I-70 Football Podcast: Recapping the seasons for the Big Ten’s on Non-Bowl Tier

Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s I-70 podcast. On this show we talk all things Big Ten football and basketball. After every week of action, we will get you caught up on all the conference’s games and look ahead at the matchups, storylines, and players that you should be paying attention to in the next week. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host Dante Morgan.

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In this episode, Dante and Jordan update the NFL playoffs with live reactions to the Chiefs vs. Bills game. By the end of the episode, Patrick Mahomes mounted a last second comeback and an overtime win to advance to the conference championship. We also celebrate Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady heading home at the hands of the 49ers and Rams respectively. Finally, despite nine sacks, OSU Joe finds a way to advance, upsetting the Titans.

In our first postseason recap show, we discuss the four teams — Indiana, Northwestern, Nebraska and Illinois — that did not reach bowl eligibility. After high expectations, Indiana bottomed out leading to a 2-10 season that left more questions than answers. Following a Big Ten Championship appearance in 2020, Northwestern’s wheels fell off. The defense lost their stride, but not having a quarterback throw for 1,000 yards was a much bigger issue that must be fixed before the fall.

Nebraska, the best 3-9 team in the country, finished their fourth straight season under Scott Frost without a bowl appearance. As we all know by now, the school decided to keep the coach, choosing to ignore his teams’ underwhelming performances and inability to win close games.

Lastly, Illinois is the one team in this tier whose season was actually a positive. After restarting their program by hiring Bret Bielema, the Illini showed a level of discipline, toughness, and desire that allowed them to out-punch their talent. Had they played a typical out of conference slate, they may have actually been a bowl team.

In their weekly pit stop, Jordan celebrates the Winter Olympics. Summer is okay, but there is nothing like watching people do tricks while snowboarding and skiing. Dante makes his case that Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees are regular season stat stuffers who consistently fail in the playoffs.

Connect with us on Twitter:
Jordan: @JordanW330
Dante: @DanteM10216