It’s the last week of the Big Ten season, and the stakes couldn’t be higher in Columbus, Ann Arbor and East Lansing, but there are also other storylines to keep your nose into. Each week as the season winds down, Phil Harrison takes a look at some thoughts and key things to watch as you make your morning breakfast and get ready to take in another Big Ten college football Saturday.
So pour your coffee, fry up that bacon and pull up a chair. It’s Big Ten steak and eggs for the final weekend of the Big Ten college football weekend:
– Ohio State vs. Michigan: It’s year one of Urban vs. Harbaugh and it has the potential to be something in the same room as Woody vs. Bo. No matter who gets the upper hand, with both of these personalities, it’s sure to be wildly entertaining.
– Speaking of which, how will OSU bounce back from the punchless effort last week against Michigan State? Yeah maybe the weather had something to do with it, but the Spartans played in the same conditions and made both sides of the Scarlet and Gray lines change to Black and Blue.
– Now that we know Iowa is one game away from the College Football Playoff, who will their opponent be? If MSU wins, it’s the Spartans, but if Penn State can find a way to be a real, live football team for once this season, then the winner of the OSU/Michigan game will head to Indy to try and derail Hawkeye dreams.
– I’ll admit it, I have no idea what to expect in East Lansing today. We’ll know what we are dealing with since The Game in Ann Arbor will be over, but how effective will Connor Cook be if he plays? Will Michigan State have a let down from the physical and emotional toll last week could have taken on it? Which Christian Hackenberg will show up against a very mediocre Spartan secondary? On paper, it’s MSU all the way, but we’ve seen how that’s played out this year.
– You have to think that Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson will be coaching his heart out today to save his job. A bowl game probably keeps him in Bloomington where the expectations play second-fiddle to the basketball team, but flopping again in-conference and not getting bowl-eligible might be enough for the administration to make a change.
– Speaking of coaching changes; the watch will begin in earnest in places like College Park, Champaign, Piscataway and the aforementioned Bloomington, but will there be a surprise or two elsewhere in the conference?
– It’s the wannabe bowl in Piscataway. Both Maryland and Rutgers are in year two of the whole Big Ten experiment thing, and it’s not going so well. Both are technically in the conference, but it appears to be more of an additional bye week for teams that experience the open-door hospitality of both teams. Talk about a need for improvement…
– Wisconsin and Minnesota will be renewing the longest running rivalry in college football by playing for an axe. Let’s hope someone doesn’t get injured, or an eye poked out by the trophy. Gopher head coach Tracy Claeys will be trying to break a streak of eleven straight wins in the series by the Badgers.
– Minnesota, Indiana, and Illinois are all looking to get that all-important sixth win today to become bowl-eligible. Nebraska couldn’t get it done yesterday, so it’s either ten teams, or seven from the Big Ten. There’s a good chance the Big Ten won’t fill all of its available slots.
– Pat Fitzgerald will be looking to close things out in bonus fashion in Soldier Field today. It’s only because of the Iowa story that we haven’t heard more buzz surrounding what Northwestern has done this season.
– It’s rivalry week. You know that somewhere, somehow something is going to go sideways, you just don’t know where. I don’t know about you, but I’m warming up my Thanksgiving left overs and plopping my caboose in front of the television until I found out.
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Phil Harrison is a contributor to The Student Section. He is also the founder of Big10news.com and featured contributor to collegefootballews.com, talking10.com, and occasionally campusinsiders.com. You can follow him on twitter @PhilHarrisonCFB or email him at pharrison28@gmail.com. If that doesn’t work, you can find him in the doghouse at home.
