B1G bowl projections after Week 12: Rivalry Week intrigue
We have reached Rivalry Week in the Big Ten.
There is an old-fashioned feel to this one. Ohio State and Michigan, who did not meet last year for reasons related to COVID-19, are back atop the conference and renew their ancient rivalry with the East Division crown, a trip to the B1G title game and possibly the College Football Playoff on the line.
Wisconsin can punch its ticket to Indianapolis as the West Division champion by defeating Minnesota for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. The day before, on Friday, Iowa will try to stay in the West race by beating a relatively new annual rival, Nebraska.
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So there’s a lot at stake in a week when emotions always run high in the B1G.
Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana and Nebraska are all out of bowl contention. They will be joined on the postseason sidelines by the loser of Saturday’s Maryland-Rutgers game, while the winner will finish 6-6 to become bowl eligible.
Saturday’s results didn’t really change our projections much, except for the possible opponents for B1G teams in bowls. Oregon got blown out by Utah so not only are the Ducks out of our CFP semifinal projection, we now think the Utes will repeat the feat and beat Oregon again in the Pac-12 title game. Utah is still headed to Pasadena in our projections but Oregon is now all the way out of the New Year’s Day 6 bowl picture.
These projections reflect where we think these teams will be two weeks from now after Championship Saturday.
Here are our Week 12 B1G bowl projections:
