Badgers move up in football playoff rankings

Penn State finds themselves in the thick of a bid to play in the Big Ten Championship against the victor of the Big Ten West division Saturday, December 3rd.

UW (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten) benefitted from then-No.

Analogies to last season do not apply. “They are a very talented team”. “The fact that our conference plays nine games and some conferences don’t also adds to our strength of schedule”. Washington is No. 5. One plays today – No. 5 Washington.

Dantonio said quarterbacks Tyler O’Connor and Damion Terry will likely see action on Saturday.

Games remaining: Saturday vs. MI (10-1); potentially December 3 Big Ten championship game vs. TBD.

In Mark Dantonio’s first year as a Michigan State assistant, the Spartans ended their 1995 regular season with a game against Penn State, as a new tradition between the two schools had started to take hold.

NOTRE DAME: The NCAA announced that academic misconduct orchestrated by a student athletic trainer will cost the storied program all 21 victories from the 2012-13 seasons, including the 12-0 run that vaulted the Fighting Irish into the national championship game against Alabama. The Apple Cup and Utah-Colorado do battle out West. It would eliminate Washington as a playoff contender. Ohio State would then have to defeat Wisconsin in the conference championship game.

Michigan State at Penn State (2:30 p.m. Saturday, ESPN): Penn State continues to be a team for OU to watch. It’s highly doubtful the Crimson Tide stumble at this point. USC may be playing like a top-10 or even top-five team now, but it wasn’t close to that in September, when it lost to Alabama by 46, Stanford by 17 and Utah by four.

The playoff rankings weren’t altered much, as the top 4 remained the same. “I think that makes a big difference in every football season”. At least one team will likely get towed out of the weigh Saturday.

The Oklahoma-Oklahoma State victor also remains in the hunt. The Mid-American Conference (home of the officiating crew) and the Big 12 Conference (home of the replay crew) later admitted that Central Michigan should have never been awarded the extra play.

Wisconsin is just one victory against lowly Minnesota away from advancing to the Big Ten Championship game.

If Wisconsin wins out to finish off a Big Ten Championship season, it could be hard for the committee to exclude them from the four-team playoff, even with two losses.

This weekend brings Michigan’s trip to Ohio State, and with it a reshaping of the postseason picture.

The only thing that’s clear right now is that the Big Ten, to this point, is having a better year than anybody could have hoped. If Ohio State beats MI and Penn State wins, it’s hard to see the Buckeyes not making the playoffs. If that happens, and assuming Alabama also makes the final four, such a scenario would leave just one more spot to be selected from the Pac-12, ACC and Big 12. Four entries constitute a bracket for the Kiwanis Club pinochle finals. The Buckeyes, though, need help to reach the conference title game. The underdogs in each game have the potential to pull an upset. No. 3 Clemson hosts SC at 6:30 p.m. But if you’re wondering who to root for or against over the next two days, now you have it.