The Big Ten has been one of the best conferences in the country so far this season. There have been extremely strong showings out of the Michigan Wolverines, Wisconsin Badgers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, and Michigan State Spartans. All of these teams are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball and are led by top-tier coaches.

The Northwestern Wildcats (1-3) have had a very disappointing season. Coming off a 10-3 season that ended with an Outback Bowl appearance, the Wildcats came into this season with high hopes of competing. The complete opposite has happened, as the Wildcats have a season filled with little positivity. They lost to two lesser programs, the Western Michigan Broncos from the MAC and the Illinois State Redbirds of the MVFC (Missouri Valley Football Conference).

The Ohio State Buckeyes and  Michigan Wolverines have undoubtedly been the jewels of the Big Ten this season. The Wolverines just rolled over Penn State 49-10, setting up a top ten showdown between Michigan and Wisconsin at the Big House this week. The Buckeyes had a bye week this week after traveling to Oklahoma to beat the Sooners 45-24 last week. The Wildcats do not play Michigan this season, but will travel to Columbus in the last week of October to take on the Buckeyes, which shouldn’t be too fun for Wildcats fans. Michigan has steamrolled their opponents this season, outscoring them 208-55 in four games. The same goes for Ohio State, as they outscored their three opponents 170-37. 

Right below Ohio State and Michigan are the Wisconsin Badgers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Michigan State Spartans, and Iowa Hawkeyes. The Wildcats will play all of these teams except Nebraska, starting with Iowa this week. Hawkeye fans were stunned when their team lost to FCS champion North Dakota State two weeks ago, leading to speculation that North Dakota State could see themselves ranked in the AP top 25, which would be unprecedented for a FCS school. As for Nebraska, the Wildcats couldn’t handle the Cornhuskers at home, losing 24-13.


Wisconsin made a huge statement this weekend as they won 30-6 in East Lansing against Michigan State. The Badgers forced four turnovers and were in full control of the game in this huge Big Ten matchup. The Badgers stepped in the big moment, just like Michigan State did the week prior against Notre Dame. The Wildcats have done the total opposite of stepping up this season, as losing to Western Michigan and Illinois State is as bad it gets for a Big Ten team that wants to contend.

The Wildcats could very well be considered the worst team in the Big Ten this season. They have scored the least points in the conference with 65, and have the worst point differential at -3. They will face eight straight Big Ten opponents for the remainder for the season: at Iowa, at Michigan State, Indiana, at Ohio State, Wisconsin, at Purdue, at Minnesota, and Illinois. The Wildcats have the road to make noise in the Big Ten. Is it likely they put it all together and pull off a crazy run? Not likely, but they can at least pull some upsets off and cause havoc in the Big Ten. The season is far from over, and with a lot of football left, the Wildcats can still end up with a respectable record in the Big Ten.