The Big Ten championship game between Iowa (12-0) and Michigan State (11-1) comes flush with all those Big Ten values. The Spartans have won 10 or more games in five of the last six seasons after doing it just twice in the 82 years before Dantonio arrived. Ohio State could get a chance to defend its championship if Clemson or Alabama get tripped up in their conference title games.
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Junior running back Jordan Howard and junior offensive lineman Dan Feeney were named First Team All-Big Ten, senior offensive lineman Jason Spriggs was named Second Team All-Big Ten, and senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld earned Third Team All-Big Ten.
Maybe it’s the Hawkeyes who should be clamoring about disrespect. Yes, they lost to Texas, but it was very early in the season, and the committee will think so as well (I give you Ohio State’s Week 2 loss a year ago to a 7-6 Virginia Tech team as an example). “I didn’t know he had that in him”. I don’t know what they’re talking about. “We’re gonna have a wrinkle here or there but they’re gonna have a pretty good idea of what we’re gonna do, so it’s about execution and it’s about good, old-fashioned toughness”.
It’s hard to believe the college football season is just a month away from being over.
There was a lot of that in the years that followed with the Hawkeyes an afterthought not just in the national title conversation but the Big Ten as well. Michigan State, despite being installed as the betting favorites by Vegas, enter one spot behind the Hawkeyes at number five. We won’t be all wide eyed or anything, ” Allen said. They have taken on all comers and won. “There’s a history of what we do and what they do”.
-QB Connor Cook will, once again, be the center of Michigan State’s offense. Iowa has wins this season over Illinois State, Iowa State, Pitt, North Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Maryland, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Nebraska. After a three-year dip, Iowa won nine games in 2008, then made a national title run the following year. Iowa’s 2015 recruiting class was ranked 51st in the nation by Scout.com, right between Syracuse and Rutgers. With no other conference champions – that’s a primary consideration for the College Football Playoff committee – Ohio State’s nearly assured to get into the playoff. The Big Ten championship game will feature two of the league’s best quarterbacks: Iowa’s C.J. Beathard and Michigan State’s Connor Cook.
“The one guy we didn’t want to make plays was Valentine”, Louisville assistant coach Ralph Willard said. “Iowa, they always had a workmanlike attitude”. The Spartans controlled both lines of scrimmage and ran for more than 200 yards against a strong defensive line. “That’s who we wanted to be”.
So ladies and gents, there you have it. One more week of bedlam, and it will all be sorted out.
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While the Rose Bowl holds special meaning for Big Ten schools, missing out on the game wouldn’t be the end of the world for Iowa, Michigan State or Ohio State. One of the biggest games of the weekend will be when Iowa takes on Michigan State for the Big Ten Championship. Iowa stuck by Ferentz, no doubt partly because paying his $13 million buyout likely wasn’t a viable option.
