Neither the College Football Playoff landscape nor the Big Ten has gone the way anyone has expected.
The Big Ten is Wide Open: Can Iowa and Northwestern Continue to Surge?
Big Ten Shake-Up
Halfway through the college football regular season, the entire AP Top 25 is in disarray, with the Michigan Wolverines no longer ranked, Iowa up seven spots, and the No. 24 Northwestern Wildcats in the AP Top 25 for the first time in six seasons, and the No. 9 UCLA Bruins surprisingly on top of the conference and likely to finish the season in first place. Both Iowa and Northwestern look to Michigan for help against No. 6 Indiana, who is on upset alert after the Wolverines found their stride with quarterback Tommy Carr.
The Bruins are the only undefeated team in the Big Ten, and only one of five undefeated teams in the AP Top 25. With only one game against a ranked opponent for the remainder of the season, which comes against the No. 16 USC Trojans, who head into Pasadena on Nov. 28, the Bruins will likely play in the Big Ten title game given their favorable strength of schedule heading down the stretch.
Who they will play is still wide open, with a remaining conference schedule that sees Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Indiana all left to play each other.
Iowa Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes have climbed seven spots to No. 15 in the country with notable wins on the road in Michigan and Washington. Iowa, however, also only has one game remaining against a ranked opponent—No. 24 Northwestern, and heads into a tough atmosphere today to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers. As of now, the Hawkeyes are on a collision course with the Wildcats for a Big Ten game that has heavy implications for the conference and AP Top 25 teams on the bubble.
Today, Iowa looks to keep the momentum going against a Minnesota team led by NFL quarterback prospect Drake Lindsey. If Iowa finishes the season as a two-loss team, you have to call into question their strength of schedule in comparison to the Wildcats, whose toughest games have been, and will be, on the road this season.
Northwestern Wildcats
The Wildcats have cracked the top 25 for the first time in six seasons after starting the season 4-1. The now 5-1 Northwestern Wildcats sit at No. 24 of the AP Top 25. The Wildcats have key Big Ten wins against now-disappointing Penn State and on the road in Lansing against the Michigan State Spartans.
Northwestern likely has the toughest remaining schedule of the ranked Big Ten teams, still having to go on the road to face the Oregon Ducks and the No. 3 Buckeyes. In between the two, the Wildcats play host to the 5-1 Hawkeyes.
Heading into today’s game against a struggling Rutgers team, the Wildcats look to No. 7 Ole Miss for help as they head deep into the heart of Texas against the No. 19 Longhorns, who are at risk of falling out of playoff contention. Texas has their own tough schedule ahead of them. After today’s game against the Rebels, the No. 19 Longhorns have back-to-back road games to kick off November, visiting the No. 22 Missouri Tigers and No. 18 LSU.
The Wildcats’ next two games are against 2-4 Rutgers and 4-2 Oregon, with a Week 10 matchup against the Hawkeyes. The Oregon and Iowa games are critical must-win games for Northwestern if they’d like to have a playoff spot. If Northwestern finishes the season a two-loss team, their saving grace will be their strength of schedule.
If you recall, the Wildcats’ only loss of the season came in Week 3 on the road in Indiana, where the Wildcats nearly crawled back from a 12-0 deficit before falling short to the defending national champions, 29-23.
The Last Word
It’s still too early to tell for both Iowa and Northwestern, but the Wildcats have the 19th-ranked strength of schedule according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, and if they can come away with at least one win against either Iowa or Ohio State, they put themselves in a position for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
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