NCAA Week Nine Picks

I went 6-1 picking Big Ten games and 3-0 outside the Big Ten, coming so close to my first perfect week ever in five years of picking games. However I will be gladly be wrong when it comes to Ohio State winning, it always great to see the Buckeyes go down. I am now 21-8 in Big Ten games and 17 -6 outside of it.

Minnesota @ Illinois: Pick: Minnesota
Michigan @ Michigan St: Pick: Michigan
Penn St @ Purdue: Pick: Penn St
Northwestern @ Ohio St: Pick: Ohio St
Maryland @ Indiana: Pick: Indiana
Nebraska @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin

Outside the Big Ten
Florida Vs Georgia: Pick: Florida
Washington @ Utah: Pick: Washington
Clemson @ Florida St: Pick: Florida St

Big Ten Standings
As much fun as it is to see Ohio State go down the fact of the matter is that the big downside to a playoff system over the BCS system is that huge upsets dont really make an impact in the landscape if they happen before October. If you lose to a team that is viewed as equal to you (example: Florida St losing to Louisville, Texas A&M losing to Alabama) that can ruin your season because those teams now have no hope of winning a conference championship by losing to their main competition. But by losing to a inferior team as Ohio State did to Penn State did virtually nothing as Penn State can still not finish ahead of the Buckeyes in the standings and therefore Ohio State still fully controls their destiny to a conference championship and as an effect still fully controls their path to the playoff and a national championship. Losing to Penn State did absolutely nothing to hamper the Buckeyes playoff chances, and that is why the playoff system makes the regular season slightly less thrilling then when we had the BCS. Anywho, the standings. It still will all come down to the Ohio St-Michigan game in late November, unless Ohio St shockingly loses again before that. For the other division, Nebraska can almost sew up the division title already with a win over Wisconsin, but if Wisconsin wins the door is wide open for them to take it. In other words its a huge game.

East
1. Michigan: 4-0
2. Penn St: 3-1
3. Ohio St: 3-1
4. Maryland: 2-2
5. Indiana: 1-3
6. Michigan St: 0-4
7. Rutgers: 0-5

West
1. Nebraska: 4-0
2. Northwestern: 3-1
3. Iowa: 3-2
4. Wisconsin: 2-2
5. Minnesota: 2-2
6. Purdue: 1-3
7. Illinois: 1-3