Week 9 is one to forget for the Big Ten

By Brandon Scalea

Michigan State beat Penn State, 27-24, on a last-second field goal on Saturday. Photo from PennLive

As I sat in High Point Solutions Stadium for a relatively unimportant game between Rutgers and Maryland, I kept checking my phone to see the Big Ten's hopes for a playoff bid basically falling apart.

As the home Scarlet Knights went on to win an impressive 31-24 game against the Terrapins for coach Chris Ash's biggest win yet, Ohio State was routed by Iowa and Penn State was beaten in the final moments by Michigan State.

Here's what this means for the Big Ten: there is little to no shot that the conference will be represented in this year's College Football Playoff. 

At 9-0, Wisconsin is the Big Ten's last remaining undefeated team, but experts have continued to say the Badgers, even at 13-0 with a conference title under their belt, might be left out of the final top four. UW has yet to play a ranked team this season, and might not all year. Their only legitimate challenge during the regular season is a Nov. 18 home matchup with the unranked, beaten-down Michigan Wolverines.

Wisconsin has pretty much already clinched the Big Ten West. With Penn State (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) out of contention for the Big Ten Championship, next week's game between the Spartans and Buckeyes in Columbus will be the de facto Big Ten East title game. Both of those teams are 5-1 in conference play.

All the momentum, however, seems be on Michigan State's side.

The Spartans are fresh off a come-from-behind win against No. 7 Penn State in a weird, weather-delayed game. There was a noon kickoff, a three-and-a-half-hour delay for lightning and a walk-off field goal after night had fallen and half the stadium had gone home.

In a season where MSU has already beaten its "big brother" in Ann Arbor and a top-10 Nittany Lion team, one would expect Mark Dantonio's squad to beat the Buckeyes too, for good measure.

Meanwhile, Ohio State is coming off what might be the worst loss of Urban Meyer's career. In front of a hostile blackout crowd in Iowa, the Buckeyes surrendered 55 points and only scored 24. JT Barrett, who emerged into the Heisman race after last week's win over PSU, all but killed his chances after throwing four interceptions Saturday.

The No. 6 Buckeyes are the sixth top-10 team in the last nine years that has fallen at Iowa. Notably, the Hawkeyes came up just short earlier this year against the then-No. 3 Nittany Lions, who won on the last snap of the game.

We know that college football is a crazy game with crazy story lines, but right now it seems like the Big Ten will need some outside help to get a team into the College Football Playoff.

Here are some predictions moving forward: Ohio State will beat Michigan State, 20-16, next week. The Buckeyes will get into the Big Ten Championship and beat Wisconsin convincingly. At 11-2 overall, Ohio State will finish the season at No. 6 and fall short of the playoff.

Brandon Scalea can be reached at brandonscalea22@gmail.com or scaleasports@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @brandonscalea.