This B1G Week 12/16-22

Hello and welcome friends to another edition of this B1G Week. Guys things got weird. Wait what type of weird. Hanging yarn from thumb tacks on the wall type weird. Okay maybe not that weird. Through December conference play, any team that has played two Big Ten games has a record of one win and one loss. On top of that home teams are undefeated in conference so far with not a single team able to win on the road. There is just one more conference game left in December and if Northwestern can pull off the upset over Michigan State we will have a 14 way tie for first place in the conference. This is as good of time as any to announce that Head In The Game is officially coming out as a Chris Collins stan blog* (*until the conclusion of Wednesday night's game).

Weird has been the general theme of this season. As of the writing of this post, 12/16/2019, there are only four teams left, out of the 351 division one programs, that still have a perfect record. Those teams are Auburn, Duquesne, Liberty, and San Diego State. In case you are like me and want to root for chaos here are each team's games this week. Auburn plays NC State and Lehigh, Duquesne heads down to the Saint Pete Shootout to face both Austin Peay and UAB, Libery faces off against Towson and either Akron or Tulane, and finally the Aztecs of the beautiful state of San Diego go up against San Diego Christian University and the Utah Utes. 

Big Ten Game of the Week

Saturday - 5:15 PM - CBS - Ohio State vs Kentucky - This is very clearly the top game of the week featuring a conference team. The Buckeyes have been very strong this season yet that was not enough to overcome the Big Ten road curse. I almost made Northwestern Michigan State the game of the week since it's the only conference game of the week and since we're such big Chris Collins stans.

Nonconference Game of the Week

Saturday - Noon - Fox - Kansas @ Villanova - Here is an excellent game between two power house programs. Kansas just took over the number one spot in the AP poll which can only mean one thing, Villanova is going to win this game. Teams rated at the top of the polls haven't fared well this year and throw on top of that the fact that this game is Philly, I'm picking Nova. 

Power Ranking

1. Ohio State (+0)
2. Maryland (+0)
3. Michigan State (+1)
4. Michigan (-1)
5. Penn State (+1)
6. Indiana (+1)
7. Purdue (-2)
8. Illinois (+1)
9. Iowa (-1)
10. Rutgers (+1)
11. Minnesota (+1)
12. Wisconsin (-2)
13. Nebraska (+1)
14. Northwestern (-1)

Power Ranking Thoughts

There were just a lot of little changes this week. Only the top two spots went unchanged despite the Buckeyes and Terrapins dropping games on the road. The conference is weird so ranking teams is hard. The only constant is change. 

Actual Rankings

1. Michigan State - 1-0 - 7-3
2. Indiana - 1-1 - 10-1
3. Maryland - 1-1 - 10-1
4. Ohio State - 1-1 - 9-1
5. Penn State - 1-1 - 9-2
6. Iowa - 1-1 - 8-3
7. Michigan - 1-1 - 8-3
8. Illinois - 1-1 - 8-3
9. Rutgers - 1-1 - 8-3
10. Purdue - 1-1 - 6-4
11. Minnesota - 1-1 - 5-5
12. Wisconsin - 1-1 - 5-5
13. Nebraska - 1-1 - 5-6
14. Northwestern - 0-1 - 5-4

B1G Picks

Tuesday

7 pm - BTN - SE Missouri State @ Ohio State
Grant's Pick: Ohio State, Troy's Pick: Ohio State

9 pm - ESPN 2 - Purdue @ Ohio
Grant's Pick: Purdue, Troy's Pick: Purdue

Wednesday

8 pm - BTN - Michigan State @ Northwestern

Grant's Pick: Northwestern, Troy's Pick: Michigan State

Thursday

7 pm - FS1 - Maryland @ Seton Hall
Grant's Pick: Maryland, Troy's Pick: Maryland

Friday

6 pm - BTN - Central Connecticut @ Penn State
Grant's Pick: Penn State, Troy's Pick: Penn State

Saturday

Noon - BTN - Presbyterian @ Michigan

Grant's Pick: Michigan, Troy's Pick: Michigan

Noon - ESPN - Indiana vs Notre Dame
Grant's Pick: Indiana, Troy's Pick: Indiana

1 pm - SEC Network - Illinois vs Missouri
Grant's Pick: Illinois, Troy's Pick: Illinois

2:30 pm - BTN - Purdue vs Butler
Grant's Pick: Butler, Troy's Pick: Butler

5 pm - BTN - Milwaukee @ Wisconsin
Grant's Pick: Wisconsin, Troy's Pick: Wisconsin

5:15 pm - CBS - Ohio State vs Kentucky
Grant's Pick: Kentucky, Troy's Pick: Ohio State

5:30 pm - ESPN 2 - Minnesota @ Oklahoma State
Grant's Pick: Oklahoma State, Troy's Pick: Oklahoma State

6 pm - BTN + - North Dakota @ Nebraska
Grant's Pick: Nebraska, Troy's Pick: Nebraska

7 pm - BTN - Eastern Michigan @ Michigan State
Grant's Pick: Michigan State, Troy's Pick: Michigan State

8:30 pm - CBS Sports - Northwestern @ DePaul
Grant's Pick: DePaul, Troy's Pick: DePaul

9 pm - BTN - Cincinnati @ Iowa
Grant's Pick: Cincinnati, Troy's Pick: Iowa

Sunday

1 pm - ESPN U - Lafayette @ Rutgers

Grant's Pick: Rutgers, Troy's Pick: Rutgers

Grant's Previous Week Pick Record: 7-8

Grant's Total Pick Record: 89-29

Troy's Previous Week Pick Record: 9-6

Troy's Total Pick Record: 88-30



To stay up to date on the newest Head in the Game articles (and general sports commentary), follow @headingameblog on Twitter. You can also find us on Twitter @T_RoyStory (Troy) and @G_Tingley (Grant)