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And then there was one.
Just a few weeks ago, the race for the Big Ten East Division featured 4 teams who were undefeated in conference play. Then they all started playing each other (or suffered upset losses) and the picture started to get clearer.
Now there is only one.
Michigan State fell from the ranks of the unbeaten with its upset loss to Purdue on Saturday and Ohio State squeaked past Nebraska, leaving the Buckeyes alone atop the division and the whole B1G. OSU is the only team that is still unbeaten in conference play and will be the top-ranked B1G team when this week’s College Football Playoff rankings come out.
Last week we made the call that OSU would make the CFP at the expense of Michigan State, which was No. 3 in the first CFP rankings, and we see no reason to change that now.
One big change at least as far as matchups is with the Rose Bowl. We project that Oregon will make the CFP (possibly for a rematch with the Buckeyes) so a substitute Pac-12 team will have to be chosen for Pasadena. Throw a dart to pick a team out West but for now it’s Pac-12 South Division leader Utah, and we project Michigan to join the Utes in the Rose Bowl.
As always, these projections reflect where these teams should wind up in December, not where they stand now.
Here are our Week 10 B1G bowl projections:
Cotton Bowl (CFP semifinal): Ohio State vs. Oregon
Rose Bowl: Michigan vs. Utah
Citrus Bowl: Michigan State vs. Mississippi
Outback Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Auburn
Las Vegas Bowl: Iowa vs. Washington State
Music City Bowl: Penn State vs. Tennessee
Pinstripe Bowl: Purdue vs. Syracuse
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Minnesota vs. West Virginia
Quick Lane Bowl: Maryland vs. Northern Illinois
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a writer and editor for saturdaytradition.com and saturdaydownsouth.com.