Okay, the BCS selection show is about to start, and we here at The Rivalry are watching it live. As we learn them, the 5 BCS bowl games and the bowl games which have Big 10 participants, will be right here on the front page. Any other bowl game will be listed after the jump. So... without further ado,

BCS Bowl Games:

BCS National Championship: Alabama vs. Texas

Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. Oregon

Fiesta Bowl: Boise State vs. TCU

Sugar Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Florida

Orange Bowl: Iowa vs. Georgia Tech

Big 10 Bowl Games:

Capital One Bowl (Orlando, FL): Penn State vs. LSU

Outback Bowl (Tampa, FL): Northwestern vs. Auburn

Alamo Bowl (San Antonio, TX): Michigan State vs. Texas Tech 

Insight Bowl (Tempe, AZ): Minnesota vs. Iowa State

Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando, FL): Wisconsin vs. Miami

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More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

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Well, that turned out to be quite the exciting game. I was rather shocked by the final score, though not by who won. Those of you who've been around since the beginning of the season know that this was a tough one for me, as I write about both Wisconsin and Northwestern for The Rivalry, Esq. I grew up a Badger fan and as a current Northwestern Law student also cheer quite hard for the Wildcats. While the Northwestern-Wisconsin rivalry isn't a blood feud like some others in this conference, it was still a difficult game for me. Every play was essentially both good and bad. I cheered and then felt despondent for the entirety of this game. That's not really a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I had hoped earlier this season that things would shake out in such a way that this game would only be important to one team and thus I would be able to pick a side for the game and stick with it. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) this game held implications for both teams. Both teams gained bowl eligibility weeks ago, but the the narrative of their seasons was on the line. While the cheesehead in me is sad that the Badgers lost, I think, in the end I am happy that the game turned out the way it did. Frankly, Northwestern needed this game more.

That might seem to be an odd statement, but, looking at the reality of this conference it makes sense from both a bowl perspective and a recruiting perspective. The current Big 10 standings have three teams at 10-2 on the season, with Ohio State taking the championship based on their better in conference record. OSU will thus claim the Big 10's automatic BCS berth and head to Pasadena to take on the Pac-10 champ. As far as at large berths go, Iowa will probably claim another for the Big 10, and Penn State has an outside chance of grabbing one also. If they didn't get an at large, PSU would be slotted into the Capital One bowl vs. a SEC team.

Wisconsin, then, was priced out of the BCS a long time ago. Even at 10-2, it would have been unlikely for them to move from their slot in the Outback bowl, and at 9-3 (assuming a win in two weeks over Hawaii) they won't drop from that perch either. Further, Wisconsin's team is a young one. They have performed remarkably well for such a freshman-sophomore loaded squad, and I see only bright things ahead of them.

Northwestern was in a similar bowl game spot. With the upset of Iowa and the expected victory over Illinois, Northwestern had vaulted themselves to 7 wins and past the rest of the mushy middle of the Big 10 to claim a ticket to the Champs Sports bowl. The victory today gives them eight wins, but they still sit behind Wisconsin and unless the Badgers falter in Hawaii they will still have a worse record by a game. Because Michigan State lost to Penn State today, there is no team capable of leapfrogging the 'Cats. Northwestern is as stuck as Wisconsin.

So, then, we must look at this game from a recruiting perspective. Wisconsin will always do well in recruiting among Big 10 teams. They are a flagship state school known both for academics as well as athletics. They have the loyalty of an entire state, as well as a history of a great football team and will always be competitive with the upper tier Big 10 teams for recruits. A victory tonight wouldn't have altered that in any meaningful way.

Northwestern, by contrast, could gain a significant boost from this victory. With today's win they have sealed an eight win season after coming from virtually nowhere to reach nine wins last year. They will not only be going to a bowl two years in a row, but a warm weather bowl at that (no Pizza! Pizza! here). Despite the dismal beginning to this season, they defeated two of the three ranked teams they played against, and came one quarter away from upsetting the third when Penn State came to town. These upsets, if they can be combined with the 'Cats first bowl victory in 60 years, would seal the impression in recruits minds that Fitz is determined to build a consistently winning program in Evanston that will compete with the conference's upper tier.

Thus, the team that needed the victory most managed to pull it out, and I am at least moderately happy for that.

After the jump, I do a multiple personality recap of the action on the field...

