Three years ago, there was panic (at Rutgers and other schools) that there might not be enough Big Ten bowl berths for all the qualified teams.
Those were the glory days.
This year, it looks like a near-certainty that only eight of the Big Ten's 14 teams will reach six wins. Nine is the max.
When Purdue lost to Rutgers on Oct. 21, it seemed like the kind of loss that would keep the upstart team out of a bowl. And it would have if Purdue didn't steal a late-season win at Iowa, which beat Ohio State.