Big Ten Playoff Matchups Hinge On Final Game
Big Ten Playoff Matchups Hinge On Final Game
The Big Ten Conference has a little wrinkle in it, in fact two.
The first wrinkle is that it's not finished despite Finals Day being this coming weekend. Michigan vs Michigan State was postponed due to lightning, and will be played Wednesday, Nov. 6.
That game has an effect on what the final placement games will be Saturday, so will have to be played.
Meanwhile, with the other wrinkle, the conference schedule doesn't have an equal number of games per team. Some teams had seven games, some six, and some five. This was because setting the schedule was very difficult to fit around various football weekends and other conflicts.
So the standings need to be shifted to reflect equal schedules.
If you change the standings to reflect points per sevens games, they map out like this:
| Big 10 Standings | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | PTS | P/7G |
| Indiana | 6 | 0 | 0 | 303 | 75 | 228 | 6 | 0 | 30 | 35.0 |
| Ohio State | 6 | 1 | 0 | 372 | 104 | 268 | 6 | 1 | 31 | 31.0 |
| Illinois | 3 | 3 | 0 | 160 | 147 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 18.7 |
| Michigan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 99 | 154 | -55 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 17.5 |
| Wisconsin | 3 | 4 | 0 | 162 | 228 | -66 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 16.0 |
| Michigan State | 2 | 3 | 1 | 98 | 216 | -118 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 15.2 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 4 | 1 | 97 | 226 | -129 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8.2 |
| Purdue | 0 | 6 | 0 | 99 | 238 | -139 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
That doesn't change the standings much. Ohio State drops to 2nd from 1st, but that's OK because the first two play each other anyway. The bottom two remain unchanged, as Minnesota and Purdue will play each other no matter what measurement you use.
The big shift is in 3rd-6th. Wisconsin drops to 5th and Michigan bumps up to 4th. What this means is that Michigan vs Michigan State will decide the 3rd-4th game and the 5th-6th game. If Michigan State wins with a bonus point, then the Spartans points per 7 games increases to 18.0, and Michigan's drops to 14.0. Even if Michigan State fails to get a bonus point, and Michigan gets two (for four tries and a close loss), Michigan State will bypass the Wolverines (17.0 to 16.8).
So Saturday's Finals Day matchups at Fortress Obetz in Obetz, Ohio is as follows:
9am - 7th/8th: Minnesota vs Purdue
11am - 5th/6th: Wisconsin vs loser of Michigan and Michigan State
1pm - 3rd/4th: Illinois vs winner of Michigan and Michigan State
3pm - Championship. Indiana vs Ohio State
5pm - B championship. Indiana vs OSU.
The 7th/8th, 5th/6th, and B Final games will be shown live www.FTFNext.com. The 3rd/4th and Championship games will be shown live on Eleven Sports.
