The Crazy Big Ten Football Race

The Big Ten Conference still has three team tied for first place heading into the final league weekend.

For a good while last Saturday it looked liked Michigan State would fall from the top, but the Spartans rallied against Purdue. Wisconsin went to Michigan and handled the Wolverines, while Ohio State survived Iowa.

This week, Michigan State is on upset alert. The Spartans travel to Penn State and Joe Pa’s club (although inconsistent this season) could gain the victory.

Ohio State should beat Michigan in Columbus, but maybe the Wolverines have an upset left in them. But I reasoned the same way last week against Wisconsin.

Of the three teams, Wisconsin seems to have the easiest game. Northwestern is not playing good football now partly because the Wildcats lost starting quarterback Dan Persa.

If there remains a tie, the tiebreaker gets confusing for a guy without math skills. Regarding head-to-head play, Michigan State and Ohio State did not play. Wisconsin owns the tiebreaker over Ohio State and Michigan State owns it over Wisconsin. The BCS ratings are also a factor. This week, Wisconsin is 7th, Ohio State 8th and Michigan State 10th.

So hopefully some clarity will come this weekend. If not, we leave it up to the math people.