Associated Press Published Jan 4, 2015 at 10:40 pm (Updated Jan 4, 2015 at 10:40 pm) The Big Ten is starting the new year with a new sense of pride. The first week of January typically is when the conference absorbs insults and jeers following a run of disappointing bowl performances. Not this year. Not after Ohio State took down top-seeded Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinals. Not after Wisconsin beat another SEC West team, Auburn, in the Outback Bowl. And not after Michigan State came from behind to defeat Big 12 champion Baylor in the Cotton Bowl. Those three wins gave the Big Ten a total of five this bowl season, its most since 2002. “I was very proud of the Big Ten yesterday and how well we played,” Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told the Associated Press Friday. “I’ve said all along we always get criticism about being a weak league, and that the criticism is going to continue unless we win some of these games. “I was happy for our league and happy for Ohio State and Michigan State and ourselves. Those were big wins against good teams, and that speaks well for the Big Ten.” A Big Ten record-tying 10 teams played in bowls, and their 5-5 record was the league’s best since going .500 in 2009. Thursday’s two wins over SEC teams brought the widest smiles to fans in the upper Midwest. The SEC has long been the Big Ten’s nemesis when it comes to power and prestige, having won nine national titles to the Big Ten’s one during the 1998-2013 Bowl Championship Series era. In addition to a run of dismal performances in the biggest bowls, the Big Ten has a losing record in combined regular-season and postseason matchups against each of the other power conferences except the ACC since 2003. …
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