B1G West title scenarios: How these 3 teams can win the division

There are 5 teams still alive to win a share of the Big Ten West title heading into the final week of the regular season. But due to tiebreakers, only 3 teams still have a shot at reaching the Big Ten Championship Game: Iowa, Purdue and Illinois.

The winner of the Wisconsin-Minnesota game could potentially land in a 3- or 4-way tie for first. But because of their head-to-head showings against the other teams in the mix, neither the Badgers nor Gophers have a tiebreak advantage and therefore can’t get to Indianapolis.

Here are the division title scenarios for the 3 remaining contenders.

Iowa

• Beat Nebraska, clinch the division title on Friday.
• Lose to Nebraska to finish 5-4. Illinois must lose to Northwestern to finish 4-5. Purdue must lose to Indiana to finish 5-4. Iowa has the head-to-head tiebreaker over Purdue, as well as the Minnesota-Wisconsin winner.

Purdue

• Beat Indiana AND Iowa loses to Nebraska.

Illinois

• Beat Northwestern AND Iowa loses to Nebraska AND Purdue loses to Indiana. Since the Illini have beaten Wisconsin and Minnesota, Illinois would own the 4-team tiebreak thanks to a 2-1 record against the other 3 teams tied for the title. Iowa would also have a 2-1 record against those teams, but a head-to-head loss to Illinois.

Alex Hickey

Alex Hickey is an award-winning writer who has watched Big Ten sports since it was a numerically accurate description of league membership. Alex has covered college football and basketball since 2008, with stops on the McNeese State, LSU and West Virginia beats before being hired as Saturday Tradition's Big Ten columnist in 2021. He is an Illinois native and 2004 Indiana University graduate.