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Three weeks of Big Ten football are in the books and a lot has happened early on. It appears that Wisconsin and Nebraska have taken the early lead as front-runners, but don't look now there are four undefeated teams. Michigan has had a good start but it's Indiana sitting ranked at 24th at 3-0 that's the biggest surprise. Out of all the undefeated, the Fighting [ insert non-offensive mascot] are the only team to beat a ranked opponent (#22 Arizona).
I usually pick a game of the week for the Big Ten but my God is this week's slate ugly. That's why this week's pic is sponsored by delicious individually wrapped pastries.
Don't get fat on all that high-fructose easiness guys! As always this is your place for your Thursday night football open thread. This week we get two (2-1) teams when North Carolina State travels to take on the Beerguts of Cincinnati.
Stats and predictions after the jump...
This really is a crappy schedule, the Big Ten plays an eastern, western, and central Michigan (HT: Jeff for pointing that out to me). I'll spare you the time, we're all going with a Big Ten sweep.
This Week's games:
| Day | Date | Opponent | Location | TV | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | Central Michigan @ Michigan State | East Lansing, Mich. | ESPNU | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | Eastern Michigan @ Penn State | University Park, Pa. | ESPN2 | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | Louisiana-Monroe @ Iowa | Iowa City, Iowa | BTN | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | San Diego State @ Michigan | Ann Arbor, Mich. | BTN | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | Colorado @ Ohio State | Columbus, Ohio | ABC | 3:30 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | South Dakota @ Wisconsin | Madison, Wisc. | BTN | 3:30 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | Western Michigan @ Illinois | Champaign, Ill. | BTN | 3:30 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | Indiana @ North Texas | Denton, Texas | ESPN3 | 7:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | North Dakota State @ Minnesota | Minneapolis, Minn. | BTN | 7:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 9/24/2011 | Nebraska @ Wyoming | Laramie, Wyo. | Versus | 7:30 PM ET |
Last week our team was all over the board. Everyone got Michigan correct, but outside of that there were no unanimous wins or fails. Kudos to Ben for being the only one to pick an (0-2) Army over Northwestern and likewise to Jeff for picking Notre Dame. This week I'll rank us a little different, since two of us missed a week I'll go by winning percentage which puts Jeff slightly ahead of me in the standings.
| Last Week | Total | Wins | Losses | Win % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSD | 8-4 | BSD | 29 | 7 | 80.6 | ||
| Jeff | 10-2 | Jeff | 30 | 6 | 83.3 | ||
| Mike | 9-3 | Galen | 19 | 5 | 79.2 | ||
| Galen | 9-3 | Peter | 28 | 8 | 77.8 | ||
| Peter | 8-4 | Mike | 28 | 8 | 77.8 | ||
| Ben | 8-4 | Kyle | 27 | 9 | 75.0 | ||
| Tim | 8-4 | Tim | 18 | 6 | 75.0 | ||
| Kyle | 7-5 | Ben | 25 | 11 | 69.4 |
Of course nothing is going to change this week because....
| Peter | Jeff | Mike | Kyle | Ben | Tim | Galen | BSD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Ten Sweep | Big Ten Sweep | Big Ten Sweep | Big Ten Sweep | Big Ten Sweep | Big Ten Sweep | Big Ten Sweep | Big Ten Sweep |