The stunning news on the Ford Field scoreboard at the beginning of the fourth quarter Wednesday was precisely why the Big Ten sometimes looks at its Motor City Bowl affiliation apprehensively.

The score was Purdue 41, Central Michigan 41.

They could have removed the schools’ names and just put the score “Big Ten 41, Mid-American Conference 41″ up there because that’s what everybody really saw.

As much as the Big Ten loves getting another bowl payday to fatten its already bloated coffers, the conference has always understood the potential risk of embarrassment should it lose to a non-BCS conference opponent in a bowl game.

• PURDUE 51, CMU 48: DREW SHARP: CMU’s near-comeback another blow to Big Ten’s image