BTN: Ranking the Week 9 Big Ten Games (#5: Minnesota at Illinois)


Hate to say it, but Go Bucky. If Nebraska gets beat by WI, and later by tOSU, then we've got ourselves a very interesting B1G West showdown.
 


On name recognition and intrigue (from a rivalry standpoint) I'd rank Michigan-MSU at 2 for the week. As far as being a good game, it's probably 5th or so. Harbaugh is not going to pull any punches in East Lansing...will not be surprised if it's something like 56-7.
 

On name recognition and intrigue (from a rivalry standpoint) I'd rank Michigan-MSU at 2 for the week. As far as being a good game, it's probably 5th or so. Harbaugh is not going to pull any punches in East Lansing...will not be surprised if it's something like 56-7.

It will be interesting to see what happens. Michigan Sate has been in a free fall but they're better than that... maybe they get their head back in the game finally.... or not.
 


It will be interesting to see what happens. Michigan Sate has been in a free fall but they're better than that... maybe they get their head back in the game finally.... or not.

An MSU upset would be interesting, but from a B1G standpoint, do we want to see Michigan with a loss now that tOSU has one? I have no idea how CFP is determined, but I'm guessing we'd want Michigan and tOSU to have 1 loss a piece and possibly get both teams in?
 

It will be interesting to see what happens. Michigan Sate has been in a free fall but they're better than that... maybe they get their head back in the game finally.... or not.

I'm not really convinced they are better than that. Losing Narduzzi hurt that program, the defense hasn't been quite the same as his guys graduate, the promotions from within haven't quite worked out, and this year they've been ... bad.

Their only wins are over 1-6 Furman and 2-5 Notre Dame (by a combined 23 points). Since then they've lost five in a row - all to unranked teams - by an average of two touchdowns each. While their recent successes would say they should better, the results on the field this year tell a different story. I think this is a 4-8 MSU team and would be surprised to see them keep it within two touchdowns of any of their remaining currently-ranked opponents (Michigan, OSU, PSU).
 

An MSU upset would be interesting, but from a B1G standpoint, do we want to see Michigan with a loss now that tOSU has one? I have no idea how CFP is determined, but I'm guessing we'd want Michigan and tOSU to have 1 loss a piece and possibly get both teams in?

They still have to play each other so if they both have one loss heading in, one will have two losses heading out. If your aim is to have two one-loss B1G teams, Michigan needs to win every game between now and The Game.

Still, I don't think the B1G gets two one-loss teams into the playoff. Only the conference champ will make it (assuming they have zero or one loss).
 

An MSU upset would be interesting, but from a B1G standpoint, do we want to see Michigan with a loss now that tOSU has one? I have no idea how CFP is determined, but I'm guessing we'd want Michigan and tOSU to have 1 loss a piece and possibly get both teams in?

I think any two B1G playoff scenario needs so much help from the outside that I'm not sure it is worth hoping for.

Also I dislike Michigan more than tOSU, and I kinda like Dantonio so I'd rather MSU pull an epic upset.
 



They still have to play each other so if they both have one loss heading in, one will have two losses heading out. If your aim is to have two one-loss B1G teams, Michigan needs to win every game between now and The Game.

Still, I don't think the B1G gets two one-loss teams into the playoff. Only the conference champ will make it (assuming they have zero or one loss).

The scenario I was talking about was Michigan winning every game and losing to tOSU, and then tOSU would have to win the B1G championship.
 

I'm not really convinced they are better than that. Losing Narduzzi hurt that program, the defense hasn't been quite the same as his guys graduate, the promotions from within haven't quite worked out, and this year they've been ... bad.

Their only wins are over 1-6 Furman and 2-5 Notre Dame (by a combined 23 points). Since then they've lost five in a row - all to unranked teams - by an average of two touchdowns each. While their recent successes would say they should better, the results on the field this year tell a different story. I think this is a 4-8 MSU team and would be surprised to see them keep it within two touchdowns of any of their remaining currently-ranked opponents (Michigan, OSU, PSU).

Agree that Michigan State just doesn't look good at all this year. That said with a big rivalry like that you never really know what might happen. Odds would say that Michigan will role them but it also wouldn't shock me to see MSU pull it together and have a great game against them.
 

I think any two B1G playoff scenario needs so much help from the outside that I'm not sure it is worth hoping for.

This is true, a lot outside of the the control of any B1G team. So then the other possibility would be to have Michigan run the table undefeated into the playoffs.
 

On name recognition and intrigue (from a rivalry standpoint) I'd rank Michigan-MSU at 2 for the week. As far as being a good game, it's probably 5th or so. Harbaugh is not going to pull any punches in East Lansing...will not be surprised if it's something like 56-7.

I don't think he will either, but I think Sparty be up for this one and give them their best shot. They're capable and I think this will be a close game
 







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