COLUMBUS, Ohio – Fourth-ranked Ohio State is chasing perfection and a chance play for a national championship but the rest of the Big Ten Conference is limping toward the post-season with won-loss records that are barely mediocre.
With three games left on the Buckeyes’s schedule, OSU and No. 18 Michigan State have the inside track to the Big Ten championship game.
Idle this week, Ohio State (9-0, 5-0) travels to Illinois on Nov. 16.
Four other conference teams are bowl-eligible and Iowa could join that list with a win this weekend.
But with only four weeks left in the regular season, the Big Ten is looking at the possibility of coming up short in postseason play again — even before the bowl lineups are announced.
With eight bowl tie-ins, six qualifiers and Iowa on the cusp, the last available spot will have to be filled by one of three teams that are a combined 1-12 in league play this season: Illinois, Indiana or Northwestern.
The six teams that have already qualified for bowls sport a combined record of 42-9.