We’ll start with the betting lines, with a little twist. Northwestern’s season is over, but the Wildcats will have a close eye on the Oregon-Oregon State clash Saturday night. If the Ducks win the “Civil War”, NU will most likely move up in bowl position; if Oregon State wins, the Cats have no shot at a New Year’s Day bowl game.

The early line has the Beavers, who are at home, favored by three points. But the line doesn’t take into account Oregon State’s pair of injuries. Freshman tailback Jacquizz Rodgers, whose breakout season recalls Tyrell Sutton’s 2005 campaign, is doubtful with a shoulder injury. Without the speedy Rodgers, the No. 17 Beavers will have a tough time holding off the No. 23 Ducks, who would like nothing more than to keep their rivals out of the Rose Bowl.

(Sidenote: If you want a laugh, check the line on the Notre Dame-USC game. The Trojans are 32-point favorites. How the Irish have fallen)

On to the pundits.

FACT: “While free-flowing euphoria seemed to waft around Northwestern football Monday, Big Ten honors came in more of a trickle.”

-Jim O’Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times

For a fourth-place team, NU didn’t get much love from the Big Ten coaches and writers. Only one Cat, junior defensive end Corey Wootton, was tabbed for first team All-Big Ten. Not one player was named to the second team.

Sure, nobody on NU stood out quite like Wootton, who terrorized opposing quarterbacks on his way to a team-high nine sacks. But the lack of players honored speaks to a continued lack of respect for the Big Ten’s “nerd” school.

FACT: “Though the Wildcats could be leapfrogged by Iowa in the bowl pecking order, a 10th victory could change perceptions of the program heading into 2009.”

-Adam Rittenberg, ESPN.com

This is what gets lost amid all the mudslinging and bowl politicking. Sure, the Hawkeyes could jump ahead of the Cats in the bowl pecking order. And sure, NU has a better record and beat Iowa on the road. But the main reason a bowl would go for the Hawkeyes over the Cats is that NU is considered a lesser program, one that’s incapable of filling the seats and bringing the TV ratings up.

The school’s first bowl win in 60 years would go a long way toward changing that perception. That, and not the intra-conference politics, should be the central storyline of the Cats’ bowl fortunes.

james-simpson@northwestern.edu