A week from today, we’ll all be consumed by the first College Football Playoff poll.

We’ll break down things like top-25 wins and conference supremacy. Nobody will agree on anything because after all, this is college football.

There’s a realistic chance that the B1G winds up with three teams ranked in the top 10 of the first Playoff poll. If Michigan State takes care of Northwestern, the B1G could have four teams in the top 15.

That would be similar to last year when the B1G had five teams ranked in the top 12 in the first Playoff poll. In fact, the conference actually had four teams ranked inside the top 10 of every Playoff poll that came out last year. That, of course, was followed up by the B1G’s Playoff representative getting shut out for the second straight year.

The B1G has as many points as the Sun Belt in the last two years of the Playoff. That alone will give many pause to declare the B1G’s elite, well, “elite.”

But when we find ourselves breaking down Playoff résumés the next few weeks, there’s going to be another troubling common denominator that the B1G’s best share.

It’s not something that can be changed, either.

Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

All four of the B1G’s Playoff contenders (Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin) will all have the same knock on them for the remainder of the season.

They don’t have a quality non-conference win.

They didn’t do what Clemson did and physically dominate Auburn. They didn’t follow in Georgia’s footsteps and pick up a gritty win at Notre Dame. They didn’t even pull off a victory like Maryland did at Texas.

We can talk about transitive property until we’re blue in the face, but for this situation, the head-to-head battle is the only thing that really matters. Unfortunately for the B1G, the non-conference slate didn’t shape up to be anything to brag about.

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As you can see, the two B1G teams (MSU, OSU) who actually faced a quality non-conference opponent lost. And in case you forgot, who a team beat is far more important than who it lost to. The other two (PSU, Wisconsin) beat up on teams who are a combined 1-9 vs. Power 5 competition this year.

Michigan was supposed to be the B1G contender who had that quality non-conference win. But the Wolverines are out of the division race and Florida is now 3-3.

So yeah, that’s a problem for the B1G.

While we believe the Penn State-Ohio State game could determine who wins the toughest division in college football, that non-conference argument against them will remain.

Credit: Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Not everyone is sold on the Buckeyes as a worthy top-10 team because of how bad they looked against Oklahoma and how few quality foes they’ve seen since then. IF the Buckeyes lose to Penn State, especially if it’s a blowout, those beliefs will be confirmed. And if the Lions lose, we’ll be talking about a team that still has zero wins vs. current top-25 teams.

It’s a bit of a catch-22. Well, at least it will be for the B1G skeptics, which there are many. We can talk about how great Wisconsin’s defense is, or how improved Ohio State’s passing game is, but the reality is, we need to see them perform against quality foes to be completely sold on them.

RELATED: FiveThirtyEight projects B1G Playoff odds

It’s a concern that the selection committee is going to have, and understandably so. There was more reason to believe that the conference’s best were Playoff-worthy last year. Wisconsin beat LSU and Ohio State went into Norman and stomped Oklahoma. Then Penn State beat both of those teams, but with two losses, it didn’t get the Playoff bid.

This year, we still have no idea who will represent the B1G in the Playoff. Shoot, we don’t even know that the B1G is getting into the field this year. No conference has a bid locked up because there truly is no power conference in college football this year. The selection committee can let the final month play out if and when that decision needs to be made.

One thing, though, will hold true until bowl season. The B1G will have its fair share of critics.

Michigan State and Ohio State can’t go back in time and score points in those last two Playoff games. Wisconsin and Penn State can’t go back in time and schedule tougher non-conference opponents. The only thing that can make that criticism go away is Playoff success.

Simple enough, right?