That’s no surprise, given the difficulty of its matchups and the way the Big Ten has struggled in recent postseasons, but it adds emphasis to the fact that the Big Ten needs to win to keep pace and people around college football don’t have faith that the Big Ten can hang with top programs.

After an outstanding postseason last year in which the Big Ten went 4-3, despite being underdogs in several of the bigger games, the conference needs to follow up with an even stronger bowl performance this season, as the Big Ten’s tough defenses will give it a fighting chance in most of its games.

The Big Ten still is in the process of recovering its national image, and needs to win consistently to prove on a national scale that it has returned fully. With conference realignments next season promising to alter the landscape of college football, the Big Ten will want to get a jump on its credibility and earn major victories.

Many analysts say the SEC is the No. 1 conference again this season, but after that, it’s a race between the Pac-10, Big 12 and Big Ten, with no conference making a strong enough case to be considered as a true power.

This bowl season, the Big Ten is in position to establish itself as more than just one in the pack and that it can hang with the top conferences and teams.

After years of going 1-6 (2008), 3-5 (2007) and 2-5 (2006), the Big Ten finally got on the winning side of things for the first time in seven years last season. After a fairly strong nonconference season against BCS-conference opponents, there’s no reason to believe that can’t continue this season.

Although the conference’s four head-to-head matches with the SEC create one of the most difficult roads to success of any of the conferences, that also brings opportunity. Ohio State will look for a second consecutive BCS bowl win against Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.

An MSU win against Alabama in the Capital One Bowl surely would bring positive respect for the Big Ten, even if the Crimson Tide underachieved this season.

The same can be said for the other three Big Ten-SEC matchups, while games against No. 3 TCU, No. 14 Missouri, Baylor and Texas Tech will provide a big enough stage for the conference.

The Big Ten won’t be given much respect when its first team takes the field on Dec. 28, but the great thing is that the conference has the matchups and the proven upside to win some of these games.

After MSU, Wisconsin and Ohio State, three teams who’ve proved themselves and can go head-to-head with top teams, Iowa and Penn State both slightly underachieved at 7-5, but given the talent and upside both teams have shown, it’s fair to consider them as upset candidates in the bowl games.

Northwestern maintained last season’s success with a 7-5 season and, even though it won’t be the same without injured quarterback Dan Persa, still might have what it takes to pull an upset, and Michigan and Illinois have been up-and-down and will look to return to bowl success after a brief hiatus against Mississippi State and Baylor, respectively.

The Big Ten will have to earn all the respect it gets, but with a worthy set of opponents awaiting it and the conference’s experience at the top this season, there should be plenty of opportunities for making its case as a power conference.

Jeff Kanan is a State News sports reporter. He can be reached kananjef@msu.edu.