[NU Sports] The .500 Club

[Jim Leonard]

Fellow Wildcat Faithful,

It's a huge help to our bowl hopes that we are the first to get the 6th win. Opening the Big Ten standings on ESPN.com and seeing Northwestern in the upper half of the list NEVER gets old. Here's how the 6-6 logjam looks with two games to go:

Northwestern (6-4):    Lose @ Illinois, lose to Wisconsin -------------------- finish 6-6
Michigan State (5-5): Lose @ Purdue, Beat Penn State --------------------- finish 6-6
Minnesota (5-5):        Beat South Dakota State, lose @Iowa -------------- finish 6-6
Michigan (5-5):          Win @ Wisconsin, Lose to tOSU --------------------- finish 6-6
Purdue (4-6):             Beat MSU, Win @ Indiana ------------------------------- finish 6-6

Indiana (4-6): Lose @ Penn State, Lose to Purdue --------------------- finish 4-8
Illinois (3-6): Beat Northwestern, Lose @ Cincinnati, Lose to Fresno State --------------------- finish 4-8

So, we could still have five 6-6 teams. 
- More realistically, I expect the Cats to beat Illinois and finish at least 7-5. 
- I would also expect that either MSU or Purdue fails to make it. I could see the Boiler Spoiler winning their last two, but MSU won't beat Penn State.
- Michigan is in a really tough spot. They could well lose the last two and finish 5-7. 

So next week, if MSU wins, Penn State wins, and Michigan loses, we'll be 95% certain to have Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, and Indiana sitting home. That would lock a 6-6 NU team into Detroit. But, we could easily play up to 8-4. GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Victory & Honor,
Jim