With such a deep Big Ten this year, I'm kind of curious what record it will take to win the conference.
Looking back at previous conference champion records, since 1983, there have been only two years that a team won with 5 losses: 2002 (Illinois, Indiana, & Wisconsin 11-5) and 2012 (Michigan, Mich. State, & Ohio State 13-5). In those years, they weren't playing 20 Big Ten games like today. If you look at it in a winning % perspective, the lowest percentage was 2002 (68.75%) going back to 1926.
Translating that to this year, for a 20 game Big Ten schedule, a 68.75% win rate would equate to a 13.75 & 6.25 W/L record. Obviously, you can't win partial games so to break that record, the Big Ten Champion would need a 13-7 record.
My personal prediction is that a 14-6 record wins the Big Ten conference but I think there is distinct possibility of 13-7 champion. If that happens, you could see 4+ co champions (which would be a record).
Food for thought.
Looking back at previous conference champion records, since 1983, there have been only two years that a team won with 5 losses: 2002 (Illinois, Indiana, & Wisconsin 11-5) and 2012 (Michigan, Mich. State, & Ohio State 13-5). In those years, they weren't playing 20 Big Ten games like today. If you look at it in a winning % perspective, the lowest percentage was 2002 (68.75%) going back to 1926.
Translating that to this year, for a 20 game Big Ten schedule, a 68.75% win rate would equate to a 13.75 & 6.25 W/L record. Obviously, you can't win partial games so to break that record, the Big Ten Champion would need a 13-7 record.
My personal prediction is that a 14-6 record wins the Big Ten conference but I think there is distinct possibility of 13-7 champion. If that happens, you could see 4+ co champions (which would be a record).
Food for thought.