Things are heating up in both divisions of the Big Ten.
By Jordan Hansen
With the Hawkeyes lolling in a bye week, now is as good of a time as any to examine how things might shake out in both Big Ten divisions.
Iowa, obviously, got a firmer hold on the Big Ten West with its victory over Northwestern on Oct. 17. Things in the East, however, got quite a bit more complicated.
Michigan State’s improbable last-gasp win over Michigan kept it undefeated and tied at the top of the East standings with Ohio State. It also gives the Spartans a critical tiebreaker over the Wolverines and a leg up in the division.
Ohio State is still the frontrunner, however, and it will be favored in each of the next three games it plays (home against Minnesota, at Illinois and Rutgers).
Michigan State also has manageable schedule through its next three games (home against Indiana and Maryland, at Nebraska), and there’s a very real chance the Spartans might be undefeated when they play Ohio State on Nov. 21.
Depending on what happens elsewhere in the college football landscape, the Big Ten could have a top-5 matchup.
However, this is where Michigan State’s aforementioned tiebreaker over Michigan comes into play. Even if the Spartans lose, they would still have a fairly good shot to play in the title game.
Ohio State ends the season with a game in Ann Arbor against a Wolverine team that won’t be pushed over. If the Buckeyes fall, it will open the door for Michigan State to roll into the Big Ten Championship game.
Michigan isn’t entirely out of the picture, either. The Wolverines sit at 5-2 and will face Minnesota, Rutgers, Indiana, and Penn State over the next four weeks — all winnable games.
As long as head coach Jim Harbaugh’s squad wins, it can hang around. The Wolverines don’t control their destiny entirely, but only one of those two loses came in conference play. The other was against Utah, now the No. 3 team in country.
The biggest chance for Michigan to slip up again will be this weekend against Minnesota, a team that is hanging on to its Big Ten West hopes by a thread.
The Gophers play ranked teams each of the next three weeks, and they need to come though those games unscathed to have a chance.
Wisconsin seems to be the only other serious threat to Iowa’s control of the West, though it still needs the Hawkeyes to slip up twice. The Badgers play a big game this weekend against Illinois, another team with just one conference loss.
The Illini gave Iowa fits when the two teams played earlier this season, and it’s not a stretch to think the Badgers might be in for a fight, too. Illinois does have a tough slate down the stretch — it plays Northwestern and Minnesota in addition to Ohio State — and it will probably finish in the middle of the pack.
No team has an easier path to the championship game than Iowa, and if the Hawkeyes can get through Minnesota and Indiana, they might have the division locked up before the end of the year.
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