Best of the West: Big Ten West Game of the Week in Week 11

Look at this, Week 11 and I’m having fresh new ideas for content! This might be because I’ve had an unprecedented amount of help writing Power Polls this season, leaving me with oodles of time and brain space. Still, even with all of that margin in the gray matter, it didn’t occur to me prior to now that we should be sharing with our fair readers the BEST prospect for Westian antics every week! I’ve spent enough time in the game threads this season to know that while some of you may decry the “football” that is played in the West, pretty much all of you love watching it. You’re all sickos. Just make your peace with that.

Of course, for those of you who haven’t embraced the suck, MNW still plays it pretty straight in his advice in DWT;WT every week. So like, if you want to watch actually good things, then read that and follow his proscriptions.

But if you want to know your best chance for some truly sick football... you’ve come to the right place.

Last Week’s Best of the West Winner: Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Northwestern Wildcats in a Baseball Stadium

Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images

Why it won:

• Featured a fired coach (sorry, “non-re-hired” coach)
• Took place in a baseball stadium with mostly non-functional turf for no reason at all
• It was 0-0 at halftime, with a final score of only 10-7
• The winning team had 169 total yards of offense. The losing team had 170.

Runners up:

It’s the first week and it’s a tie! But I truly could not decide between Wisconsin and Nebraska. Both managed to lose to moribund East teams, and both had chances to make that not happen, but threw them away with both hands. Alike in more ways than just their uniforms, it seems.

This week’s contenders:

• Maryland Terrapins @ Nebraska Cornhuskers (11:00 am)
• Minnesota Golden Gophers @ Purdue Boilermakers (2:30 pm)
• Northwestern Wildcats @ Wisconsin Badgers (2:30 pm)

Our Pick: Minnesota @ Purdue

I’m really tempted by that Maryland-Nebraska match-up given how both teams are playing right now, but I’m going with the purebred. Both Minnesota and Purdue have what it takes to make this game a Profile in Inadequacy. Minnesota is on the doorstep of bowl eligibility, but they were last week too, and that didn’t stop them from letting Illinois steal their lunch money. Next week they’re playing OSU, so letting it all come down to their final game against Wisconsin seems like a suitably dramatic Peej thing to do. Enter, very stupid football.

Purdue, for its part, has been remarkably consistent this season in just being quite bad. They’ve suffered a rash of injuries, but the backups are pure West material, and a first-year head coach is really making the most of that. Minnesota will make sure that Purdue has its chances, and Purdue will steadfastly refuse to take them.

Tune in with us at 2:30 and lean in to the Best of the West!