Who will win the Big Ten West Division in 2015?

[GopherHole Staff]

Who will win the Big Ten West Division in 2015?

 

[Rescooter]

Who will win the Big Ten West Division in 2015?

"w"isconsin - Well played!

 

[Some guy]

Iowa outplayed Nebraska and Wisconsin last year. (In my opinion)
Iowa has a very manageable schedule.
Iowa gets Minnesota at home.

I think Iowa wins that game and the division. I think all 4 of the top 4 might have 2-3 losses.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

Heart says us. Head says Wisconsin. Chryst will keep things humming. We'll finish second by beating Nebraska (who will take a year to get into gear under Riley), heck might finally beat Wisconsin at home. But games against OSU & Michigan (to say nothing of potential stumbling blocks like Purdue or NW) make it more likely that we have 2-3 losses in conference while Wisconsin likely has 1, at most 2.

 

[The Lorax]

Wisconsin because of their schedule. I think they'll go 6-2 in conference, with us and nebraska at 5-3. I'd be happy to be wrong though

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

MN. I can't pick anyone else. I just can't.

 

[Kuato Lives!]

Illinois. Wes Lunt becomes the second coming of Kurt Kittner and Beckman's Boyz get the power-up to win the division.

 

[denguegopher]

Iowa outplayed Nebraska and Wisconsin last year. (In my opinion)
Iowa has a very manageable schedule.
Iowa gets Minnesota at home.

I think Iowa wins that game and the division. I think all 4 of the top 4 might have 2-3 losses.

Every time I think that Iowa has gone in the tank they have a good year.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Iowa outplayed Nebraska and Wisconsin last year. (In my opinion)
Iowa has a very manageable schedule.
Iowa gets Minnesota at home.

I think Iowa wins that game and the division. I think all 4 of the top 4 might have 2-3 losses.

Iowa is a mystery to me. I think they could win the west. I also think they could go like 6-6.

 

[justthefacts]

Iowa is a mystery to me. I think they could win the west. I also think they could go like 6-6.

The problem is that while Iowa did play very close with Nebraska and Wisconsin, they also ultimately lost both games. And now those games switch to road games.

 

[John Galt]

Heart says us. Head says Wisconsin. Chryst will keep things humming. We'll finish second by beating Nebraska (who will take a year to get into gear under Riley), heck might finally beat Wisconsin at home. But games against OSU & Michigan (to say nothing of potential stumbling blocks like Purdue or NW) make it more likely that we have 2-3 losses in conference while Wisconsin likely has 1, at most 2.

This. If we had Rutgers and Maryland instead of OSU and Michigan, I'd pick the Gophers. But our schedule leaves us with little margin for error.

Our first 4 conference games are:
@NW
@Pur
Neb
Mich

We barely beat NW and Purdue at home last year, so it's not out of the question to think we drop one of those. We should be favored at home vs. Nebraska and Michigan, but again, it wouldn't be unlikely for us to split. That put's us at probably 3-1 in the first 4 games, possibly 2-2. OSU is likely a loss, Illinois a win. Between playing at Iowa and Wisky at home, chances are we go 1-1. So that would put us at 5-3 or 4-4 in the conference.

 

[Donovan]

I'm picking the Gophers based on my gut feeling that Leidner is going to take the next step in his development. If he is the same guy as last year (or worse), it will be the Skunks.

 

[IAGopherfan]

I think that with how ridiculously easy Wisconsin's and Iowa's schedules are, it will be one of them. I would love MN to do it, but we have an almost-sure loss against OSU and play a Michigan team which has given us fits for decades and could be better than most give credit. Alternately, Iowa could tank this year and Neb, MN, Wis could all end up with the same record. (Gophers of course having both tie breakers )

 

[AuEGO4]

I think that with how ridiculously easy Wisconsin's and Iowa's schedules are, it will be one of them. I would love MN to do it, but we have an almost-sure loss against OSU and play a Michigan team which has given us fits for decades and could be better than most give credit. Alternately, Iowa could tank this year and Neb, MN, Wis could all end up with the same record. (Gophers of course having both tie breakers )

Correct me if I am wrong (I know someone will), but isn't the conference title only based on the record against division opponents? We could lose both cross over games to MI and tOSU and win every conference game and still be good to go as the West Champion.

 

[Some guy]

Correct me if I am wrong (I know someone will), but isn't the conference title only based on the record against conference opponents? We could lose both cross over games to MI and tOSU and win every conference game and still be good to go as the West Champion.

Ohio state and Michigan are conference opponents.
If 6-0 against the west and 0-2 against the east, it would require the other western teams to all lose 1 conference game against a team who wasn't the gophers.

 

[AuEGO4]

Ohio state and Michigan are conference opponents.
If 6-0 against the west and 0-2 against the east, it would require the other western teams to all lose 1 conference game against a team who wasn't the gophers.

Sorry, I mean division opponents. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[IAGopherfan]

Correct me if I am wrong (I know someone will), but isn't the conference title only based on the record against division opponents? We could lose both cross over games to MI and tOSU and win every conference game and still be good to go as the West Champion.

As was stated it goes by conference record and not just the record within the division. As for your scenario, if we beat Iowa, Neb, and Wis our chances of winning the division would be pretty good.