There is no doubt, the Capital One Bowl is a huge game for the Big Ten and Penn State, but it might be most important to the legacy of a certain starting QB, which is Penn State's Darryl Clark.
BIG TEN: The Big Ten has not had a winning bowl record since 2002 and are off to a solid start with Wisconsin beating Miami. And based on the Pac-10's performance thus far (yet to win a bowl game), the chances of Ohio State finally winning a bowl game are looking better and better, when the play Oregon in the Rose Bowl. The conference could absolutely use a signature bowl win against a tier 1 conference opponent and to most the SEC is the top of that tier 1 category of conference.
PENN STATE: Penn State did not beat anyone of any significance this year; their best wins of the year were Temple (who lost to UCLA in the Eaglebank Bowl) and Northwestern (who has a tough game schedule for January 1st against Auburn in the Outback Bowl). When Penn State played a team this year who you might call 'very good', they were man handled, specifically in the trenches. Their O-line had trouble protecting Clark or creating lanes to run for Royster. And their D-line were average, really putting no consistent pressure on the opponent; resulting in losses to Iowa and Ohio State, both at Beaver Stadium. A win against a team with a name like LSU, from a very strong conference, would make our memories of losses to OSU and Iowa as a distant memory. And 11 wins has a nice ring to it.
DARRYL CLARK: There is a ton a whispers going on that D. Clark does not have a signature win under his belt. While he has led his team to a Big Ten Championship in 2008, two consecutive double-digit win seasons and is the back-to-back Big Ten first team QB; he has not shined in a big game in two years. His 'best performance' in a big game would probably be his performance in the Rose Bowl last year, while the team was man-handled on the defense by USC, Clark played pretty darn well, especially in the second half, making the score somewhat respectable. Now, one could argue that Clark has not played well in any big games, because the O-Line has played horrible in all of those 'big games'. But at the end of the day, he needs a signature win, a win where he carries the team on his back; he plays well regardless of how well the O-Line plays a win against a team where just by mentioning the opponent's name respect is earned.
This is a huge game for the Big Ten, Penn State and Darryl Clark; but what or who is it most important to? I will let you be the judge. But for me, the perfect ending is a late game winning drive, led by Clark, where the O-Line struggles to keep him protected, but he uses his feet and strong arm to pull out a late 4th quarter win.
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