The winner of the last four meetings between Ohio State and Penn State has claimed the conference's No. 1 BCS bowl game berth and at least a share of the Big Ten title.

But in the last three seasons, neither the Buckeyes nor the Nittany Lions impressed on the national stage, going a combined 0-4 in their last four BCS bowl game appearances.

Overall, Big Ten teams are winless in their last six BCS bowl games and 20-29 in bowl games since 2002, the last season Big Ten teams had a winning record in bowl games.

The Big Ten's reputation has taken a hit on the national scale, and its future success remains unclear as the Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC continue their reigns as the dominant three conferences in college football.

"I think some people will say, 'OK, they don't get quite enough fast guys,' " said Bruce Feldman, ESPN The Magazine senior writer. "But Ohio State's teams can run with anybody and they do have a lot of athletes. I just think it's a combination of a bunch of factors and bad matchups."

The marquee matchup featuring a Big Ten team every year is the Rose Bowl, a stage that has become a haven for Southern California in recent years.

Since Pete Carroll took over as head coach of the Trojans in 2001, USC has won seven Pac-10 titles. They have appeared in four Rose Bowls against Big Ten teams and have won by double-digits each time, most recently in a 38-24 win over Penn State last season.

The Rose Bowl has been a virtual home game for USC, which plays less than 20 miles away at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find a Pac-10 team that consistent," Feldman said. "If a Big Ten team is playing UCLA or Oregon or whomever, you win two of four of those games and it changes things."

In the 2006 and 2007 BCS National Championship games, Ohio State lost to Florida and LSU, respectively, by double-digit margins.

The Buckeyes were ranked No. 1 at the end of the 2006 regular season and had defeated then-No. 2 Michigan, 42-39, to clinch a berth in that year's title game. Fans and media shouted for a title game rematch between the two Big Ten squads, but ultimately Florida was chosen to face Ohio State while Michigan faced a two-loss USC team in the Rose Bowl.

The Gators topped the Buckeyes, 41-14, and the Trojans defeated the Wolverines, 32-18. A year later, Michigan beat Florida in the Capital One Bowl, leaving Feldman to wonder how different things would have been had the Wolverines beaten the Buckeyes at the end of 2006 and gone on to face the Gators in the title game.

"All of a sudden, there would be no grounds for it," Feldman said, referring to the 2006 title game, the beginning of the fall of the Big Ten as far as most critics are concerned.

But the common theme in many of the Big Ten's marquee, nonconference opponents has been that they all play in warm-weather cities.

That's where more people reside, and the gap may widen given the nation's landscape. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz alluded to as much during Big Ten media days in July.

"You could argue obviously there's some geographic differences," Ferentz said. "You look at the West Coast, the Southwest and Southeast portion of our countries. There's a lot of growth, a lot more athletes there, perhaps, if you look at the big scheme of things. The state of Iowa you've got three million people, a little different than Florida or Texas or certainly California."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 statistics, 36,756,666 people lived in California; 24,326,974 people lived in Texas and 18,328,340 people lived in Florida.

Only 3,002,555 people lived in Iowa, less than the 11,485,910 who lived in Ohio or the 12,448,279 who lived in Pennsylvania.

The percentage of senior citizens within two of the former three states was below the United States' average of 12.8 percent. Only Florida's 17.4 percent population of people 65 years of age or older was higher than the national mark, while the latter three states all eclipsed 12.8 percent, as well.

An older population means a dwindling population. A dwindling population means fewer recruits to choose from.

In the case of the Big Ten, that means reaching out to high school players in bigger states, something difficult to do given the success of programs in their backyards.

Adding to the conference's complications are its odd number of teams and lack of a championship game. The final regular season game in the Big Ten usually ends the third weekend of November while several other conferences play into December.

"If I had my way, as I've said several times, I'd expand the conference so we could be in the same kind of, involved in the similar calendar as these other schools are," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "We're sitting home. We'll be sitting home for two, three weeks, everybody else in the country will be playing. Southeastern Conference will be playing for their championship, the Big [12] will be playing for their championship, and everybody will be watching those people.

"And then last year when we had to go to a bowl game, Southern Cal played two or three games after we had, going out there. We didn't play very well, and they gave us a good licking and I think that didn't help the conference."

Neither has the way its teams have found ways to win, at least not in the national media's eyes.

Penn State's 13-6 win over Ohio State last year was essentially the Big Ten clincher, but pundits found ugliness in a game that lacked the flash and constant scoring that the Big 12 and Pac-10 have showcased in recent years.

With the media landscape changing, more networks devote more time to college football coverage and more fans have access to voice their opinions, often exaggerating reality.

"They're criticizing defense," Penn State linebacker Sean Lee said. "A 13-6 game for us, that's what we want. We want to not let a team score any points, and I don't think that's a criticism on the style of the league. I think that's just good football, good defense. Games are gonna be like it."

The negative perception has carried to this season, with Iowa winning its first nine games but sitting at No. 8 in the AP poll behind six other undefeated teams and Oregon, a one-loss Pac-10 team.

The Hawkeyes have scored 30 or more points only three times this season and six of their wins have been by 10 points or less.

Whether Iowa can win out and change the minds of voters remains to be seen. Still, coaches and players in the Big Ten contend that the conference is not suffering.

"I think if you watch football, enjoy watching football, physical tough football," Lee said, "you'll enjoy watching the games."