On Tuesday, we get to see if the college football circle of life becomes complete if the Southeastern Conference can complete its ravaging of the Big 10 when Arkansas plays Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. I don't think this game is going to be close, and the only thing slowing down the Razorbacks offense may be the endzone.

It's a good thing Ohio State overlooks things like integrity so the Buckeyes, led by Pawn Star and quarterback Terelle Pryor can be at full strength to play against the Razorbacks, who are led by quarterback Ryan Mallett, a former University of Michigan quarterback who wasn't good enough to play for the Wolverines. That way once the Sugar Bowl beating is over, there will be no question of how weak the Big 10 has become.

Mallett seems to have recovered from rejection by throwing for 30 touchdowns and becoming possibly a first-round draft pick if he chooses to leave Fayetteville and head to the NFL in 2011.

Pryor has overcome his selling of Big 10 championship merchandise, was cleared of receiving improper benefits (free use of a car) by a just concluded NCAA investigation, and has promised his coach Jim Tressell he'll be back in the Buckeye fold next year.

For some reason, there is a perception amongst AP and BCS poll voters that the Big 10 is still relevant in big-time college football. That reality of the New Year's Day massacre says otherwise. Michigan State and Michigan were taken apart by what could be considered mid-level SEC teams in Alabama and Mississippi State. The only thing the Big 10 is right now is a carcass of a once-great football conference with a TV network.

As if more proof was needed that the Big 10 is no longer big time, Mountain West Conference champion TCU went on to beat Big 10 Conference champion Wisconsin 21-19 in the Rose Bowl. Maybe Ohio State president E. Gordon Lee was right when he said in an interview this past November that non-BCS teams like TCU and Boise State play schools like Little Sisters of the Poor.

Unfortunately, the Little Sisters of the Poor scheduling extended to the bowl game, too. I don't believe there were many power conference schools knocking at TCU's door to schedule the Horned Frogs for a non-conference game, preferring instead to schedule the 1-AA schools in order to keep the win-loss records spotless and the alumni donations coming in.

I have a feeling TCU will be getting the last laugh in a couple of years when the NCAA takes the mythical national title away from Auburn (should Auburn win its game against Oregon on Jan. 10) for violations regarding Cam Newton, and if TCU is voted No. 2, the Frogs will assume the mantle of 2010 national champions.

TODD HUTCHINSON, a former University of Arkansas graduate student, is the Web Editor of the Herald Democrat. He can be reached at thutchinson@heralddemocrat.com or 903-893-8181 ext. 2296.