Big Ten Mess....I mean West

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Big Ten Conference Football Divisional Tiebreaker

The Big Ten football championship will be decided by a game played between the two division champions. A team or teams that are not eligible to participate in a postseason football bowl game as a result of NCAA and/or Big Ten sanctions shall not be eligible to participate in the Big Ten...
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Governor Sibley said:
There is a story to be written about why offensive skill position players will not come to play in the West. The trend in the last five years is astonishing. The decline in talent is precipitous and division wide.
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Athan Kaliakmanis was a 4 star
Daniel Jackson was a 4 star
Elijah Spencer was a 4 star transfer
Darius Taylor was a 4 star

Wisconsin and Iowa are able to get 4 star skill position players

Offensive skill position players do come to the west, the problem is how they are used and coached up
 

Unregistered User said:
They would slot in another team like they did in the leaders and legends era. I think wisconsin came in 3rd in whichever one, but went to the B10 CG because the teams in front of them were ineligible.
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We'd get our second shot of the year against OSU.
 


Gophergrandpa said:
Here is my thinking (could be missing something!) on Wisconsin et al.: Wisconsin is currently 3-1 in B1G play with 5 games remaining. In scenario in which Gophers win out except for OSU (i.e., we beat Badgers in final season game), this means the Badgers beat Indiana, Northwestern and Nebraska and lose to OSU and Gophers, resulting in a final B1G record of 6-3. Also in this scenario, the Gophers, who currently sit at 2-2 in the B1G with five games remaining, beat Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin, and lose to OSU, resulting in a final B1G record of 6-3, tied with Wisconsin—but we have the tie-breaker, having beaten Wisconsin.

Iowa is nominally in the driver’s seat, sitting at 3-2 in the B1G with only four games remaining: Northwestern, Rutgers, Illinois and Nebraska. If Iowa wins three and losses one of the remaining, its final B1G record will be 6-3, tied with us and Wisconsin (in this scenario), but we win, having the tie-breaker over Iowa. I personally think Iowa’s offense is so broken that it will lose at least two of its remaining four games, which, in this Gophers-win-out scenario, would drop Iowa out of contention, leaving the West to Wisconsin and Minnesota.

(BTW, I have ignored Nebraska, but it sits at 2-2 in the B1G with 5 games left. In my scenario above, if Nebraska wins all five of its games, it would win the West at 7-2. If Nebraska wins 4 and losses one, it finishes 6-3, but we hold the tie-breaker over Nebraska as well. If Nebraska goes 3-2 in its final games, it is probably out of contention. This is the Wild West at the moment!)
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Iowa is in the driver’s seat only because they had only one of the East Big Three on their schedule. Minnesota and Whisky both drew two. But odds are good that Hogs take another knockout punch, most likely from Rutgers. And don’t sleep on the Mildcats this week. They are feeling some juice after stealing one from the Gophers.
 


Dakota2 said:
Iowa is in the driver’s seat only because they had only one of the East Big Three on their schedule. Minnesota and Whisky both drew two. But odds are good that Hogs take another knockout punch, most likely from Rutgers. And don’t sleep on the Mildcats this week. They are feeling some juice after stealing one from the Gophers.
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I’m going out on a limb and picking Nebraska to beat Iowa, as well. Nebraska’s defense is pretty good this year; should stifle Iowa’s pathetic death-spiral offense (as we would have but for a series of weird and/or stupid penalties on a single “drive” by Iowa). And the Nebbie QB, Harburg, isn’t much of a passer (though he has a better QB efficiency rating than AK!) but he is a big, mobile, athletic dude. Nebraska is running QB option now and scoring some TDs.
 
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Dakota2 said:
Iowa is in the driver’s seat only because they had only one of the East Big Three on their schedule. Minnesota and Whisky both drew two. But odds are good that Hogs take another knockout punch, most likely from Rutgers. And don’t sleep on the Mildcats this week. They are feeling some juice after stealing one from the Gophers.
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Bucky only drew one of the East Big Three, OSU. Their other two crossover games are Rutgers and Indiana.
 




