Almost as soon as the 2014-15 bowl lineup was set, the Vegas lines for each game were also set. And -- surprise! -- they aren't very favorable for the Big Ten. The Big Ten placed ten teams into bowls this season... and all ten teams are underdogs against their opponents. The biggest underdog is Maryland, an almost two-touchdown 'dog (+13) to Stanford, playing just down the road from their campus at the Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara, CA. The smallest underdog is Michigan State, just +1.5 against Baylor; that game is virtually a pick 'em.
Based on point spreads, one of our most cherished holiday traditions -- the Big Ten getting crushed on a national stage on New Year's Day -- could be alive and well this year. The Big Ten has four teams playing on January 1 this year and three of the four are underdogs by at least a touchdown (Minnesota +6.5, Wisconsin +6.5, Ohio State +9). There's obviously no guarantee that the games will be as lopsided as the lines suggest, but they are a somewhat ominous sign for the Big Ten.
As for our own Hawkeyes, Iowa concludes the Big Ten's bowl season and is a 3-point underdog to Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
Here's the full list of point spreads for the ten bowl games featuring Big Ten games.
HEART OF DALLAS BOWL
Louisiana Tech -4 Illinois
QUICK LANE BOWL
North Carolina -3 Rutgers
PINSTRIPE BOWL
Boston College -2.5 Penn State
HOLIDAY BOWL
USC -4 Nebraska
FOSTER FARMS BOWL
Stanford -13 Maryland
OUTBACK BOWL
Auburn -6.5 Wisconsin
COTTON BOWL
Baylor -1.5 Michigan State
CITRUS BOWL
Missouri -6.5 Minnesota
SUGAR BOWL
Alabama -9 Ohio State
TAXSLAYER BOWL
Tennessee -3 Iowa
And the full list of bowl point spreads (and over-unders) can be found here.