Other than at the top, the Big 10 has been a sloppy mess this season. That said, the Big 10 title game picture is fairly clear at this juncture, with just four teams having realistic shots at heading to the Big 10 title game.
East: Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State
Ohio State: The Buckeyes got a major gorilla off of their backs when they took down Penn State in a wild rally this weekend, but challenges to their title run still remain. The Buckeyes get a defensively tough Iowa team this week, followed by Michigan State at home the following week. The next two weeks will be key, but the division is not theirs yet.
Penn State: The Nittany Lions had that game in the bag against Ohio State, and ultimately imploded when they could least afford to. Penn State needs two teams to knock off the Buckeyes now, and they need to win out. If they can avoid a letdown and get by the Spartans of Michigan State this week, that could be a fairly easy thing to do.
Michigan State: This is crunch time for the dramatically improved Spartans, as they get Penn State and Ohio State in the next two weeks. Pull off a huge upset and win both, and the Spartans are looking at a division title that nobody thought they had a shot at.The loss to Northwestern this week was a shot to the gut, but if they get by the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes, the coast looks relatively clear.
West: Wisconsin
The reality is at this point that nobody is in a position to steal the West from the Badgers at this point. The Badgers have already handled Northwestern and Nebraska, and the schedule is fairly easy moving forward. YOu can basically ink in the Badgers to head to the conference title game at this point.
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