Math Musings: If you wanted to know if the Big Ten closed the gap with the SEC, just glance at the 3 Big Ten – SEC bowl match ups on New Years Day. Did TCU hold its mantel and would Ok live up to the role of favorite? Since New Year’s Day is a time of reflection, it is a day to reflect on some of college football's greatest numerical oddities.

Capital One Bowl: Alabama 49 – Michigan State7

Raise your hand if you thought back in August that Alabama and Mich St would meet in a bowl. When the season started, the Crimson Tide was almost a prohibitive favorite to appear in the BCS title game and few thought this Spartan team would meet them there. But South Carolina began the Tide’s struggles, while Mich State’s only regular season loss was to Iowa.

Outback Bowl: Florida 37 – Penn State 24

Who predicted that Florida would meet Penn St in a bowl and that the coach that would retire after the game would not be 84-year-old Joe Paterno, rather 46-year-old Urban Meyer?