Bama Hawkeye takes a look at the sweet goods on the line this weekend in the Big 10...

Graham and Law Buck engage in dueling coverage of the OSU and Michigan rivalry game...

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More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

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Wow. What a finish. I think I finally know how Iowa fans have been feeling most of this season. Northwestern has had some memorable games this season - scares against Eastern Michigan and Miami(OH), come backs against Purdue and Indiana - but even through all of those, I think today's win against formerly undefeated Iowa qualifies as the most memorable of the year.

I was asked during the live game thread if Northwestern winning out (including the Iowa victory) would make this season a success. My reply was that unless it was combined with a bowl win against a decent or good team, the answer is no. As thrilling as this victory is, it's merely one great moment in a season full of disappointments.

But we can talk about that later. For now, let's just bask in the upset glow...

Once again during a Northwestern game I saw a starting quarterback taken down by injury and replaced by an ineffective backup. Except, this time, that injury came on the other side of the ball. The biggest news from this game, aside from the final score, was the injury to Ricky Stanzi.

The injury happened in the beginning of the second quarter. Pinned down on their own 6 yard line, Stanzi took the snap in the end zone to attempt a pass. The Iowa defense, for some inexplicable reason, failed to cover Corey Wootton who rushed in from Stanzi's right side and took him down. Stanzi fumbled the ball and Marshall Thomas fell on it for Northwestern's first TD of the game.

Stanzi didn't get up.

He managed to walk off the field, which probably saved a few emergency rooms in Iowa City from having a new crop of admits. The update during the middle of the game suggested that Stanzi, who did not return, suffered some sort of ankle sprain. There was no information on how soon he would return to play, but it's not likely to be a season ending injury.

That's pretty much the only good news Iowa fans can take away from this game, as their Big 10 title hopes are now threatened and their chance at the BCS title almost certainly eliminated, barring a few losses on the parts of Florida, Texas, Alabama, and Cincinnati.

Stanzi was replaced in the game by redshirt freshman James Vandenberg, a substitution that changed the script of the game. Vandenberg showed his inexperience in a big way and the upset was on.

Read how it happened, after the jump...

Graham takes a look at the Big 10 defenses going into Week 10...

I recap the disappointing collapse against Penn State in Week 9...

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More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

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Before this game, Pat Fitzgerald said he wanted the Wildcats to go out and play 60 minutes of quality football. Well, he got about 45. Going into the half, Northwestern led Penn State 13-10. Going into the fourth quarter, Northwestern and Penn State were tied, 13-13. And then the wheels came off, as has happened so many times this year. Except this time there would be no late game magic, no 25 point come back, no last second Stefan Demos field goal for the win. This time, when the game clock ticked down its final seconds on Saturday, there was just the end. The end to a game that started out so promising, to an epic upset in the making.

And yet... beyond the situation with Mike Kafka, which I'll get to below, I'm not that disappointed. Sure, I'm disappointed on a season level - this has not been the year I thought it was going to be. But, disappointed in this game? Not so much. I rated Northwestern's chances of stealing this one coming into this week at 10-15%. We had the momentum coming off the epic Indiana comeback, but Penn State had been rolling lately and their defense had overtaken Iowa in the stats. A win against them would be huge, but it would not come lightly, trap game or no. I knew this, and so seeing the result, I am only somewhat let down. My only sadness comes from what could have been.

Indeed... what could have been. This game started out well enough, with Northwestern holding their own against a #12 ranked Nittany Lions team. This time, the 'Cats didn't find themselves looking at a three score deficit before they got on the board. They held the Nittany Lions to a field goal on their first drive, and then answered with one of their own on a 34 yarder by Demos. The receivers were focused and sure handed while Kafka seemed to mystify the PSU defense with quick screen and slant passes. The game would remain tied at 3 through the end of the first quarter, and the 'Cats kept up the tit-for-tat in the next one. Kafka sprinted into the end zone on a 14 yard scramble for a touchdown to open it, and all of a sudden the Wildcats were up 10-3.

Then the middle of the second quarter came.

And Kafka got hurt.

The defense tried valiantly to keep Northwestern in this game, but in the next two and a half quarters with Dan Persa, the backup QB under center, the 'Cats would only pull out three more points on another Demos field goal. That field goal would have Northwestern up by 3 going into the half, but the offense remained stalled.

Kafka was on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, and the Wildcats just weren't the same...

