We have these Big Ten games before Saturday ... I will just go ahead and give my PERSONAL predictions of what will happen so we can get some hypothetical standings for Saturday:
TUESDAY
Illinois at Penn State
Nebraska at Rutgers
Michigan at Wisconsin
WEDNESDAY
Minnesota at Michigan State
Indiana at Northwestern
THURSDAY
Purdue at Maryland
Ohio State at Iowa
First off, I think NU has a comedown game and Indiana keeps up its good play. Conversely, UMD is great at home and I could see the Boilers start to have their luck catch up with them. If those results are correct - and there are definitely a few coin flips like IU/NU and PU/UMD - these would be the standings as we travel to Bloomington for a huge game on ESPN:
1. Purdue: 12-4
2. Indiana: 10-5
3. Illinois: 9-5
4. Northwestern: 9-6
4. Michigan State: 9-6
4. Iowa: 9-6
4. Rutgers: 9-6
4. Maryland: 9-6
4. Michigan: 9-6
5. Wisconsin: 6-9
5. Nebraska: 5-9
6. Penn State: 5-10
7. Nebraska: 5-11
8. Ohio State: 3-12
9. Minnesota: 1-13
All this is to simply say the following - if we take care of business at Penn State on Tuesday and get to 9-5, our game in Bloomington will range from huge (battle for second place and being in a GREAT spot for a double bye) to absolutely monumental (winner is RIGHT on Purdue's heels with each having one more game against the Boilers).
GO ILLINI! Beat PSU!