Across The Empire: Your Early Games Open Thread

We've spilled a lot of digital ink the last few weeks to tell you this, basically: the Big Ten Championship Game is probably going to be an Ohio State-Michigan State matchup, barring some really drastic changes. Could those changes occur today? First, the games:

11:00

Penn State at Minnesota, ESPN 2

Iowa at Purdue, BTN

2:30

Illinois at Indiana, BTN

Nebraska at Michigan, ABC

BYU at Wisconsin, ESPN

The fact that it's November and Minnesota is still mathematically alive for the Legends Division crown is impressive, but they need to beat Penn State to keep hope alive...and bring home the Governor's Victory Bell. Iowa's going to roll Purdue, because let's face it, Purdue's horribad.

In our late games, the Nebraska Michigan game is the marque game meet in the Disappointment Bowl. Both teams had expectations of a Big Ten Championship this year, and both teams now see those titles hopes on life support. The loser of today's game is officially out. The winner is still out, more than likely, but they can keep their pipe dream alive for one more week, at least. Indiana is still trying to get to six wins, and their loss to the Gophers last week really hurt them. A win against Illinois is a must today. And finally, Wisconsin takes on BYU in the last non-conference game of the season for the Big Ten. BYU is a good team, but Gary Andersen is familiar with them, having coached against them the previous four years at Utah State. He'll be ready, and I expect Wisconsin to win this game.

Our standard open thread rules apply: no links to or mentions of websites that illegally stream games, no links to porn, and play nice with each other. Other than that, have at it and enjoy the games everyone!