The Ohio State football team’s recent struggles in bowl games have been well-documented. The Big Ten conference as a whole has had difficulty winning its postseason matchups.

Broadcasters, columnists and Big Ten apologists alike have posited various theories, ranging from the plodding style of play in the conference, the types of athletes recruited, and the longer travel associated with venturing to the warm-weather bowl locales.

One commonality has emerged that virtually all pigskin pundits can agree upon: The layoff between a Big Ten team’s final regular season game and its bowl game is entirely too long.

Last season, the Big Ten went 1-6 in bowl games as a conference, with Iowa notching the only win in the Outback Bowl over South Carolina. By comparison, SEC teams went 6-2 in bowl games last season, after ending its season weeks later than the Big Ten. 

OSU lost its bowl game 24-21 to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl after a whopping 44-day layoff following its victory over rival Michigan.

Prior to that game, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney, having just watched Penn State get waxed by USC 38-24 in a game that was effectively over by halftime, sounded defeatist.

“What about OSU-2, Texas-0?” Delaney said of his meager hopes for a second Big Ten victory. “I’d be happy with that. I’m just looking for a win.”

This is not the stuff that rousing pre-game pep talks are made of.

Delaney has plenty of reason for his pessimism. His conference has gone 9-20 in bowl games the previous four years and has lost six straight BCS matchups. The common denominator in these games is that the Big Ten regular season finishes a full two weeks before the other conferences, not including conferences with league championship games.

When a conference is done playing before Thanksgiving and bowl games are mostly scheduled for after Christmas, a lot of rust can build.

Traditionally, the Big Ten has discouraged its teams from playing after Thanksgiving. This season, two teams have bucked the system.

Illinois played the day after Thanksgiving and will play again Dec. 5 against Fresno State. Wisconsin plays at Hawaii the same day.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno said he feels it will be an advantage for these two teams to have played more recently before their bowl matchups.

“I think Illinois and Wisconsin are doing the smart thing because we are at a disadvantage,” Paterno said. 

His team last year lost to a USC team that had played two games in the span of time that Penn State had been idle.

Some coaches in the league have advocated adding a 12th team and splitting into two divisions, with a championship game at season’s end, similar to their BCS brethren in the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big East.

Clearly there are many factors involved, but the large amount of idle time certainly must be looked at as a contributor to the Big Ten’s bowl futility.

Most Buckeye traditionalists would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the circle that believes adding a game after OSU-Michigan will be beneficial. Many believe it would be heresy to tarnish a rivalry that is viewed with such reverence.

However, some think the only thing worse than a rivalry game that has lost some luster is another BCS beatdown. 

With another miserable bowl season, the Big Ten may be forced to make that choice.