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You can’t count on Penn State for anything and to make things doubly worse, Wisconsin NOW has to count on Iowa (!) of all teams to outscore Minnesota. Before any of that matters, however, the No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers (7-2 overall, 4-2 B1G) have to take care of business against the Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-5 overall, 2-4 B1G) in Lincoln.
If the Badgers win, all eyes will turn to Iowa City and the clash for Floyd of Rosedale. The Gophers are still undefeated and if the Badgers are to have any chance of winning the division they need Minnesota to enter the Axe game with at least one loss. Minnesota plays Northwestern next sooooooooo, yeah. Iowa needs to win.
Here are the B1G West standings heading into this weekend.
B1G West Division Standings 11/15/19
| Place | Team | Conference record | Overall record | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Team | Conference record | Overall record | Streak |
| 1 | Minnesota | 6-0 | 9-0 | W9 |
| 2 | Wisconsin | 4-2 | 7-2 | W1 |
| 3 | Illinois | 4-3 | 6-4 | W4 |
| 4 | Iowa | 3-3 | 6-3 | L1 |
| 5 | Purdue | 3-4 | 4-6 | W2 |
| 6 | Nebraska | 2-4 | 4-5 | L3 |
| 7 | Northwestern | 0-7 | 1-8 | L7 |
Some considerable changes since last week as Iowa fell two spots and the Badgers and Fighting Illini each moved up one. The Cornhuskers also dropped a spot on their bye week thanks to Purdue’s comeback victory over Northwestern.
Obviously the game Badgers fans will be tuning into after the Nebraska game is the Iowa/Minnesota clash, but let’s take a look at who we want to win every game in the B1G this weekend.
Indiana at No. 9 Penn State, 11:00 a.m. CT, ABC
This game does not matter in regards to the B1G West division title race but it matters very much in the race to #9WINDIANA. Also, maybe Penn State is overrated and a loss at home to Indiana makes Minnesota’s best win look worse which is...something, I suppose. Go Hoosiers.
Michigan State at No. 15 Michigan, 11:00 a.m. CT, FOX
Similar to the above game, this has no bearing on the West division race. But, with the Badgers having already beaten both of these teams we want the higher ranked one (Michigan, if you can’t be bothered to look three lines up) to win to make that win for the Badgers look better. Also, it will help get Mark Dantonio fired if Michigan State loses. Go Blue.
UMass at Northwestern, 11:00 a.m. CT, BTN
I never want Northwestern to win another game ever. Go Minutemen.
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No. 2 Ohio State at Rutgers, 2:30 p.m. CT, BTN
Out of morbid curiosity I want to see if Ohio State’s third string can hang 75 on Rutgers, otherwise this game is meaningless to Wisconsin fans. Go Buckeyes backups! I guess we can’t have the team that dominated the Badgers losing to Rutgers either. Gotta keep those quality losses up!
No. 8 Minnesota at No. 20 Iowa, 3:00 p.m. CT, FOX
This is it. This is Wisconsin’s last chance. The Badgers NEED Iowa to beat the Gophers and despite the rankings, the Hawkeyes are actually favored to do so. Playing at Kinnick does weird things especially since the second half of this game will be played at night. SpOoOoOoOokY! Go Hawks...please.