Good morning all! It's rivalry week and Nebraska and Iowa kicked it off with a Cornhuskers win in OT yesterday 37-34. The regular season is coming to an end, and what a better way to finish it than a solid dose of hate? Look no further, because I think everyone playing today has some amount of disdain for each other, and I'm sure OSU is out to destroy any hopes Michigan thinks they have of a bowl today. Here is the lineup:
Illinois at Northwestern (-8) || 12:00pm EST || ESPNU
HAT. Illinois and Northwestern used to play or a cool Tomahawk before the NCAA said no, so now they play for Lincoln's hat. Illinois hasn't been that inept on offense, but defense has been doing them in. Look for Northwestern to attempt to put them away early.
Purdue at Indiana (-3) || 12:00pm EST || BTN
The 89th meeting for the Old Oaken Bucket is at 12 in Bloomington where Indiana is magically favored. Purdue has been a much harder matchup this year, so look for them to widen the win gap, which is already close to 3:1.
Michigan at Ohio State (-20.5) || 12:00pm EST || ABC
The Game is on ABC this week, where Michigan will attempt to keep this a respectable game in what is all but certain to be Hoke's last on the sidelines coaching Michigan. Ohio State will most likely not oblige and let them know why they are not bowl material, early and often.
Michigan State at Penn State (+13.5) || 3:30pm EST || ABC/ESPN2
Pew. Pew. Pew. The game for the Land Grant Trophy is in State College this year, but I'm not even sure the Spartans will bother dusting it off and getting it out of the trophy case. Penn State is in a down year, and Hackensberg looks like a broken asset. But who knows? We thought OSU would blow them out too, but that wasn't the case there.
Minnesota at Wisconsin (-14.5) || 3:30pm EST || BTN
Somehow BTN got what is expected to be the most competitive game between two ranked teams in the B1G this week in the battle for the Axe. Wisconsin is favored by slightly more than two TDs, but Minnesota has been a tough game all year. Throw in that Minnesota hasn't had the Axe in a while and is playing for a chance to own all of their trophies in one year, they could be pretty amped up for the game and make this much closer than predicted.
Rutgers at Maryland (-8.5) || 3:30pm EST || ESPNU
This game doesn't exactly have an official trophy for it, but the way that the B1G establishes trophies, I'm sure it is already in the making. A Rusty Harpoon has been thrown out as an example, or more historic things involved with Washingon crossing the Delaware River and fighting with the Maryland colonial forces, but we aren't there yet. I suggested to Ray that we just own up and put a statue of a stack of 100's on a trophy, but that isn't likely. Luckily, the not-so-official OTE trophy of the Battle for Delaware is on the line since Maryland already beat Penn State and has a chance to complete the set of wins for the trophy today. If they lose? We can all argue over how dumb Pa. was at geography and why Maryland owned Delaware first so the trophy still belongs to them. I'll be here, starting around noonish, for the final game of what's been a great first year in the B1G for Maryland.
That's it! Normal rules apply: no illegal streams, no porn, and keep it civil even though it is hate week for many of you.