Originally Posted by SouthernHawk 
I'd like to stay out of this argument but...
During those "Down years in the Big Ten", the BT had a winning bowl record, 3 Fiesta Bowl wins (including a National Championship by OSU), and a very solid OOC record.
2002 was a good year but the conference was very top heavy...only 4 teams finished with a winning conference record (2 were 4-4). And Iowa didn't play Ohio State that year. And also had a strength of schedule of 66.
In 2003 Iowa finished 4th which because of the B10's very good bowl tie-ins, went to a Jan. bowl game.
In 2004, Iowa tied for the B10 title (lost to Michigan who "won" the conference) but Ohio State was down and finished at 4-4. Hell, Northwestern finished 4th and didn't make a bowl game.
The Big 10 might have had 1-2 strong teams in those years but the rest of the conference was pretty bad.
