Friday Flakes: Nebraska’s West Division Hopes May Be in the Hands of Illinois and Bret Bielema

Want to know how bad the Big Ten West is this year?

Nebraska is still in the running to win the division after falling to 5-5 and 3-4 in the conference. This is because the current leader in the division is Iowa which is sitting with a 5-2 conference record.

To be clear, Nebraska needs to win tomorrow night against Wisconsin AND then follow that up with a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in Lincoln on Black Friday. Those two games are within their control.

What is not within their control is this weekend’s matchup between Illinois and Iowa. The Fighting Bret Bielema’s can stroll into Iowa City and give Nebraska some hope to win the West Division.

Currently Iowa is favored by three and if Kirk Ferentz finds a way to win (even though he lost his best player on the team to injury in Cooper DeJean) then Iowa will have a date with either Michigan or Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game.

However, if Illinois wins and Nebraska beats Wisconsin (which was favored by seven at the beginning of the week and is now favored by 3.5) then the West Division crown will be decided on Black Friday.

How insane is it that over the next two weeks Nebraska could fail to qualify for a bowl game or could win the division and be in the conference championship game?

Crazy stuff.

SPORTS! SPORTS! JORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS!

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It sounds so easy.

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“STICK TO SPORTS!” Nah.