With a 14-team league and an 18-game conference schedule, the path to a Big Ten regular season title is not equitable. A 26-game round robin is out of the question, so that means that by a simple luck of the draw, certain teams will end up with “easier” schedules than others. The easier comes with the tongue-in-cheek quotation marks because all we have right now are preseason projections. Last year, for example, a preseason review of a game in Lincoln would have seemed like a relatively easy projected win for a team like Wisconsin. So in crunching some numbers and considering how we at the microsite voted in our yet-to-be-released preseason poll, here’s a cursory look at three Big Ten teams that look like they will have the toughest slate of conference games, followed by two teams who appear to owe the scheduling gods a thank-you note.

Chris Collins have many more moments of frustration with the way the B1G schedule breaks for the Wildcats. (Getty).

Toughest Schedules

• Northwestern. The Wildcats have the unenviable task of playing Wisconsin, Michigan State and Michigan twice. They also have to play at Nebraska in their only meeting against the Cornhuskers. The other two opponents they play twice are Illinois and Iowa, a pair of teams that have an excellent chance to make the NCAA Tournament if things go their way. After Northwestern travels to New Jersey to play Rutgers in its first league game, a slate that features Wisconsin, Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio State awaits them next. Starting on February 3, they have a week of games that includes a trip to Nebraska, followed by another one to Wisconsin, and then Michigan State at home. This team could be much better than last year’s group, yet end up with a similar or worse record in conference play.

• Penn State. Pat Chambers’ squad also has to play Wisconsin twice, and then the Nittany Lions have home-and-homes with Ohio State, Maryland and Minnesota. They also have their lone meetings against Michigan State and Illinois on the road. Their toughest segment appears to be from January 31 to February 11. In that stretch, they’ll have road tests at Illinois, Maryland and Ohio State, with a home game against Nebraska wedged in between. Intrigue will also be baked into the fact that the last game at Illinois was the one where DJ Newbill and Kendrick Nunn almost came to blows, and the fact that Maryland and Penn State really don’t like each other very much. If the Nittany Lions are on the bubble at that point of the season, these games will have even more drama attached to them.
• Iowa. If the Hawkeyes aren’t careful, Iowa could very easily get off to a 2-4 or a 1-5 start in league play. It plays Ohio State in two of their first five contests, along with trips to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Their other home games in that stretch are against Michigan State and Nebraska. Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota are their other repeat opponents, along with Northwestern. The back half of their schedule is more forgiving, but even though they play Penn State, Indiana and Northwestern in their final three games, the first two of those are on the road. Iowa has plenty of opportunities for signature wins early, but it could also dig a deep hole if they struggle.

Lighter Loads

• Ohio State. No B1G schedule is ever easy, but the Buckeyes may have caught a few breaks this year. Thad Matta’s team will play Purdue, Indiana and Penn State twice, along with repeat tilts with Michigan and Iowa. The only times they will play Wisconsin and Nebraska are in Columbus, and the same holds true for their meetings with Illinois and Maryland. Their hardest road game will probably be a Valentine’s Day game in East Lansing against Michigan State.
• Maryland. The Terps avoid trips to Madison or East Lansing in their first run through the conference, and they get Rutgers and Penn State twice. There’s a stretch in late February where they play Nebraska, Michigan, and Wisconsin all in a row, but they won’t have to leave Maryland for any of these games. Three out of their first four Big Ten contests are on the road against teams to which they could lose, but aside from that opening stretch, they got a pretty fair shake in their first time through the league.

Brendan Brody (307 Posts)

Brendan Brody is in his fourth season covering the Big Ten for RTC. Email him at brendan.brody@gmail.com, or follow him on twitter @berndon4.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2014 at 10:31 am by Brendan Brody and is filed under big ten, microsites. Tagged: iowa, maryland, northwestern, ohio state, penn state. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.