Less than a week away from the B1G football season starting with Nebraska and Illinois. As I looked at the B1G west and east win totals something really interesting I noticed is how well every single team in the B1G scheduled. Each team has a P5 opponent at their level and while being a big game is winnable. With 5 clear teams vying for the playoffs the strength of the conference is always important come rankings time. So what are you predictions for the B1G out of conference.
B1G East
- OSU-Oregon at home(then Tulsa/Akron)
- Michigan-Washington at home(NIU/WMU)
- PSU-Auburn at home(Ball State/Villanova)
- MSU-@Miami(YSU/WKU)
- Indiana-UC at home(Idaho/WKU)
- Maryland-WVU at home(Howard/kent State)
- Rutgers-@Syracuse(Temple/Delaware)
Clearly OSU Oregon is the big one. Those are the favorites for both conferences and a loss by either would be massive for the playoffs. Michigan, PSU, and Indiana have huge games that will determine if they are top 25ish teams or if they could potentially threaten to be top 10 teams. Maryland/Rutgers have to win their games to hope to go bowling and would provide a nice boost in overall conference strength at the bottom. MSU is the only one who will be a clear underdog and may have a chance to upset a Miami team dissapointed about getting blown out by Bama.
B1G West
- Wisconsin-Notre Dame neutral(Army/EMU)
- Iowa-@ISU(CSU/Kent State)
- Minnesota-@Colorado(BGSU/MiamiOH)
- Nebraska-@OU(Buffalo/Fordham)
- Purdue-@Notre Dame, Oregon State at home, @Uconn
- NWestern-@Duke(Ohio/Indiana State)
- Illinois-@Virginia(UTSA/Charlotte)
Wisconsin has a massive game against Notre Dame. Wiscky could either be a near perfect playoff contender going into the championship game or a top 25 team depending on if they beat ND. Iowa is a ranked B1G team taking on a top 10 ISU team in which could be the biggest game in the history of that rivalry. Iowa winning that game would be huge for the B1G. Minnesota has a pretty easy slate and really needs to go 3-0 to solidify them as a solid bowl team. Nebraska will likely get blown out by OU. Purdue has a brutal schedule that hopefully they can go 2-1 in. NW and Illinois have winnable games that could move them into a category where they are respectable.
