Ohio State Football: Buckeyes’ biggest competition in Big Ten West

The Ohio State football team is the favorite to win the East division and play for another Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis. There seem to be three teams in the West that are all vying to be challengers to the Buckeyes.

Recently we looked at who the biggest threats to Ohio State were in their own division  and determined that Penn State will be the hardest challenge of the 2020 regular season. The Buckeyes have the talent to pull off the win over the Nittany Lions and return to the Big Ten Championship game.

I’ll look at who Ohio State could face once they get there, but first look at teams to rule out. Those would be Northwestern, Purdue and Illinois.

The Northwestern Wildcats may be only a year removed from playing in the championship game, but what a year it was. After finishing 3-9 it is going to take lots of work to bounce back.

Purdue and Illinois have some fun pieces and could take part in upsets, but I don’t think either of these teams is currently built to ride to the top for a full season.

None of these bottom three teams had a winning record in 2019, and none of them had a top 20 recruiting class. Building a team takes time, and the next step for these programs is to get to .500 by the end of the season to be bowl eligible.

Nebraska is the next team I have on my list. They have talent and a returning quarterback. If Adrian Martinez can return to his freshman form, the offense will be difficult to stop, but I don’t think they take the leap to West Division winners this year.

That brings me to my three contenders: Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

While I think the Iowa Hawkeyes will be as hard a game as any for Ohio State, they also have to play at Penn State. They would need to go perfect the rest of the way and hope for Minnesota and Wisconsin each to lose another game.

While a two loss champion is not out of the question, I think Iowa loses one more game on the season and three losses is too much to overcome.

I have the West division being decided the same way it was in 2019. When Minnesota hosts Wisconsin, I think the winner plays the Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship.

The Gophers should have another high-flying offense that gives teams fit all year, while the Badgers will play more smash mouth football.

I would love to see the Gophers play the Buckeyes, but until the Badgers go down, I have to pick them.

Wisconsin has won the West 3 out of the last 4 years and have consistently been the best team in that division. Northwestern and Minnesota have shown flashes of playing great football, but nobody has been able to compete long-term with Wisconsin.

Even with a new running back the Badgers will play the Buckeyes again for the Big Ten Championship. With this result, I have Ohio State once again winning to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Who do you think is making it out of the West Division? Would they pose a threat to Ohio State in the championship game?