[NU Sports] The .500 Club

[Jonathan Hodges]

Actually, I don't find your scenario that far fetched.  Now, the chances of
ALL of that happening so that the Big Ten ends up with 5 .500 teams is low,
but possible.  The problem is that all of the Big Ten teams outside of the
top 4 could beat any of the others any given week.  Don't even count
Illinois or Purdue out of the picture right now (although one more loss for
either team would eliminate them).

The key for NU is getting that 6th win (or 7th to absolutely guarantee a
bowl), which will be a difficult task (since NU will likely be an underdog
in all 3 now that Illinois has decided to start playing).  After that, I
guess we'll have to wait and see what happens because as you described, some
interesting scenarios could emerge.

Jonathan

On Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 8:32 AM, Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Ok, I'm one of the people who failed to turn back my clock so I have an
> extra hour this morning, forgive me. Based on Michigan's loss and MSU's loss
> yesterday there is a traffic jam on the way to 6-6 in the Big Ten this year.
> I feel like Tim Russert working his white board on election night in 2000.
>
> Minnesota (5-4):        lose to Illinois, beat South Dakota State, lose @
> Iowa ----------------- finish 6-6
> MSU (4-5):                beat Western Michigan, win @ Purdue, lose to Penn
> State ----------- finish 6-6
> Northwestern (5-4):   lose @ Iowa, win @ Illinois, lose to Wisconsin
> --------------------------- finish 6-6
> Michigan (5-4):          win @ Purdue, lose @ Wisconsin, lose to Ohio State
> ------------------ finish 6-6
> Indiana (4-5):               beat Wisconsin, lose @ Penn State, beat Purdue
> ----------------------- finish 6-6
>
> This would leave Illinois (3-9) and Purdue (3-9) out in the cold.
>
> Granted, Illinois beating Minnesota is remote, Purdue losing its last three
> is unlikely, and Indiana beating Wisconsin doesn't seem probably, BUT it
> could happen. This would leave the Big Ten with 9 'bowl eligible' teams and
> no doubt NU watching from home because of our poor attendance and small
> alumni base.
>
> Now if Purdue rallies to become the Boiler Spoiler, they could beat
> Michigan, Michigan State, and Indiana thereby pushing all three over the
> edge to a losing record and being 6-6 themselves.
>
> Go Cats!
> Jim
>
>
>
>
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