How high can MSU get in the standings?
The regular season concludes this weekend. The Big Ten features one matchup on Saturday while the other twelve teams do battle on Sunday. Currently, MSU and their 10-9 conference record sit in a tie for 6th place with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Just above the Spartans and Hawkeyes is a three-team tie for third place with Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Nebraska all sitting at 11-8. MSU could catch them all if they all lose, which is a possibility since none of them are playing each other. Last year, MSU saw some incredible luck in the last weekend. After winning their Senior Day game on Saturday, MSU was cheering against four other teams to lose on Sunday to help MSU get the double-bye. If you all remember, everything broke for the Green & White and the Spartans claimed the fourth spot as Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, and um all went down. Let’s see if MSU can see another run of fortuitous results this weekend. Here is the viewing guide with team to cheer for in bold:
- Saturday @ 9 P.M. – Minnesota at Northwestern. Maybe NW’s injuries will actually make them the worse team in this matchup.
- Sunday @ 12 P.M. – Nebraska at um. Ugh, hate having to rely on the skunkbears to help us out, especially this year when they can’t be relied on to beat a high school team.
- Sunday @ 12:30 P.M. – Wisconsin at Purdue. This one could go our way so long as Painter does not sit his starters as they have already wrapped up first place. It is Edey’s senior day though.
- Sunday @ 7 P.M. – Illinois at Iowa. The Illini are cemented in second place so they do not have anything to play for in this road game.
MSU plays in the second to last of these game at 4:30 P.M. so we will know some of our fate by the time tipoff rolls around. Getting the luck we got last year does not seem so likely, though. Nebraska did beat us in the only matchup this season and Wisconsin swept us so they would control the tiebreakers in the result of a tie. We split with Northwestern. Iowa also beat us in our only matchup, but at least there is a possibility that we finish ahead of them in the standings if they lose and we win. So even if everything goes our way, it seems like the best MSU could do would be fifth place and have a single-bye.