PoockItInfor6 said:
If we win other than OSU all we need is Iowa to lose one.
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Yeah I get that but doubt they go 4-1 just based on what we have seen so far this year. Not impossible and they are not a bad team but 4-1 seems like a stretch to me. Last chance to win the west so what the hell, maybe it’s their turn.
 


Mulligan said:
All this speculation just makes me pissed even more about that Northwestern meltdown again.
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Will be very annoying if that game ends up being the game that keeps us from winning the West but there is a long way to go still and with how mediocre all the teams look it could go any number of ways over the next 5 weeks.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Will be very annoying if that game ends up being the game that keeps us from winning the West but there is a long way to go still and with how mediocre all the teams look it could go any number of ways over the next 5 weeks.
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At the same time that game is proof of how mediocre this gopher team is.

If we are 8-4 (6-3) and don’t win the division because Iowa is 7-2, I will be sad about northwestern game. But I’ll also be impressed by how much better the team got since the northwestern/Michigan weeks.
 



MNVCGUY said:
Will be very annoying if that game ends up being the game that keeps us from winning the West but there is a long way to go still and with how mediocre all the teams look it could go any number of ways over the next 5 weeks.
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None of the future victories are assured for any of the West teams that still have a shot.
 



Mulligan said:
All this speculation just makes me pissed even more about that Northwestern meltdown again.
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If we had beaten NW, and got the same result in the Iowa game, we’d be in the driver’s seat. Fleck has at least one weird, inexplicable, against-all-odds, logic defying loss each year. Why? 🤷🏼‍♂️ As we approach our final run in 2023, let’s hope we just have one of those games this year, not two. A great final result is still today quite possible. In our control, really, because this is the first year since PJ took over that we own the tie-breaker against the complaining’ Hawkeyes.
 

I'm not sweating the Northwestern loss that much anymore. Nebraska beat them by 8, not 80. They probably aren't quite as bad as I thought...and we're probably not as good as I hoped. When you're an average P-5 team like Minnesota and play poorly against a below average P-5 team like Northwestern, you can lose.

We very easily could have lost both the Nebraska and Iowa games, but we didn't so I feel like things have sort of balanced out so far this year. And the Northwestern loss happened weeks ago while we just beat Iowa! Yeah baby!!!

I'm still hopeful we can eek out a few more close wins and have a very good year!
 

short ornery norwegian said:
as others have said, barring a MN upset of OSU, Gophers have to go 4-1. WI has to lose to OSU and MN.

and then it comes down to this: IA has to lose at least one of its remaining 4 games. Yes, IA has a lot of problems on offense, but they still have a very good defense and very good special teams.

Of those games, I would give Rutgers the best chance of beating IA, followed by Illinois. for Neb to beat IA, it would have to be an ugly 12-10 type of game. and I'm not going to count on NW - but that one is being played at Wrigley Field, so something weird could happen.

and if we want to really go into reckless speculation:

Gophers win the West on a tie-breaker. scheduled to play Michigan in conference title game. But the B1G rules Michigan ineligible due to sign-stealing scandal - resulting in MN winning conference title by default. hoist the banner. and ER's in IA admit thousands of fans with severe head injuries from beating their heads against a wall or other solid object.
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Wow. Great plot twist at the end. I'm on board
 


hungan1 said:
There is no quitting on this team.
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I don’t think so either. The D guys are going to be sky high the rest of the way. That is going to bring out the best of the offense. They want to pull their weight.
 

Sitting here with 4 games to go, the West is obviously wide open. Having tOSU and MI on the schedule might end up being the difference in going to Indy as we couldn't afford another loss.

