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ESPN’s SP+ predicts every B1G Week 4 game

Ryan Williamson

By Ryan Williamson

Published:

It just seems like we aren’t going to have a week of Big Ten football the rest of this season that doesn’t have a canceled game.

As of Wednesday evening, the Ohio State-Maryland game was the only one called off. That means there are still six other games on the Week 4 slate of Big Ten action.

There are teams looking to make a statement in the conference championship race while others are simply just looking for win No. 1. Here is how ESPN’s SP+ believes these games will shake out.

  • Iowa 29, Minnesota 26
  • Indiana 28, Michigan State 21
  • Illinois 28, Rutgers 24
  • Penn State 33, Nebraska 27
  • Purdue 25, Northwestern 25
  • Wisconsin 31, Michigan 21

A lot to take in with these results. Let’s start with the battle for the Floyd of Rosedale. That would be a big win for Iowa as the Hawkeyes would be back at .500 while Minnesota’s chances at making any sort of rebound in 2020 would pretty much be dead.

The Indiana-Michigan State score seems reasonable, though we truly don’t know if this year’s Spartan club that has looked lackluster in two games and phenomenal against Michigan.

Illinois-Rutgers seems like a toss-up at this point, so no surprise there.

Regardless of how Penn State-Nebraska goes, one team will leave relieved to have a win but still made. Meanwhile, the panic on the losing side goes up significantly.

The most interesting might be Purdue-Northwestern where the score is a deadlock. It’s definitely not a common thing for the system to spit out a deadlocked score. But it definitely shows how close that game could be.

Finally, Wisconsin would be quite happy with a double-digit win against the Wolverines. It’d put the Badgers back in the driver’s seat in the Big Ten West and make Jim Harbaugh even more miserable.

Ryan Williamson