Adam Bradford picks every Big Ten football bowl game

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Bowl season is officially upon us! While bowl games may not look like they used to (hello, Notre Dame), this is still one of the most fun times of the year with a lot of intriguing matchups that we do not typically get to see. Throughout the 2025 college football season, I have been picking every Big Ten game. Unlike the Irish, I will not be opting out of bowl season, and will be continuing that on through the end of the year.

Here are my picks for every bowl game involving a Big Ten team. (Note: I will not be picking Indiana and Ohio State’s College Football Playoff games here, since we do not yet know whom the Hoosiers and Buckeyes will face in those games.)

LA Bowl: Washington over Boise State

In 2023, Washington won the last ever Pac-12 Championship Game. In 2025, the Huskies win the last ever LA Bowl.

College Football Playoff First Round: Oregon over James Madison

James Madison is the quintessential, “just happy to be there” playoff team. This game will likely get ugly.

GameAbove Sports Bowl: Northwestern over Central Michigan

Most bowl games are played somewhere warm. This one will be played in a dome in Detroit.

Rate Bowl: New Mexico over Minnesota

It’s bowl season, so I need to pick at least one notable upset, right? New Mexico has already beaten a Big Ten team (if you can even call Deshaun Foster UCLA that) this year. The Lobos do it again against Minnesota.

Pinstripe Bowl: Penn State over Clemson

It’s the battle of preseason top five teams who lost five or more games and finished the year as massive disappointments! One of them has to win this matchup, so give me Penn State.

Alamo Bowl: USC over TCU

The Trojans get their tenth victory of the season and build momentum heading into 2026.

Music City Bowl: Tennessee over Illinois

I had high expecations for Illinois this season. Then the Illini lost to 4-8 Wisconsin.

ReliaQuest Bowl: Vanderbilt over Iowa

After 32 years, Diego Pavia’s college football career is finally coming to an end. He closes it out with a win to put the exclamation point on Vanderbilt’s best season in a long time.

Citrus Bowl: Texas over Michigan

I find it hard to believe that the Sherrone Moore situation does not serve as a massive distraction for Michigan leading up to this game.

Las Vegas Bowl: Utah over Nebraska

Utah gets its biggest ever win in Las Vegas. Cannot think of any more notable ones.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Trojans Wire’s Adam Bradford picks every Big Ten football bowl game

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