I know we always think the current season is somehow more important than many past ones while we are in the thick of it, but this is probably as meaningful of a final regular season game as we have had in years. Even in 2021 when we traveled to #7 Ohio State for the final game, we (A) already had a #1 seed and (B) were unlikely to catch Michigan in the completely rigged Big Ten standings that year.
This year, there seems to be a soft consensus that we are a #4 seed that can play itself up or down a seed line in the next several days. Some emphasize this more than others, but I personally think being a #3 seed is MASSIVELY better than being a #4 in this season than almost any other I can remember lately. Avoid the #1 seeds!
For a trip down memory lane since I have been a fan, these would be the only contenders such an impactful final game:
2002: #15 Illinois at Minnesota. I was pretty young, but it felt like we might have been right around that #3/4 cutoff this year, too ... and it frankly seems we were under-seeded as a #4! This last minute comeback at the Barn gave us a share of the Big Ten title for the second straight year.
2005: #1 Illinois at Ohio State. Any time you are going for a 30-0 regular season, a lot is on the line at least in theory!
2022: #24 Iowa at #20 Illinois. With the Badgers' loss to Nebrasketball earlier in the day, this one was for our first Big Ten banner since 2005 ... and we all know how it turned out! I also think winning this game and getting two wins in the BTT (whereas we lost our first game to Bubble team Indiana) could have lifted us to the #3 line that year.
2024: #12 Illinois at Iowa. No Big Ten title on the line this year, but this Quad 1 win would move us to 23-8 a few days before a BTT where we are really set up to win two if we come to play. Sitting at 25-8 with 2-3 more Quad 1 wins than we have today makes a compelling case for that #3 seed. And honestly, this year I just want to avoid the likes of Purdue, Houston or UConn. And if you are a #4/5, you run into those teams like a buzz saw in the Sweet Sixteen. I think we can hang with and BEAT most anyone else if we play like we did against Purdue.