could be, but how locked in are the non-BCS bowls to their conference/place of finish tie-ins? Oh, not at all, after the BCS bowls. "Big Ten #3" basically means "the 3rd-most interesting Big Ten team". And barring a miracle Illinois is finishing in 3rd place in the Big Ten anyways. Well, tied for third anyway. After Illinois loses this week they'll have three losses, and I'll assume they beat Northwestern. Purdont should beat Michigan State this week; next week's game at Indiana is kind of a tossup. Wisconsin probably loses this week against Michigan, which would give them four losses. Penn State has one conference game left, at Michigan State. So... Illinois finishes with three losses, Purdue and Penn State will have either three or four. The thing is, if Penn State has three losses (same as Illinois) then they'll definitely go to a better bowl than Illinois, so the fact that Illinois beat Penn State pretty much means nothing. Why? long history of their fans traveling well to bowl games Doesnt matter, Truffles math is off anyway. If U of I loses this weekend it will give them 4 losses not 3. But the Illini have a pretty good followinf also, see Sugar Bowl in 2001. I was referring to Big Eleven losses, not overall losses, which aren't relevant unless the team has lost so much in non-conference play that they're at or below .500 on the season. Regardless of whether Illinois travels well, Penn State will go to a better bowl if both teams finish with three B11 losses. Penn State will travel better, and they'll draw better television ratings. It may not be fair - in fact it's probably not - but that's how teams are chosen. If Penn State has the same record as OSU or Michigan, those teams would more often than not get the nod.