Indiana Football: Predicting the Big Ten standings for 2020

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EVANSTON, IL – NOVEMBER 24: Roderick Campbell #9 of the Northwestern Wildcats is gang tackled by members of the Northwestern Wildcats defense including Alonzo Mayo #10 and Blake Gallagher #51 at Ryan Field on November 24, 2018 in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern defeated Illinois 24-16. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Indiana Football: Big Ten Predictions

Big Ten West

Northwestern – Record 1-9

Wins – Purdue

Loss – Michigan State, Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana

The Wildcats were bad last year, but they brought in former IU quarterback Peyton Ramsey to hopefully stabilize the quarterback position. He will make a difference, but they are still low on talent in Evanston so it won’t matter much. They will be a pesky team this year but will lose a bunch of close games.

We think they will bring up the rear in the West, but with Pat Fitzgerald leading the way don’t be surprised if they pull off a couple of upsets this year. But honestly, their ceiling is probably three wins, max.

Nebraska – Record 3-7

Wins – Northwestern, Illinois, Rutgers

Loss – Purdue, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan State

Scott Frost was supposed to come back to his alma mater and bring the Cornhuskers back. Unfortunately for the Nebraska faithful, that has not happened. Last year they were a trendy pick to be a sleeper in the West (shows you how much worse the West is compared to the East) and they did was miss a bowl game by going 5-7. That included a loss at home against the Hoosiers.

Nebraska still has Adrian Martinez at quarterback and if he could play to his potential they have the ability to be better. The problem is they still don’t have a lot of talent around him. Until they can start bringing in more skilled players they are going to continue to struggle. This season will still be a challenge for them.

Related Story. Ranking possible 10th game opponents for IU football. light

Illinois – Record 3 – 7

Wins – Rutgers, Northwestern, Maryland

Loss – Nebraska, Purdue, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State

The Illini made a surprise run to a bowl game last year, but still just went 6-6. They did pull off a huge upset against previously unbeaten Wisconsin and had a big comeback against Michigan State to pull off the win. But outside of those two wins, they didn’t beat anybody good.

They do have quarterback Brandon Peters coming back and if he can stay healthy they can score a lot of points. Their defense, though, still is not very good and will give up a lot of points. They will probably play in a lot of high scoring games this year, but won’t win many of them. They do get a break by playing Maryland and Rutgers as crossover games and those could be wins.

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