EAST LANSING, Mich. — Saturday morning, the Badgers held all the cards in the battle for a Rose Bowl berth. Undefeated in its first nine games, Wisconsin maintained possession of the critical tiebreaker over Big Ten contender Michigan due to an early loss suffered by the Wolverines at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Although both teams managed to sustain a perfect record through seven weeks of Big Ten play, Wisconsin’s better overall record would have assured them a trip to Pasadena between the two potential conference co-champions.

But that was then, and this is now.

After a catastrophic 49-14 loss suffered Saturday to unranked Michigan State in the raucous confines of Spartan Stadium, the rose-colored dreams of No. 9 Wisconsin (9-1, 6-1) now rest on Ohio State (6-4, 3-4) defeating No. 7 Michigan (9-1,7-0) at Ohio Stadium Nov. 20. Additionally, the Badgers must capture their final game by overcoming the ever-improving No. 17 Hawkeyes (8-2, 6-1) in Iowa City.

“We were in control, and now we’re out of it,” Wisconsin safety Jim Leonhard said. “Now somebody needs to pull some strings for us and come through.”

A loss to Iowa, regardless of the scenario in Columbus, would not only lay waste to any remaining Rose Bowl hopes, but would knock Wisconsin down to third in the conference standings with a trip to the Outback Bowl in the team’s immediate future.

If the Badgers manage to best the Hawkeyes on the road Saturday, and Ohio State fails to orchestrate the upset, Michigan maintains sole possession of the Big Ten title while Wisconsin earns a bid to the Capital One Bowl. In this case, the Badgers would face either the Tennessee Volunteers or the Georgia Bulldogs Jan. 1 in Orlando, Fla.

“We’ve still got a lot to play for,” quarterback John Stocco said. “We’ve got another big game left and then another big one after that.”

Black eye for the Big Ten: With the conference’s final unbeaten overwhelmed in dramatic fashion, critics of the Big Ten received a little bit of sweet vindication. Much like the ACC following North Carolina’s upset of then-No. 3 Miami, the embarrassing loss calls into question the competitiveness of the conference on the national scale. Though the Big Ten is typically considered the weakest of the major conference titans, the fall of Wisconsin Saturday made no less of a thud.

“What’s disappointing is I expected us to take another step today, I expected us to play a little better than we did last week, but we didn’t,” Alvarez said. “I don’t know why; I can’t put my finger on it. I thought we practiced well all week; I thought we prepared well all week; guys seemed to be getting focused. I have to give Michigan State credit.”

As the season nears an end, only three major conferences still sport an undefeated member (the SEC in Auburn, the Pac-10 in USC and the Big 12 in Oklahoma). Though the official standings won’t be released until Monday afternoon, the Big Ten surely lost foothold in the BCS championship scene, joining the ACC on the outside looking in with the Big East somewhere off the map.

Regardless of performance, however, all six of the major conferences are guaranteed at least one bid to one of the four BCS bowls.