B1G Breakdown: Week 12 and a Noon Kickoff Rant

Weeks 1-10: 60-18
Week 11: 5-1
Overall: 65-19  (.773)

All games are on Saturday 11/19. All times eastern. My picks in bold. (Rankings: BCS)

Leaders Division Games

#16 Nebraska @ #18 Michigan
12:00 - ESPN

Minnesota @ Northwestern
12:00 - BTN

Legends Division Games

#17 Wisconsin @ Illinois
12:00 - ESPN2

#21 Penn State @ Ohio State
3:30 - ABC/ESPN

Cross-Divisional Games

Indiana @ #15 Michigan State
12:00 - BTN

Iowa @ Purdue
12:00 - BTN

Biggest "must-watch" game of the week:
This week, Michigan is truly the must-watch game of the week. All due respect to Penn State and Ohio State, but both of those teams are most likely to lose out to Wisconsin for the Leaders crown. And while, yes, Michigan and Nebraska are probably not going to pull ahead of Michigan State, this game is still much more intriguing than the scandal bowl between the leagues two biggest offenders going on in Columbus.

Upset Alert!
Believe it or not, Michigan State is my pick this week. You all laughed at me when I put OSU on upset alert last week (thank you very much Purdue PAT block unit). So with confidence riding high, I'm going out on another limb. Indiana gave Ohio State a game in Columbus a couple weeks ago, and I think Michigan State is ripe for a really off week. They came ready to play against Iowa on the road last week, which leads me to believe that this could be a trap game for the Spartans before they head out to Evanston to capture the Legends division. Sorry Sparty, it's who you are.

Snoozer of the week
Minnesota at Northwestern is going to be the goat this week. Although Iowa at Purdue is right up there.

Bold predictions!
All of the B1G is playing this weekend, and of the 6 games, 5 of them are at noon. Really B1G? Really? Can't spread it around at all?

I know there's this long-standing rule that no B1G games can start after dark in November, but this antiquated nonsense needs to be put to rest.  There's just simply no reason for it. Every B1G stadium has lights. And you can't tell me that it's a temperature thing. Have you seen many NFL games in northern climates struggle to fill the stadium for night games late in the season?

This really needs to stop. I can't stand the league stacking all of their November games, which are really the most exciting games of the year, all during daylight hours. And because the B1G seems to bend over backwards for the networks, ABC/ESPN see fit to only feature one game at 3:30 – which is fine, but why can't the league step up and offer a game or two on their Big Ten Network at 3:30 instead of letting ESPN drop two good games off at the noon time-slot?

Or...heaven forbid...we have a night game?! I'd much rather see Nebraska-Michigan in primetime than to let the ACC, SEC or Pac-12 soak up all the limelight...as usual. Where is ESPN College Gameday heading in the second to last week of the regular season? Houston. Houston! Come on.

Look, I realize these decisions are highly political, but that certainly doesn't mean that changes need to be made. I hope Jim Delany realized that night games, which shouldn't become too regular, can be a great way to showcase the league's most competitive part of the season on a national stage.

Get with the times, man.

But, no, my issue with this not directly related to the problem that Michigan students seem to have with getting to noon games on time. Although an entire post about that is something I would certainly be working on if there we more hours in the day.

I know this was more of a rant than a bold prediction, but it's been something I've been wanting to get off my chest for a while now and this seemed like a opportune time to do it. Thanks for indulging me.