1. Gophers- vs Illinois, @Purdue, @tOSU, vs WI
2. Iowa- @NW, vs Rutgers, vs IL, @NE
3. Wisconsin- @IN, vs NW, vs NE, @MN
4. Nebraska-@MSU, vs MD, @WI, vs IA

Does someone in this group find a way to go 4-0?
 

Lots of people forgetting about Nebraska. They're getting better each week. I think they help muddle this up right to the very end.
 

The Title of the Thread, "Big Ten Mess....I mean West", doesn't require the "West" qualifier.

The conference as a whole seems like a mess. Michigan and Ohio State on the field are head and shoulders above everyone else in the East, but one of those programs is embroiled in daily controversy. Understatement. I guess it's not a mess in terms of standings, if one considers that the whole race will come down to Michigan vs Ohio St, just as it has the past 2 years.

Penn St is no doubt better than every other team in the West, but not by a wide margin. The bottom 4 if the East would just add to the mess if any of them were in the West.

Michigan St and Indiana are both 0-5 and could just as easily be winless if they were playing in the other division. Eventually they have to play head-to-head, so something has to give.
 


Ope3 said:
The Title of the Thread, "Big Ten Mess....I mean West", doesn't require the "West" qualifier.

The conference as a whole seems like a mess. Michigan and Ohio State on the field are head and shoulders above everyone else in the East, but one of those programs is embroiled in daily controversy. Understatement. I guess it's not a mess in terms of standings, if one considers that the whole race will come down to Michigan vs Ohio St, just as it has the past 2 years.

Penn St is no doubt better than every other team in the West, but not by a wide margin. The bottom 4 if the East would just add to the mess if any of them were in the West.

Michigan St and Indiana are both 0-5 and could just as easily be winless if they were playing in the other division. Eventually they have to play head-to-head, so something has to give.
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Maryland is 0-2 against IL and NW, and beat MSU and IN.

Rutgers lost to WI and beat NW, MSU, & IN.

MSU and IN haven't beaten anyone.
 

Ope3 said:
The Title of the Thread, "Big Ten Mess....I mean West", doesn't require the "West" qualifier.

The conference as a whole seems like a mess. Michigan and Ohio State on the field are head and shoulders above everyone else in the East, but one of those programs is embroiled in daily controversy. Understatement. I guess it's not a mess in terms of standings, if one considers that the whole race will come down to Michigan vs Ohio St, just as it has the past 2 years.

Penn St is no doubt better than every other team in the West, but not by a wide margin. The bottom 4 if the East would just add to the mess if any of them were in the West.

Michigan St and Indiana are both 0-5 and could just as easily be winless if they were playing in the other division. Eventually they have to play head-to-head, so something has to give.
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Not a mess at all, just good competition. This is the reason TV execs will not succeed in creating a super conference with the top teams only.

Ryan Day, Nick Sabin, and Kirby Smart are not going to accept a situation where they are fighting to win the conference with a 7-5 record.

The West is great with four teams having some kind of chance with four to play. PJ, Bert, and Ferentz are better coaches than Ryan Day.

Too bad it’s the last year for the West
 

Dakota2 said:
Not a mess at all, just good competition. This is the reason TV execs will not succeed in creating a super conference with the top teams only.

The West is great with four teams having some kind of chance with four to play. PJ, Bert, and Ferentz are better coaches than Ryan Day.

Too bad it’s the last year for the West
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As a Gopher fan I agree wholeheartedly that it's too bad we are now in the final month of the Big 10 West's existence.

It's also too bad also that the West has never been able to beat the East in Indianapolis, and will be heavy underdogs on Dec 2nd as well, regardless of the matchup.

TV execs appear to care about that more than letting the West survive.
 

Bucky did win the championship game twice, but that was back in the Leaders and Legends days.
 

The Gophers control their own destiny, correct? Win out & heading to Indy.

We're just all assuming the Ohio State game is a loss, so that's where the scenarios come in to play.

I think Iowa will lose one; the one I'm worried about is Nebraska. We may need to be Bucky fans that day (I think I just threw up).
 

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