Graham makes an argument that Minnesota should bench starting QB Adam Weber...

My take on the insanity that was Northwestern's comeback against Indiana in week 8...

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More photos » by Andy Manis - AP

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Well now that's more like it. I do enjoy starting my Saturday off with a completely dominating victory by the Wisconsin Badgers. Granted, it was against the Purdue Boilermakers - not exactly the class of the Big 10 this season - but after the way the Badgers have been playing the last few weeks, it was quite satisfying.

It seems as though Wisconsin's bye week came at exactly the right time this year. Like my Badgers, I also took some rest and relaxation time, returning to the dairy state to visit family and escape the grind of the midpoint of the law school semester. It seems as though this time in the college football season has much in common with my 1L year. The Badgers and I both came out of the gate strong - staying on top of non-con foes and contracts readings. But both of us stumbled a bit through the meat of the conference schedule and midterms, staggering into this past week just hoping for a break and a time to catch our breaths. While Bucky rested up from concussions and contusions I too had an injury break - seriously, that carpal tunnel is a bitch.

Of course, it did help the newly rejuvenated Badgers that the Purdue team that showed up at Camp Randall looked more like the Boilermakers of the beginning of the season than the team that stunned Ohio State and rolled over Illinois. Purdue's offense once again lost the turnover battle, losing two fumbles and tossing one INT to Wisconsin's single garbage time interception. This alone would seem to be a significant hurdle for Purdue to climb, but unfortunately for them, it was also accompanied by a rash of drops among their receiving core. I don't have a total of the number of balls that bounced off their buttery fingers, but it seemed that any time Purdue got a bit offensive momentum, they were undone by a receiver forced incompletion. This had the effect of killing most of their drives before they even got started. Some of these incompletes were due to the aggressive and solid play of the Wisconsin D, who showed great coverage, especially in the secondary. The efforts of the secondary kept Purdue from making big plays - their longest pass play went for only 16 yards, and the linebacker Culmer St. Jean seemed to be tackling guys all over the field.

In fact, with one notable exception, almost everything about this game was positive, and I can't recall a recent conference game that has been quite as fun to watch as this one.

More about that exception as well as my takes on the great, the good, and the mediocre after the jump...

Graham takes a look at the defenses in the Big 10...

My week 7 recap of the Iowa travesty...

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More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

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Well, if anything confirmed that Indiana is going to be enjoying the Queso Bowl during December, today was probably it. Leading 28-3 in the 2nd quarter, the Indiana Hoosiers somehow managed to let the Northwestern Wildcats wake up and steal this game right out from under them. Indiana currently sits at four wins and with games against Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Purdue finishing out their schedule, six wins and bowl eligibility is going to be very hard to come by.

Northwestern, of course, isn't in much better shape. They need one more win from the group of Penn State, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Given Illinois' horrid play this season, and the stellar play of those other three teams, it's easy to say why today's victory against Indiana was so crucial for Northwestern. If Northwestern can beat Illinois (or, shockingly, upset one of the stronger teams) they can get their six wins and won't be staying home this December.

Of course, a trip to Detroit isn't exactly what I had in mind at the start of this season. 2009 has been quite the dismal and disappointing year for this Wildcat fan. I've been taking a break from my Northwestern writing recently, having focused on Wisconsin and the general Big 10. This was partly due to the fact that I was actually in the Dairy State for the past few Saturdays (and, as such, couldn't see the Wildcats), but the mediocre play of Northwestern also had something to do with it. It gets hard writing about losses, after all.

Indeed, during the first quarter and a half of this game I was attempting to come up with a way to write about another heartbreaking loss at Ryan Field without sounding completely fatalistic. But, thank goodness, that will not be necessary as today I get to write about a vintage Cardiac Cats come from behind win - and I am happy!

This game really did not start out well for Northwestern. A few days ago, we linked to an article on ESPN about the team that got away from the Big 10 - the former founding member - The University of Chicago. Today, it really looked as though my undergrad alma mater Maroons had decided to come up north and take the field in place of the Wildcats. For those who don't know, The University of Chicago is a Division III team.

Yeah, that's how bad it was...

The Rivalry has been featured on CBS Sports! Check out our CBS articles on the Big 10 conference and OSU quarterback Terrelle Pryor...

Graham takes a look at the top 11 plays of this season in the Big 10...

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