The Big Ten has nailed down it's 6th non-BCS Bowl affiliation. As we have previously noted, the Big Ten will be aligned with a new "Dallas Football Classic" to be played in the venerable Cotton Bowl Stadium (while the actual Cotton Bowl moves over to JerryWorld in Arlington) on New Year's Day.

What's new, is that the Big Ten will play a Big 12 opponent after the 2010 and 2012 seasons and a Conference-USA opponents after the 2011 and 2013 seasons. A note: this is the equivalent of the old Motor City/Pizza Bowl slot. 2009 looks to be only the third time this decade that the Big Ten will actually fill the slot, so don't book your tickets for Dallas right away.

By my current projections, if this game occurred this year, it would be Northwestern vs. Missouri in a J-School rematch from last season's thrilling Alamo Bowl.