Michigan State may have the easiest path to a Big Ten title of the top 5 contenders

There are 12 games left in Big Ten play for most of the conference’s top contenders, and five teams are standing out above the rest: Michigan State, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, and Nebraska.

It’s hard to believe that the Cornhuskers are in that group, but Fred Hoiberg has done a fantastic job with Nebraska, and I’m sure Spartan fans would love for him to take over in East Lansing when Tom izzo eventually retires. That would be a home run hire, considering how well he’s done with the usual bottom-dwelling Cornhuskers.

Nebraska remains the only unbeaten team left in the Big Ten, while Michigan State, Michigan, Illinois, and Purdue all have one loss.

There’s going to be a tight race to the finish line, and everyone is wondering who has the advantage down the stretch. The Big Ten title is going to come down to who has the easiest path, and that might just be Michigan State, if you look at remaining strength of schedules.

Purdue has the toughest remaining schedule of the group, while Michigan is right behind at No. 2, and then Illinois comes in at No. 3. Michigan State has the second-easiest path to only Nebraska.

Does Michigan State really have the easiest remaining road?

Let’s take a look at each team’s remaining road games first.

Michigan State: Rutgers, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan
Michigan: Michigan State, Ohio State, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, Iowa
Purdue: Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio State, Northwestern
Illinois: Purdue, Nebraska, Michigan State, USC, UCLA, Maryland
Nebraska: Minnesota, Michigan, Rutgers, Iowa, USC, UCLA

Of those teams, it’s pretty clear that Nebraska has the easiest road schedule remaining, but Michigan State gets four unranked Big Ten road opponents to just two ranked ones. I don’t envy Michigan, Purdue, or Illinois’ remaining road schedule, so I’d say that Nebraska has an advantage, and then Michigan State is next in terms of easiest road path.

As for the remaining home games, here’s how many ranked opponents each team has left in their own building (great chance for Quad 1 wins):

Michigan State: 2
Michigan: 2
Purdue: 2
Illinois: 1
Nebraska: 2

Illinois has a slightly easier home path the rest of the way, but Big Ten championship-caliber teams should take care of these home games regardless.

I do think Nebraska has the easiest path, followed by Michigan State, but I could see the Cornhuskers stumbling because they’re not used to having such a big target on their backs.

The next couple of months should be very interesting.