“I think C.J. Beathard makes plays, makes good decisions, obviously hasn’t thrown many interceptions, hasn’t thrown one since really the Northwestern game, middle of the season”. Would Iowa be undefeated if they had played Michigan State’s schedule this season?
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Iowa has the opportunity to show that they belong in the Playoffs this Saturday when they take on Michigan State. The latest CFP rankings have the Hawkeyes and Spartans at No. 4 and No. 5 respectively, all but assuring the victor one of the four spots in the national semifinals to be played on December 31. The overwhelming sentiment is that the Spartans, who are making their third trip to Indianapolis in five years, will win the game based on a stronger resume.
Consider last year’s narrative that the lack of title game hurt Big 12 contenders negated. The loser of the ACC Championship game in both seasons prior to 2007, where invited to either the Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, Florida) or the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta. Every year there is a a major upset and a game that shakes up the College Football world.
In 2011, MSU was an underdog on the same neutral site it will play in on Saturday, to a team it had already beaten earlier that season (Wisconsin) – albeit on a hail mary as time expired.
The Boston College incident in 2007 was simply a matter of money and selling tickets.
The last time Michigan State played on the road it served up one of the most inspirational victories in program history, beating 14 1/2-point favorite Ohio State despite having to use its second- and third-team quarterbacks.
Clemson retained the top spot this week in spite of a lackluster win over woeful SC. So the best course of action for the least amount of controversy, would be for Iowa to take care of their business against Michigan State, who with two losses, would be out of the discussion. The Big 10 as a whole is known to travel well. It’s similar teams actually when you look at them (Michigan State and Iowa) – similar programs, similar ways they go about winning, tough teams, hard-nosed football.
The other 11 coaches in the conference, aside from the three mentioned above, have been with their current teams for a combined 17 seasons. Had the Spartans ended up where they appeared to be heading three weeks ago – watching the Big Ten title game on TV – they would have joined the endless list of coulda-been sports teams, robbed of championship hardware in part by poor health.
On the subject of whether the two-season-old playoff ultimately could see its first conference non-champion as a playoff entry, Long said: “I don’t know how to answer that because I don’t know any of the variables of that non-champion”.
If Ohio State somehow were to reach the playoff again, that would cast the Big Ten in an even larger light as the first league to grab two spots in a single season. The Big 10 runner-up would then no doubt be awarded an invitation to the Rose Bowl. Johnson is also second on the team with 13.0 tackles for loss.
Now they will have to start over with a new AD and a new football coach.
No worries of a repeat of past year for the Big 12, when it was the Power Five conference left out of the playoff. Another option would be No. 23 Utah (9-3), who has lost two of their last three games. We’ve played in a lot of big games, historically, and this team’s played in big games this year.
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This year, politics shouldn’t come into it. If the Spartans win, they’ll nearly surely be ushered right into the College Football Playoff.
