Spanning The Empire: Your Week 8 Gameday Open Thread

So we enter week 8 of the season, about two thirds of the way through for most teams, and the conference race is coming into focus, but it's still fuzzy on the margins.  Michigan State laid claim to the Legends Division with their win against Michigan, but Nebraska will have something to say about that, I'm sure, before it's all over.  In the Leaders, both Wisconsin and Penn State are undefeated in conference play, but I still consider the Badgers to be the prohibitive favorite.

Today the Empire has five games on the slate, with two early games, a mid-afternoon massacre, and two evening games.  Iowa should dispatch Indiana with ease, but they're coming off a big win against Northwestern, it's in Bloomington, and Iowa always seems to play down to the level of Indiana's competition, at least this decade.  Give me Iowa, but Hawkeye fans will be pooping their pants before this is over.  Same story for Illinois.  Purdue is better than advertised, and coming off a tough loss against OSU, the Illini will need to suck it up for 4 quarters if they want to stay in the division race.  Purdue impressed me in Happy Valley last week, and I'm placing Illinois on upset alert.

Nebraska will begin a weekend of football misery for the state of Minnesota, as the Gophers will get crushed today, and the Packers will crush the VIkings tomorrow.  Penn State's defense should neutralize PersaStrong and come out of Evanston with a win, quarterback conundrum aside.  And finally, the MSU-Wisconsin game.  I am of the belief that this is an all-time great time in Madison, one folks will be talking about 30 and 40 years from now.  But MSU is pretty good as well.  Wisconsin is playing their first road game...WHAT?!?!...and MSU proved against Michigan they have a very sound team on both sides of the ball.  This will be a tough, physical game, and MSU will take Sconny to the limit, but in the end, give me the Badgers.

Your game grid:

If you're new here, welcome.  We've only got a couple rules, so consider this our legal disclaimer.  We have a pretty hefty legal department here at OTE, so don't cross us on this:  No racism, sexism, homophobia, pornography, personal attacks, or illegal Internet streams of any of the games.  Speaking of lawyers, they're out back on the deck, and they've split into two camps:  Your either team Good Wife or team Harry's Law when it comes to legal realism.

Graham threatens to take a sledgehammer to ankles if you vote against Kathy Bates and Harry's Law, and I'm starting a renegade Franklin and Bash movement, but I do have a sizeable limp.  To both ankles.  Graham wasn't kidding.

Enjoy the games!