And by week 1 I am referring to all of the Big Ten West having played their first conference games in that "first" week.
Aug. 28th: IL vs Nebraska
Sept 2nd: Ohio State vs Minnesota
Sept 4th: Indiana at Iowa
Sept 4th: Michigan State vs Northwestern
Sept 4th: Penn State vs Wisconsin
Teams that I predict to win are in bold. The game that I could easily be wrong on is Indiana vs Iowa. Pretty confident that Ohio State beats Minnesota. Northwestern has historically started seasons very slow so a win by Michigan State would not be a surprise. Penn State could lose to Wisconsin but they have more talent than Wisconsin does and Wisconsin isn't known to have a high clicking offense to start seasons.
1-0 Nebraska
1-0 Iowa
0-1 Minnesota
0-1 Northwestern
0-1 Wisconsin
The next conference game for each Big Ten West Team:
IL vs maryland.
Purdue vs IL (Purdue doesn't have a conference game until 9/25)
Nebraska vs MSU
Minnesota vs Purdue
Wisconsin vs Michigan
Iowa vs Maryland
Northwestern vs Nebraska
It's a season with really weird conference schedules. You have Wisconsin starting off with Penn State and Michigan. If they started 2-0 they will likely play in Indy. If they start 0-2 it's highly unlikely they will be in the conference race for Indy come Nov since Paul Chyrst has a history of losing a big Ten West game he shouldn't have lost. Would WI make it to Indy with 3 conference loses? No. A 1-1 start for WI keeps them in the Big Ten West race.
For Nebraska it's an interesting but not overwhelming start to the conference schedule. You get IL to start the season and Bret is known to have teams that start seasons slowly and improve as the season goes on. Nebraska should win that game. Then they get Michigan State. To me this is the guy game of the season if they can get past IL with a win. It's a game that comes after Oklahoma so that is a concern. Get to 2-0 to start conference play and then the Northwestern game becomes a game of teams competing staying in the Big Ten West race. Northwestern could be 1-0 in Big Ten West play going into that Nebraska game and Nebraska will have already started 2-0, 1-1, or 0-2.
3-0 Nebraska
2-1 IL
1-1 Iowa
0-2 Wisconsin
1-1 Minnesota
0-2 Purdue
Aug. 28th: IL vs Nebraska
Sept 2nd: Ohio State vs Minnesota
Sept 4th: Indiana at Iowa
Sept 4th: Michigan State vs Northwestern
Sept 4th: Penn State vs Wisconsin
Teams that I predict to win are in bold. The game that I could easily be wrong on is Indiana vs Iowa. Pretty confident that Ohio State beats Minnesota. Northwestern has historically started seasons very slow so a win by Michigan State would not be a surprise. Penn State could lose to Wisconsin but they have more talent than Wisconsin does and Wisconsin isn't known to have a high clicking offense to start seasons.
1-0 Nebraska
1-0 Iowa
0-1 Minnesota
0-1 Northwestern
0-1 Wisconsin
The next conference game for each Big Ten West Team:
IL vs maryland.
Purdue vs IL (Purdue doesn't have a conference game until 9/25)
Nebraska vs MSU
Minnesota vs Purdue
Wisconsin vs Michigan
Iowa vs Maryland
Northwestern vs Nebraska
It's a season with really weird conference schedules. You have Wisconsin starting off with Penn State and Michigan. If they started 2-0 they will likely play in Indy. If they start 0-2 it's highly unlikely they will be in the conference race for Indy come Nov since Paul Chyrst has a history of losing a big Ten West game he shouldn't have lost. Would WI make it to Indy with 3 conference loses? No. A 1-1 start for WI keeps them in the Big Ten West race.
For Nebraska it's an interesting but not overwhelming start to the conference schedule. You get IL to start the season and Bret is known to have teams that start seasons slowly and improve as the season goes on. Nebraska should win that game. Then they get Michigan State. To me this is the guy game of the season if they can get past IL with a win. It's a game that comes after Oklahoma so that is a concern. Get to 2-0 to start conference play and then the Northwestern game becomes a game of teams competing staying in the Big Ten West race. Northwestern could be 1-0 in Big Ten West play going into that Nebraska game and Nebraska will have already started 2-0, 1-1, or 0-2.
3-0 Nebraska
2-1 IL
1-1 Iowa
0-2 Wisconsin
1-1 Minnesota
0-2 Purdue