A multitude of incentives drive the teams of the Big Ten going into this final weekend of the regular season. The bottom teams play for pride, the middle plays for bowl placement, Minnesota and Wisconsin play for the division and Ohio State plays to gratuitiously humiliate Michigan.
1. No. 7 Ohio State (10 first-place votes), 140 points
Your official Big Ten East division champions, the Buckeyes will play the winner of Minnesota at Wisconsin next weekend, with a trip to the College Football Playoff potentially on the line (for Ohio State, not the West winner).
2. No. 10 Michigan State, 126 points
Easy there, Spartans. You didn’t have to make Gary Nova cry during that 45-3 blowout. Right now, the Spartans are looking at a Citrus Bowl berth, unless they get an at-large bid to one of the Big Six bowls (the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange or Peach). They’re positioned to easily leapfrog the West division champion if it loses to Ohio State in the championship. If Ohio State loses, all hell breaks loose.
3. No. 14 Wisconsin, 124 points
That Iowa game got a little close for comfort, but the Badgers are still definitely in the Top 3 of the conference and a stone’s throw away from Michigan State. If they make the championship, they will likely be written off nationally in favor of the Ohio State Playoff Contender narrative, but they will have a very real chance at playing spoiler. Speaking of playing spoiler...
4. No. 22 Minnesota, 109 points
Think about what a Minnesota win does. Not only would a decade-long win streak be snapped, not only would the Badgers lose their undefeated at home status for the season, not only would the Gophers take the division over the Badgers, but Melvin Gordon would also lose his chance at breaking the single-season rushing record and any shot at the Heisman. This Saturday should be very scary.
5. Nebraska, 100 points
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Nebraska. Back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Minnesota mean the Huskers are officially in “OMG, we’re not an elite program anymore” mode and still facing a very losable road trip to Iowa. The anger from @FauxPelini could get pretty hilarious by the time bowl season rolls around, with Nebraska playing in something like the Pinstripe Bowl.
6. Iowa, 88 points
Depending on the outcome of next week’s game with Nebraska, the Hawkeyes will either end the season at 8-4 or 7-5. Since winning the 2010 Orange Bowl, Iowa has gone 34-28 and hasn’t won more than eight games in a season. Friendly reminder: Kirk Ferentz is the ninth-highest paid coach in college football and makes more than the likes of Jimbo Fisher, Gus Malzahn and Gary Patterson.
7. Maryland, 82 points
The Terrapins might be the easiest-to-place team in the Big Ten hierarchy. They’re above the very weak half of the conference, but probably aren’t going to touch the Top 5. They’re basically hanging out in the average tier with Iowa. Honestly, most Big Ten fans will probably take that given how worried everyone was when Jim Delany added Maryland.
8. Northwestern, 65 points
Are we back in the “Pat Fitzgerald is a young, charismatic coach on the rise” zone? After a streak of four fairly embarrassing losses, the Wildcats have taken down Notre Dame and Purdue and will be bowl-eligible if they win against Illinois.
9. Penn State, 56 points
In this season’s post-mortem, we need to figure out what happened to the Nittany Lion offense. Seriously, the level of success Penn State could have seen if its offense was even mediocre is mouth-watering in Happy Valley. Their FBS ranks in offense and defense are 110 and 4. Guess which is which.
10. Michigan, 55 points
Michigan needs one more win to become bowl-eligible. They play one more game: Ohio State in Columbus. Have fun with that Brady Hoke, enjoy next year’s stint as a defensive coordinator for a low-tier power conference team.
11. Rutgers, 43 points
The Scarlet Knights lost to Ohio State, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan State by a combined total of 139 to 44. The Knights seemed promising early in the season, but it’s very clear they have a lot of work to do before they’re even considered a mid-level Big Ten team.
12. Illinois, 30 points
Illinois, Purdue and Indiana are the clear Bottom 3 of the conference, but Illinois seems to at least be able to put together a respectable effort against the stronger teams, beating Minnesota (which looks really silly now) and Penn State, along with hanging around Wisconsin.
13. Purdue, 21 points
Indiana might be the overall worse team now according to our voters, but at least they can do one thing well: rushing offense. The Boilermakers are bad at everything, ranking outside the Top 75 in every permutation (running/passing, offense/defense).
14. Indiana, 11 points
At least Tevin Coleman’s really good. He’s the only bright spot on a team that is just miserable since quarterback Nate Sudfeld went down with a shoulder injury.
