Every game gets bigger and bigger as the weeks of the college football season wind down. The same is true for the Big Ten conference, which currently has four of the AP poll’s top five teams. All of those top teams will see action this week besides the surprising upstart Indiana who is on their bye week. A lot of the rest of the conference is still looking to clinch a bowl bid and this weekend could see a lot of teams earn that sixth win to make themselves bowl eligible.
The teams on the verge of clinching and who they will be playing are
5-4 Rutgers at 4-5 Maryland
5-4 Nebraska at 4-5 USC
5-4 Wisconsin vs No.1 Oregon
5-5 Washington vs UCLA
The top 3 BIG games this weekend
Nebraska vs USC
While there are no top 25 teams in this matchup it is still shaped up to be a very entertaining afternoon of football. Nebraska has been an a team going down the right track in their rebuild with freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola seemingly getting better with each passing week.
On the flip side, USC’s turnaround has not gone as quickly as many Trojan fans would have hoped under Lincoln Riley. Their debut season in the conference has been underwhelming as well. With USC sitting at 4-5 5 and still having to play No.8 Notre Dame, it is easy to see how desperation might set in as early as this game.
Illinois vs Michigan State
Another one of those quietly good matchups. Putting it simply, Illinois is trying to build stock in its rebuild, and getting another win here will go a long way toward building that stock. It would be a great milestone for the program if they can get a mid to upper-tier bowl game this year.
The same thing is true for Michigan State. They are trying to build stock in their rebuild job under Jonathan Smith. A win here and one step closer to a bowl game would be a big deal for a program that was in complete disarray after several disasters last year.
Wisconsin vs No.1 Oregon
Transparency here, there is a good chance that this game becomes a total rout. However, there are some big reasons why this matchup could be worth a second look, at least on paper. The first reason is that Oregon has to travel to Wisconsin, not the other way around. The flight is long and Wisconsin is not an easy place to play so those factors immediately go against the ducks. The other reason is that Wisconsin is one of those teams that can play a top team tough on a good day, we just have yet to see if it’s a good day or not. This has the makings of a sneaky good game.
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