, their offense didn't seem to move any faster than a typical spread offense that lines up without a huddle (such as Kansas, Texas Tech, or even at times - Northwestern).  Is this all much ado about nothing?

Yes and no. By and large, Auburn's office just isn't going to run much faster than your average spread offense. Part of that is because, at times, there's only so fast you can push a football game. Part of it is that [former Auburn head coach Tommy] Tuberville did not exactly leave the cupboards stocked with top talent. The Auburn offense has the potential to move with a lot of speed but, in practice, they're not really able to execute that particularly often. Next season, or the year after, might be a different story but, at least for now, you're not going to see Auburn push any game-speed (or player-speed) envelopes.    

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Not only did Mark Ingram's Heisman victory end the meme of Alabama having never won a Heisman, it removed the school from the top of the list of winningest schools to have never won the award.  Going down the list:

1. Michigan (3 winners)

2. Texas (2 winners)

3. Notre Dame (7 winners)

4. Nebraska (3 winners)

5. Ohio State (6 winners/7 trophies)

6. ALABAMA (1 winner)

7. Penn State (1 winner)

8. Oklahoma (5 winners)

9. Tennessee (0 winners)

10. Southern Cal (7 winners)

11. Georgia (2 winners)

12. LSU (1 winner)

Did you notice who was missing?  That's right, of the twelve winningest programs in college football history, only Tennessee has failed to win a Heisman.  Just another thing to remind the Orange of when we get to see them in Knoxville next year.

As we begin preparing for the year in which the Big Ten shocks the college football world by winning five of its seven bowls, let's learn about the opponents.  Oh sure, we could turn to the fans of our opponents and ask them questions about their beloved cats, birds, and bees.  But this site was founded upon the idea of rivals.  That's why we're talking with our opponents' rivals. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

As we look at the Capital One Bowl, Juco All-American (with an assist from The Ghost of Jay Cutler) of the outstanding Ole Miss blog Red Cup Rebellion was kind enough to answer these five questions about the hated LSU Tigers.

1.  LSU gets plaudits and constant media love for having the best defensive linemen year in, year out. How did the Ole Miss offense attack the front four of LSU?

Honestly, this question may not be reasonable this season. Sure, LSU still has good defensive limen. DE Rahim Alem and DT Drake Nevis are both very talented. However, when the AP voted for the SEC first and second team defensive lines, neither of them appeared on the list.  What that means is that, in the eyes of the SEC media, LSU doesn't have a single defensive lineman who ranks in the top 11 in the conference. That's unheard of in Baton Rouge.

Still, as I mentioned above, Rahim Alem and Drake Nevis are quite good at what they do. Alem is a pass rusher who hasn't had a great year but is still ferocious off the line. Nevis is a quick defensive tackle who can collapse the pocket or disrupt the run. What Ole Miss did to defeat them was to run misdirections right at Alem, who struggles against the run, and run as far away from Drake Nevis as we could. It helped to have Dexter McCluster running the ball. Perhaps Penn State could find a quarkback of their own before the bowl game.

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As we begin preparing for the year in which the Big Ten shocks the college football world by winning five of its seven bowls, let's learn about the opponents.  Oh sure, we could turn to the fans of our opponents and ask them questions about their beloved cats, birds, and bees.  But this site was founded upon the idea of rivals.  That's why we're talking with our opponents' rivals. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

As we look at the Rose Bowl, AndyPanda of the outstanding Oregon State blog, Building the Dam, was kind enough to answer these questions that we had about the hated Oregon Ducks.

1.  What schemes worked best for you on defense against Oregon's motion Pistol, spread sweeps, and zone read attack?

The key to contending with Coach Chip Kelley's spread option read offense is to play assignment football, and maintain gap and assignment discipline, and do it all night long. A traditional style pro defense. You cannot over-pursue, and one step can be too much, as the speed Oregon has will run into, or cut back thru, any gap a mistake opens.  The Ducks' offense is predicated on option reads, and Jeremiah Masoli is a master at quick recognition and decision making.

Masoli isn't an exceptional thrower, but he is good enough to capitalize on an assignment error, as was evidenced when OSU's James Dockery over-committed on Jeff Maehl, and there was no safety support. The result was an immediate over the top 73 yard touchdown.

And while Masoli is rightly known for his running ability, his reads can just as easily result in someone else being the star. With cornerback Tim Clark already out with a broken leg, all conference Keaton Kristick missed only one play with a tweaked wrist. Masoli immediately sent LaMichael James thru where Kristick and Clark would have been for a 52 yard touchdown.

Those two plays, one break down, and one where a personnel vulnerability existed, were the difference in the game, producing over a quarter of the Ducks' total yards, and underscoring how important it is to maintain discipline against Oregon's offense on every play.

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John Clay marks the third Big Ten cover of the football season, following the star turns of Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, and the Daryll Clark & Stefen Wisniewski combo.